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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily
Fans of the “Harry Potter” series disagree on many things: whether Harry and Ginny should have ended up together (they should not have); which book is the best (the fourth); and which character’s death hurt the most (Hedwig).
But they could come together and agree on one thing Thursday: Wyoming is not representative of the Hufflepuff house.
In mid-July, just in time for Harry’s birthday, Dish Network affiliate USDish issued a map that “sorted” each state into one of the four Hogwarts Houses from the Harry Potter series, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
More than half of the states fell into the Slytherin category, but Wyoming was sorted into Hufflepuff.
USDish “sorted” those states into houses by using Google Trends to see which of the four houses was the most frequently searched for in each state over the last five years. Additionally, the company polled 1,000 people who were sorted into a Hogwarts house through an online quiz.
For those of you who missed the Harry Potter mania that started in the mid-1990s and continues well into this decade, there are certain attributes that represent each of the houses. Bravery represents Gryffindor, empathy represents Hufflepuff, intelligence represents Ravenclaw and ambition represents Slytherin. First-year students are sorted into one of the four houses, which act as a sort of cohort for the rest of their time at the wizarding school.
But Harry Potter fans from Wyoming did not think Hufflepuff (or empathy) was the best representation of the Cowboy State.
“When the Legislature starts passing laws that show they give a crap about actual people, I’ll believe Wyoming is a kind, loveable Hufflepuff state. Until then…back to the Sorting Hat!” Cheyenne resident Kristine Galloway said. “Do you think they’re considering Hufflepuffs entirely by the adjectives ‘loyal’ and ‘hardworking’? Those two are ones I can’t argue with.”
“I do think people in Wyoming are hardworking. And God knows they are loyal to Trump,” she continued. “But everyone knows Hufflepuff is the house of sweethearts and cinnamon rolls. And Wyoming is not that.”
Jennifer Barella of Casper thought that Wyoming aligned more with Gryffindor.
“Wyomingites are brave like a Gryffindor but not friendly enough to be Hufflepuff,” Barella said. “You always hear Wyomingites talk about how they don’t want people from other states moving in, that’s not a very Hufflepuff thing to do. Someone probably read a headline that Casper is the most giving city per capita in the country and they decided that constitutes Hufflepuff.”
Aaron Goldberg of Cheyenne said there were not enough Slytherins in Wyoming, in his opinion.
However, it should be noted that it was rare for states to receive the Hufflepuff recognition, as Wyoming was only one of five states to be “sorted” into the house. Gryffindor was the most rare, with only three states (Utah, Michigan and Connecticut) receiving the distinction.
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