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I'm listening to the very first Snapecast now, so the very first time they discuss a canon chapter is, of course, "The Potions Master" from PS/SS. They just had to bring up one of my pet peeves (ohgod just imagine having several pet Peeveses. You'd go insane), didn't they?
This would not be that important except that people so often seem to want to dangle meaningful conclusions five or six books later off of these early words. I can only suppose that people who cling to the reading that this somehow has a direct meaning to do with avoiding death have never brewed up anything of their own and put a stopper into the container when they were finished.
NB: I am not trying to say that Snape does not know how to brew antidotes (although success or failure in a specific instance is something else) nor that he would not be capable of faking his own or another's death. While the sparking remark was pre-DH and thus relating the idea to Dumbledore's death and not how Snape might have survived a certain disappointing trip to the reptile house, I think my complaint is still valid. I am just disputing the "oh ho ho, look at this hint Rowling gave us!" interpretation of the phrase "stopper death", which holds no matter on whose behalf it is being trotted out.
So here's my beef: OMG PEOPLE THAT IS NOT WHAT "STOPPER DEATH" MEANS SO JUST SHADDUP.
I believe Snape's phrasing here is a use of poetic repetition. He is using three related verbs in succession because it is dramatic -- in other words, because it sounds cool. He's trying to make an impression. Let's look at the verbs themselves:
"Bottle" means to put something into a bottle or jar and implies sealing the container afterwards, whether with a cap/lid, cork, or (ahem) stopper. "Brew" means to concoct a liquid for a certain purpose, usually by combining certain ingredients in a container placed over a heat source. "Stopper" means to insert a stopper or plug, generally into things like flasks, phials, or bottles. It does not mean "prevent" or "halt" except in the sense that a stopper prevents or halts a substance from escaping from its container.
All three have to do with the manufacture and storage of liquid or semi-liquid substances, to wit, as they're coming from Snape's lips, potions. "Stoppering death" thus refers simply to making lethal poison: you have put a stopper into a container that has death inside it. While, as aforementioned, I do think Snape knows how to deal with poisons, I really do not think that any specific "copy this down, it's going to be important later" hint was being dropped in this sentence.
So there.
ETA: Oh good. In Owlpost in episode 2, they address this and admit error. Still, it annoys me to see it so widespread in fandom.
This would not be that important except that people so often seem to want to dangle meaningful conclusions five or six books later off of these early words. I can only suppose that people who cling to the reading that this somehow has a direct meaning to do with avoiding death have never brewed up anything of their own and put a stopper into the container when they were finished.
NB: I am not trying to say that Snape does not know how to brew antidotes (although success or failure in a specific instance is something else) nor that he would not be capable of faking his own or another's death. While the sparking remark was pre-DH and thus relating the idea to Dumbledore's death and not how Snape might have survived a certain disappointing trip to the reptile house, I think my complaint is still valid. I am just disputing the "oh ho ho, look at this hint Rowling gave us!" interpretation of the phrase "stopper death", which holds no matter on whose behalf it is being trotted out.
So here's my beef: OMG PEOPLE THAT IS NOT WHAT "STOPPER DEATH" MEANS SO JUST SHADDUP.
I believe Snape's phrasing here is a use of poetic repetition. He is using three related verbs in succession because it is dramatic -- in other words, because it sounds cool. He's trying to make an impression. Let's look at the verbs themselves:
"Bottle" means to put something into a bottle or jar and implies sealing the container afterwards, whether with a cap/lid, cork, or (ahem) stopper. "Brew" means to concoct a liquid for a certain purpose, usually by combining certain ingredients in a container placed over a heat source. "Stopper" means to insert a stopper or plug, generally into things like flasks, phials, or bottles. It does not mean "prevent" or "halt" except in the sense that a stopper prevents or halts a substance from escaping from its container.
All three have to do with the manufacture and storage of liquid or semi-liquid substances, to wit, as they're coming from Snape's lips, potions. "Stoppering death" thus refers simply to making lethal poison: you have put a stopper into a container that has death inside it. While, as aforementioned, I do think Snape knows how to deal with poisons, I really do not think that any specific "copy this down, it's going to be important later" hint was being dropped in this sentence.
So there.
ETA: Oh good. In Owlpost in episode 2, they address this and admit error. Still, it annoys me to see it so widespread in fandom.
no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 05:09 am (UTC)From:There's one thing to keep in mind though--aside from the fannish wish for Snape to be alive, talk about teaching 11-year-olds how to make deadly poisons does seem a bit... morbid. So maybe that's another, less Snape-fan-centric reason to read it the other way?
no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 05:55 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 09:32 am (UTC)From:But come the hell on, people, this means "put a cork in a bottle of" death, e.g. poisons.
Don't you remember when you started new subjects in school how every teacher had to make their subject sound like the absolute most important subject you had, in the feeble hope of getting you to pay attention? That's all this is.
Pls "stopper" your poisonously illiterate attempts to make poetry out of piss-all, k thx.
no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 10:11 am (UTC)From:That said, I do think it's poetry. Snape is positively gushing sensual imagery here. "Stopper death" is a lot more poetic than "brew poison." It's just not foreshadowing poetry.
no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 10:36 am (UTC)From:But reading "stopper death" as "stop death" is either really gross illiteracy or a desperate delusion.
no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 02:57 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: December 3rd, 2007 08:41 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: December 4th, 2007 07:27 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: December 5th, 2007 11:05 pm (UTC)From:Oh, yea!!! And here I thought I was the only one who saw that. ;-) And wondered where the HELL people were coming up with the other interpretation of "stoppering death." Not that there aren't "escape routes" (or, shall we say, plot holes) to be found in the Shack scenario, once you start looking for them, but we don't need to do violence to the plain meaning of this phrase in order to find them.
Also, I don't see Severus being any more sinister or intimidating than, say, McGonagall. He's trying to impress the students with the impressiveness of his subject, and also impress upon them the seriousness and potency of what they'll be working with. Standard operating procedure for teachers, especially in subjects like chemistry!