# Wet Squibs, Islamic Cub Names, the Seven Strike Series Structure Theories, and How a Human Being Reads a Story

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Podcast: [Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rowling-studies-the-hogwarts-professor-podcast-6739232)
Published: 2026-05-12T14:24:00+00:00
Episode link: https://hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/p/wet-squibs-islamic-cub-names-the
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/196983281/905e33d18380162696e508112ffe8625.mp3
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Duration seconds: 6972

## Resource

Nick Jeffery and John Granger sat down to discuss four Hogwarts Professor posts. Here are links to those posts with an excerpt from each and the most relevant urls embedded in them. Enjoy! What is a Squib, Really? And Where Would Rowling Have Met the Word? (John Granger, 27 April 2026) I confess that I assumed the word for barely magical witches and wizards born into magical families in J. K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, the folk she calls ‘Squibs,’ were given that name because of its onomatopoeic source in fireworks; per the Harry Potter Lexicon invaluable online resource , a squib is English idiom for “a dud firework that will not ignite properly.” It sounds like its meaning (as does “dud”) and a reader can feel in it the disappointment of magical parents when their child turns out not to have the gift that will make them full members of their community. I learned this morning, however, that a squib is not a dud firework, or wasn’t originally though it may have that meaning today, and that it is mentioned more than once in one of Rowling’s known literary influences. * ‘Squibbing’ at the Bridgewater Carnival Fireworks Festival ( YouTube video ) * Toyohashi Tengu: Japanese Quidditch Team (Harry Potter Lexicon) * Tengu — Japanese Fantastic Beast not in Newt Scamander’s textbook (Wikipedia) * Toyohashi Tezutsu fireworks 2022 ( Tezutsu-hanabi — Wikipedia) * Dimitra Fimi’s ‘A Kind of Elvish Craft’ Substack site * The Fireworks of Gandalf : in which ‘squibs’ are discussed (not duds!) * ‘The Slow Lord of the Rings Re-Read’ Prof Fimi’s Tolkien Reading Day Introduction * Reading Rowling as Myth Maker and Myth Re-Writer: A Conversation with Dr Dimitra Fimi * ‘Sleep Tight, Evangeline,’ Miniature Psalters, and the Head of Persephone: A Conversation with Dimitra Fimi Hogwarts Profes…

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