Because I'm petty, I'm going to gather you all around and tell you about that time JK Rowling was extremely wrong about something and, by being wrong about it, poisoned Google search results for it for years afterwards and generally made the world ignorant about it
-
Show this thread
-
We all know that the spell names in Harry Potter are bad Because JK Rowling doesn't actually know any Latin and doesn't look it up, even when she was getting million-dollar advances to look it up So you get stuff like "Imperio!" ("To the empire!")
19 replies 70 retweets 1,240 likesShow this thread -
But I'm not talking about that, or about how JKR thinks "Enervate" means the opposite of "Stupefy" when in fact it means the same thing No, I'm talking about one of the most obnoxious acts of appropriation in the series since the very beginning The Unlocking Charm, "Alohomora"
10 replies 56 retweets 1,122 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @arthur_affect
Embarrassed for you. Rowling speaks French. In French, énerver can mean to excite or to agitate.
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @canpacinobox
Okay, and "enervate" isn't a French word, it's an English word I know she didn't major in English at university, but does she speak it
4 replies 2 retweets 88 likes -
-
Replying to @canpacinobox
It came from Latin, where it always had the meaning "to weaken", literally "to cut the sinews/nerves" https://www.etymonline.com/word/enervate
3 replies 3 retweets 75 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect
And then French came alongpic.twitter.com/tHDj85oKCH
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @canpacinobox @arthur_affect
It hasn't had that meaning until the XIXth century, unless such a basic spell is extremely recent, which is unlikely, it still is utterly nonsensical. That's not a tragedy or even that important, but I really don't see the point of defending this like it makes perfect sense.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
I don't see the word "enervate" here
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.