XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, alt.usage.english   
   From: isabelle.cecchini@wanadoo.fr.invalid   
      
   John Dean a écrit :   
   > Steve Hayes wrote:   
   >> In the Puffin edition of "Prince Caspian" C.S. Lewis at one point   
   >> uses the term "hair-brained".   
   >>   
   >> I always understood that the correct term was "hare-brained", and   
   >> would have thought that a professor of English literature would know   
   >> the difference.   
   >>   
   >> Is this found in all editions, ot was it just a misprint?   
   >   
   > I'm not sure he was actually a "professor of English literature". He was at   
   > one point a professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature.   
   > No doubt he was aware that many authors before him had used "hair-brained" -   
   > OED has various cites.   
   > Whether that was what he intended here or was a misprint allowed through by   
   > the editor is unclear unless someone has access to a definitive version.   
   > Is this the quote?   
   > ""How then?" said Sopespian. "We hold the enemy in our fist here. Miraz   
   > would never be so hair-brained as to throw away his advantage on a combat."   
      
   Right. Finally found it, thanks to you, John.   
      
   In my copy, which is a one-volume edition of the Chronicles of Narnia,   
   published by HarperCollins in 2001, it is definitely "harebrained", no   
   hyphen.   
      
   The quote is to be found in the chapter entitled "the High King in   
   Command", quite near the beginning of the chapter, in the discussion   
   between Glozelle and Sopespian.   
      
   I don't know what it proves, though. It might be a silent correction on   
   the part of HarperCollins.   
      
      
   --   
   Isabelle Cecchini   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)