Sunday, March 18, 2007

Full of Blood and Bile

Ickie and I just finished delicious Chicken Parmesan and the bottle of Clendenen Nebbilolo that we've been saving for over a month. I should probably call it Chicken Piave instead because I substituted the far superior piave cheese for ordinary, cloying parmesan. During supper, Ickie noticed that after I'd had a glass of wine, my ears turned bright red. This is something that happens to me when I am severely agitated or embarrassed as well as when I've had a bit to drink. I can feel all the blood rushing to my ears; oddly, I don't blush in my cheeks like other pale-complected people do. It's convenient at the office because I can hide my tell under my unruly hair and still appear to be collected while I'm mortified on the inside.

This sparked a conversation about Hippocrates' four humours (of which I'm evidently very sanguine because of my pinkness, but I've got plenty of the other three as well). Think of the levels a person contains of each of the four humours as an ancient personality survey (you'll find many of the characters in Canterbury Tales classified accordingly). Upon reflection, I decided that the four houses at Hogwarts can be easily categorized as the four temperaments! Note the characteristics of each below:

Griffyndor: Sanguine (courageous, romantic, innovative)
Slytherin: Melancholic (moody, traditional; according to Aristotle: acquiring assets)
Ravenclaw: Phlegmatic (calm, brainy; according to Aristotle: logical)
Hufflepuff: Cholergic (idealistic; according to Aristotle: morally virtuous)

It's just another way in which Rowling's books are eclectic. It also proves that Myers-Briggs isn't all that original because folks have been INFPing themselves since 400 B.C. I certainly take narcissistic pleasure in it.

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