There are question and answer sites that tried to explain Dumbledore’s first greetings to Harry’s year at Hogwarts. However, none have left me satisfied. First off, I assume I got the original sequence of words correctly; they correspond to Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Huffulpuff, and Gryffindor, respectively. The anthology made it clear that the tables were arranged with Slytherin being closest to the entrance doors, while Gryffindor was at the far side. The head table had Slytherin to its left and Griffindor to its right, and I’m pretty sure Dumbledor went from left to right in his calls (as Richard Harris did.)
Here are their meanings as I know them:
Nitwit - a fool
Blubber - a weakling
Oddment - a piece of scrap
Tweak - a dishonest person
Looking at them, it would make more sense to have started the call at the right with Gryffindor, and then going left.
One volunteered that Dumbledor meant “to say a few words” quite literally and simply rattled off words at random.
I’ll give you ‘nitwit’ and ‘oddmet’, but I’ve never heard blubber=weaking, or tweak=dishonest person.
More usually, blubber’s either a way of saying “cry” (e.g. Hermione locked herself in the girls’ loo to have a private blubber, or someone went blubbering to Flitwick about someone throwing cushions at them), or the whale blubber thing. Tweak=to readjust a bit (or the speed thing, but somehow I don’t think that’s likely).
That said…yeah, they’re just silly, fun words to say. Say “blubber” like Rowan Atkinson says “Bob” and you’ll see.
Hmmm… I’ve heard of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and I grew up with the rhyme “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.” Never came across your version before, though.
There have been different variations over the centuries, but the one John Bredin quotes has been the standard one in the UK for some generations. It’s what the title of Le Carré’s novel is referencing.
