At their first evening at the headquarter of the Order
Harry, Hermione and the older Weasleys are being informed about the actions the
Order has taken to fight Lord Voldemort. Ginny Weasley, the youngest Weasley
child, has not been allowed to attend this meeting but she most certainly will
wait for Hermione to fill her in. Her older brother Fred states: “‘If Ginny’s
not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said
downstairs then I’m a Flobberworm…’”[1]
This
phrase is similar to the British muggle phrase ‘if… then I am a Dutchman’. It
is used to express a person’s disbelief and puts a strong emphasis on the
assertion. “During the rivalry between England and Holland, the word Dutch was
synonymous with all that was false and hateful”[2]
For this reason, the first part of the phrase has to include an information
which is obviously not true to indicate that the second part of the statement
is just as false.
Fred
choses to substitute Dutchman with the word Flobberworm, a magical creature
that has an entry in New Scamander’s Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them: “The Flobberworm lives in damp ditches. A
thick brown worm reaching up to ten inches in length, the Flobberworm moves
very little.”[3]
Due to his appearance most students are rather disgusted and bored by this
animal. Fred, therefore, choses a creature he clearly dislikes to emphasize the
unlikeliness of the first part of his sentence.
[1] Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
London: Bloomsbury, 2000, p.92.
[2] "Dutchman." Infoplease.
Web. 22.03.2015.
<http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/dutchman.html>.
[3] Rowling, J.K. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by
Newt Scamander, London: Bloomsbury, 2009, p.31.
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