Even though I realized it was metamorphmagus, I've always pronounced it metamorphomagus in my head because I think it flows better. There just has to be a vowel between the ph and the m.

 

This topic is just awesome. Can't remember the last time a single thread made me laugh this much.

And this is a fantastic explanation. Mind if I put this on my signature?

 

I was thinking about replacing the image with the text. I don't think it's going to be too big (at least I hope not, lol).

 

My older sister read the first few books to me, and because she'd fucked up Sirius' name, I forever had it stuck in my head as Sir-eye-us until the PoA movie came out.

On the up side, her reading of it meant I never had any problem with Hermione.

 

I always assumed pewter was was stone, and that they used stone cauldrons, I even spent a fair amount of time wondering how collapsible cauldrons worked, theorising that it must work by magic.
I pronounced Privet and Private and little whinging I kinda gave up on pronouncing until a read through when I was older. I also imagined Hagrid and the Weasley's to be from the Yorkshire area, and adopting such accents rather than the Cornish one.
I also believed for a couple of years that after Harry uncovered the real Moody in the suitcase and Barty Crouch Jr. was a death eater that Harry was dead set on killing him, and that Dumbledore gave a profound speech on forgiveness stopping him from the murder, but that was a result falling asleep while reading. It was a damned good speech though...
Also I still view Mcgonnagall to be in her late 40's since that was friggen ancient when I was 8.

 

Oh yeah, I thought that too for a while. I don't remember if I was set straight before or after reading Harry Potter though.

I blame Pokemon for that. Pewter City, rock-type gym leader, you know.

 

For some reason I believed characters would get sorted each year, had to reread that part in PS to find out that was not to be the case.

 

Well, I never had any name misconceptions I can remember, but I did think Cormac McLaggen was a real fattie and that's why he could cover all hoops without moving...

 

This thread is hilarious. Some misconceptions I had, though:

Hermione: had absolutely no clue how her name was pronounced when I first read PS/SS. When I read, I usually 'hear' the voices and narration in my head, like an audiobook, but there was just a big blank whenever the name Hermione cropped up. And when I read GoF, I found the Yule Ball scene and somehow thought the name was pronounced Her-my-OH-knee (stress on the 'oh') -- clumsy, I know. Then I watched the movies and literally facepalmed.

Blaise Zabini: For some reason my brother always insists on pronouncing it Zambini.

Metamorphmagus: I read it and missed the third m, so I thought it was just metamorphagus. In my defence, it was too much of a mouthful anyway.

Sorting: For no particular reason, when I first read the PS I thought that the Hogwarts students got resorted every year. (Seemed a bit strange the way they kept going on about houses.) And then I read CoS and got my head screwed on straight.

Time-Turner scene at the end of PoA: I can't be the only one who had to read those few chapters at least ten times to actually fully understand what was going on ...

Horcruxes: I thought Voldemort created eight Horcruxes, and thought I'd found a mistake in DH, at the part where Dumbledore tells Harry he was the seventh Horcrux. Because I totally paid attention to what Dumbledore said earlier about the part of soul in Voldemort not being a Horcrux, just a bit of soul.

 

Well, until a few moments ago, I still thought it's 'Ginerva Weasley' instead of 'Ginevra Weasley'.

Still, it doesn't matter as she is of the 'It's Ginny bitch' attitude. XD

 

Oh fuck, I've got a great one. My Dad and I are both huge fans, and he's a very intelligent man. For some damn reason, he believes that the Elder Wand is a concept, not a physical thing.

To explain better, he thinks that the Elder Wand when first made was ultra-powerful and made the wielder the best motherfucker on the block. But after its very first defeat, he somehow seems to think that the person who own it next has some kind of quality about them that makes EVERY WAND THEY USE ultra-powerful and unbeatable. That the original stick with a core is just another boring old wand, with no intrinsic quality of power, granted or not, that the power lies within the current master.

I keep telling him only the right to use the true Elder Wand transfers upon defeat, and that without the original piece of wood you didn't get jack shit, but...We both have yet to concede.

 

Perhaps it's already been said, but I have one that upon reflection I find hilarious.

So, little childish me, who was so amazingly self-centred I find myself looking back incredulously at myself, thought that Harry Potter was set in 2001 or whenever it was the first film came out. I attribute that mistake to the irrefutable fact that the world revolved around me, so any story about children had to be set at the same time as I was living in. When I found out that it was happening in the 1990s my mind had one of those vertigo moments where its balance shifts and I swear that if I had to put a thought to that feeling it would be wait... so you mean... the world isn't centred on me... are you joking? And there we have it, a massive misconception based on my own arrogance... hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

Was the year ever actually stated in any of the earlier books..? I'm thinking 1-4 when I say earlier.

 

Even if it wasn't stated directly (thanks Oz for the reference) I still have those weird deja vu moments when I go to write something or read a fanfic and my brain has to realise that it isn't set directly in 2000s... whether its due to the fact that my childhood escapism was into Harry Potter and so, I believe it to be more modern than it is, or down to continued hubris and self-love, I don't honestly know Either way when I catch myself having to flip my thoughts around its hilarious! So misconception by arrogance, ain't it great?

 

Open mouth, insert foot.