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<   No. 4806   2022-09-05   >

Comic #4806

1 Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals: I ’ad no hidea that there was a secret wizarding community.
2 Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs: Oh, yes. They’re very secretive. Don’t want any hint of their existence to leak into the outside world.
3 Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals: It sounds like somefink hout of ’Arry Po’a.
4 Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs: Why do you think they conspired to discredit J. K. Rowling?

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I was pondering the best way to write the line in the third panel, and decided to put the query to my friends on our group chat:

Me: If someone is dropping their aitches, would you write:
’arry Potter
or
’Arry Potter ?

Friend 1: The latter. Honestly, they both look wrong. And unsurprisingly I’m seeing both versions used. (Searching for the My Fair Lady quote "In ’Artford, ’Ereford and ’Ampshire ’urricanes ’ardly ever ’appen")

Friend 2: I’d accept either. I’d probably go with the first, but I don’t know if there are any conventions with writing accents.

Friend 4: If it were at the start of a sentence, it would be capitalised, so I assume it’s capitalised for proper nouns too.

Friend 1: Overall it looks like the internet tends more towards the "’artford (etc.)" version.

Friend 3: "...’ardly hever ’appen".

Friend 1: Yes, good point. I’m changing my mind and opting for the "’arry Potter" version, at least if not at the start of the sentence.

Friend 3: "[H]arry Potter". Also I can’t hear it in my head without also dropping the "tt". So I think I’d go for "’arry Po’a".

Friend 1: Ooh, it’s ’arry Po’a, innit?

Friend 4: ’Ass righ’, Guv!

Friend 1: Am oscillating back towards ’Arry again, after finding a Narnia quote that is consistently capitalised. ("Three cheers for the Hempress of Colney ’Atch".)

Friend 3: What we need is a capital apostrophe.

Friend 4: Capital idea, old fellow! ’Ass capitaw, innit?

Friend 1: Given that an added ’h’ becomes the capital letter (e.g., Hempress, Hirish, Hiberian), I’m feeling that the elided one should transfer the capitalisation to the next letter.

Friend 4: Exhibit C: Generally people say you should capitalise the first letter of a sentence. It’s a bit strange to consider a letter that’s not there to be the first. And the apostrophe isn’t a letter itself.

Me: Okay, I left to make and eat dinner, and see that you lot have failed to settle this simple question.

Anyway, as you can see, I settled for the capital-A version. And also got the bonus of removing the double 't' and the 'r' from "Potter".

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My comics: Irregular Webcomic! | Darths & Droids | Eavesdropper | Planet of Hats | The Dinosaur Whiteboard | mezzacotta
My blogs: dangermouse.net (daily updates) | 100 Proofs that the Earth is a Globe (science!) | Carpe DMM (long form posts) | Snot Block & Roll (food reviews)
More comics I host: The Prisoner of Monty Hall | Lightning Made of Owls | Square Root of Minus Garfield | iToons | Comments on a Postcard | Awkward Fumbles
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