# You fookin' airhead feck! You gave away HARRY POTTER! (1 boxed spoiler)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 18, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057 "2005-07-18T22:52:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/21 "2005-07-19T05:33:55Z")
> [@capybara](#):
>
> Absolute: You Suck.
> THERE’S A SOUND FILE IN THAT LINK. DON’T OPEN IT IF YOU **OR ANYONE ELSE IN THE GODDAMNED ROOM** DOESN’T WANT IT SPOILED.
> I already know what happens. My husband at the dining room table, on the other fucking hand, who is the actual fanboy, does not and just turned around asking “What was that?”
Oh geez. In a thread pitting someone who spoils a book, another person who’s already read the book spoils the book for someone else by clicking on a spoiler.
I’m dizzy.
---
### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/22 "2005-07-19T06:10:59Z")
> [@Wolfian](#):
>
> I picked up and blazed through the book for that exact reason. Two years ago three guys (two girls and a guy actually) at the office I worked had daily Order of the Phoenix water cooler talk in the cubicle adjacent to mine. I learned to have my headphones at the ready whenever they were around as I had yet to read the book.
I think I’m the only person at my job who reads HP at all.
Bright side: No one to spoil it for me.
Dull side: No one to discuss it with now that I’ve finished it.
(Although, sometimes the people you **really** have to worry about are the people who don’t read the books themselves, and therefore don’t realize how egregious it is to blurt out info that they heard from someone else, not appreciating the fact that it’s crucial.)
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### Author:  [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/23 "2005-07-19T09:42:27Z")
Harry Potter aside, can I speak as someone who lives in spoilerville?
Down here in the deep, dark Southern hemisphere, everything (movie, telly and even book related) comes complete with spoilers.
Every movie has been spoiled completely.
I can find out who won the Apprentice, the Amazing Race or any other programme waaaaay before I can see it (well not always WAY before but at least a week before), sometimes it adds to the fun, you know who to boo for 😃 or at the very least you can train yourself to believe that. Shit, last night ‘Desperate Housewifes’ was on for the first time! If you think anyone down here (who reads crap magazines…I would hate to offend those who don’t read crap magazines 🙂 ) was not familar with the general storyline AND spoilers thn you are bonkers.
Perhaps Americans are just a bit spoiled, always expecting spoiler-free entertainment. Believe me, as someone who has “cheated” on just about every reality show going…knowing the outcome doesn’t make the journey less fun.
HP came out at exactly the same time everywhere, 11:01 am Sat morming here, if someone read faster then you and has a big mouth…don’t let it put you off. You can still enjoy the journey.
Of course I haven’t read even one HP book but I have a child who loves them and can’t get his hands on his copy till Saturday (he is away on holiday…and he is desperate to read it). Chill out, spoilers don’t kill the experience.
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### Author:  [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/24 "2005-07-19T11:20:39Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#):
>
> Some asshole on LiveJournal included a deliberate, major spoiler in his/her avatar graphic. On Friday evening. :smack:
Yup, I saw a ‘clever’ little spoiler in someones sig on another message board, it gave away both major plot points in the book and was done in a way that looked like it intented to give you no chance to realise what you were reading and stop.
This was on the Thursday before the book was released.
What I don’t understand is why ? I can understand the people who accidentally let slip stuff, or are just stupid or unthinking or whatever. But to deliberately put a spoiler out there in that way when you _know_ the majority of the poeple haven’t read the book … why ? To look clever ? To feel clever ?
::sigh:: I don’t really mind and I can enjoy a book even with the spoilers but given the choice I’d have preferred not to know. If I ever meet the dude I’m giving him a slap just out of principle.
SD
Who now has to avoid Battlestar spoilers until it starts here in October.
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/25 "2005-07-19T12:15:17Z")
I had the book spoiled for me aswell. Why are people such ass-holes? When the next book is out I’m locking myself away and not coming out until the whole thing is read!
God damn fucking ass-holes.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/26 "2005-07-19T13:56:41Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#):
>
> I had the book spoiled for me aswell. Why are people such ass-holes? When the next book is out I’m locking myself away and not coming out until the whole thing is read!
>
> God damn fucking ass-holes.
That’s what **Bird Man** and I did with this one. Bought two copies to read at the same time and holed up at home all weekend. Worked really well.
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### Author:  [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/27 "2005-07-19T14:20:16Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#):
>
> When the next book is out I’m locking myself away and not coming out until the whole thing is read!
I think there’s a good market for [this device. (totally spoiler-free link, I promise)](http://superosity.com/comics/sup20050717.gif)
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### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/28 "2005-07-19T14:31:30Z")
I have not read the Harry Potter series. I saw the first movie. I don’t even remember who the characters mentioned in the offending spoiler are. Well I know who one of them is. Anyway. I realize many adults enjoy the series but isn’t it a juvenile series? My experience is that books in that age-range broadcast the plot twists so obviously and use such standard plot devices that you’re never really surprised. Is the series really so well written that adult readers can’t see what’s coming?
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### Author:  [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/29 "2005-07-19T14:32:21Z")
> **[Man Commits Suicide After Learning Harry Potter Spoiler?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/potters-field/)**
>
> Did a man commit suicide after learning a plot point from a forthcoming 'Harry Potter' book?
This rumor had to surface sooner or later… :eek: 😃
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/30 "2005-07-19T14:34:20Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I was referring to [Ashley Kahn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Kahn), the famous American music historian whose articles for _Rolling Stone_ clearly inspired the culture that warped this girl’s brain and caused her to ruin the book for me. That should have been perfectly obvious.
If it was, I missed it. I’ve never heard of her. So sue me.
My book had better get here quick or I’m going to lose my mind.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/31 "2005-07-19T14:39:56Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#):
>
> HP came out at exactly the same time everywhere, 11:01 am Sat morming here, if someone read faster then you and has a big mouth…don’t let it put you off. You can still enjoy the journey.
> Of course I haven’t read even one HP book but I have a child who loves them and can’t get his hands on his copy till Saturday (he is away on holiday…and he is desperate to read it). Chill out, spoilers don’t kill the experience.
I agree with this, but I think we’re in the vast minority. Spoilers don’t bug me at all, and I’ve already read the Potter spoilerss (honestly, no big surprises there), but I do intend to read the new tome eventually. To me, it’s not the joy of the plot twists but in how the story is told.
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### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/32 "2005-07-19T14:54:51Z")
> [@capybara](#):
>
> Absolute: You Suck.
> THERE’S A SOUND FILE IN THAT LINK. DON’T OPEN IT IF YOU **OR ANYONE ELSE IN THE GODDAMNED ROOM** DOESN’T WANT IT SPOILED.
> I already know what happens. My husband at the dining room table, on the other fucking hand, who is the actual fanboy, does not and just turned around asking “What was that?”
Oh shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think about that.
---
### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/33 "2005-07-19T15:00:32Z")
Old Yeller dies.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/34 "2005-07-19T15:01:31Z")
> [@Homebrew](#):
>
> I have not read the Harry Potter series. I saw the first movie. I don’t even remember who the characters mentioned in the offending spoiler are. Well I know who one of them is. Anyway. I realize many adults enjoy the series but isn’t it a juvenile series? My experience is that books in that age-range broadcast the plot twists so obviously and use such standard plot devices that you’re never really surprised. Is the series really so well written that adult readers can’t see what’s coming?
No, the series is so badly written that in “Order of the Phoenix” Rowling trades on the advance publicity that someone close to Harry is going to die by putting in lots of fake oh-look-they’re-going-to-die moments for several of the long-running characters. :rolleyes:
Over-fortunate, over-successful, overblown, overpaid hack…
However, they’re not that juvenile. They fit reasonably well into the bracket of “kid’s books wasted on kids”. Granted they’re not great literature, but then _Moby Dick_ is great literature and I found myself a third of the way through and completely uninterested in finishing Melville’s turgid prose; whereas I’ve finished every HP I’ve read until now, and will doubtless be sucked into Volume 6 shortly and Volume 7 when it comes out. So :rolleyes: to me, really.
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### Author:  [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/35 "2005-07-19T15:16:14Z")
Here’s a video where the page **Absolute** linked to came from:
BE WARNED! NICE LOUD SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN!
[http://www.filefarmer.com/Xizer/pottercrash.MOV](http://www.filefarmer.com/Xizer/pottercrash.MOV)
a) The guy’s a dick
b) He can’t even make a decent video.
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### Author:  [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/36 "2005-07-19T15:24:12Z")
Hmmm, clearly what’s needed here is some kind of spell to reverse the effect of hearing plot twists in advance.
[spoiler]Just couldn’t help yourself, could ya?
How about “Spoilerus Rescindum”[/spoiler]
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/37 "2005-07-19T15:30:45Z")
Whenever I walk out a movie and there’s a line going into the theater I love to say really loud
[spoiler]“I can’t beleive that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father!”
Yah, I know this didn’t really need a spoiler, but damned if I’m gonna be the one to ruin it for the six people who’ve manged to avoid _Star Wars_ and _The Simpsons_ for the past 25 years.[/spoiler]
Heh… on preview I messed up the spoiler tag. I always think of broken spoiler tags as hidden land mines… you never notice them until it’s too late.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/38 "2005-07-19T16:11:59Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#):
>
> Coulda been worse. Imagine the furor had you been carrying an old copy of _The Mystery of the Whale Tattoo_ & your waitress went and spoiled the fact that Frank and Joe Hardy never did get around to having a 3-way tag team session with Nancy Drew.
What are you talking about? They totally did that!
I remember them doing that. I’m not sure which book it was but I distinctly remember that.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/39 "2005-07-19T16:43:09Z")
> [@laina\_f](#):
>
> Old Yeller dies.
> [@Troy McClure](#):
>
> [spoiler]“I can’t beleive that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father!”
>
> Yah, I know this didn’t really need a spoiler, but damned if I’m gonna be the one to ruin it for the six people who’ve manged to avoid Star Wars and The Simpsons for the past 25 years.[/spoiler]
DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
(Actually, Old Yeller hid parts of his soul around the yard.)
> [@whiterabbit](#):
>
> If it was, I missed it. I’ve never heard of her. So sue me.
I was joking (my imitation of the [Nathan Thurm](http://snl.jt.org/arc/char/MaSh-Nathan%20Thurm.jpg) Doper: “No I wasn’t wrong… I wasn’t wrong because… you don’t know what I was saying! How funny that you didn’t know that!”)
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fookin-airhead-feck-you-gave-away-harry-potter-1-boxed-spoiler/313057/40 "2005-07-19T17:25:27Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#):
>
> I think there’s a good market for [this device. (totally spoiler-free link, I promise)](http://superosity.com/comics/sup20050717.gif)
That’s on my shopping list when the next book comes out. 😃
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