Speaking wizard: Harry Potter casts a spell on fans

I sort of understand those "Star Wars" fanatics who dress up and go to conventions, the ones who own Boba Fett suits and stormtrooper masks.

Harry Potter is the new Luke Skywalker. He's this generation's Captain Kirk.

Like the thousands of people who have learned to speak Klingon, millions now have learned new words like "Muggle" and "Patronus." (My patronus is an eagle, by the way. I took an online quiz.)

True, the language in Harry Potter hasn't reached Klingon status. Harry only has a lexicon with definitions and spells. Klingon has an entire institute devoted to it -- The Klingon Language Institute.

Harry and friends speak English, but they pepper their conversations with magical terms. The Klingons had entire verb conjugations and sentence structures. And people learned them. And they speak them. Harry Potter fans haven't reached that level. Yet.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hits the Cape Girardeau theaters at midnight Wednesday. Town Plaza Cinema will show the sixth film in the series and has planned a costume contest among other activities.

When this column was written Tuesday -- the day we finish SE Live and the day "Half-Blood Prince" debuted in London -- thousands of fans had descended upon the city's Leicester Square, faces painted like Quidditch players and brooms polished for autographs.

The fanatical response to Harry Potter is nothing new or scary. It's simply the reaction people have when they feel they have become close to characters. They want to catch up and see how their old wizard friends are doing.

The newest installment in the "Harry Potter" film series shows our pals at Hogwarts in their most intense battles yet, and you can rest assured that the fans, or fanatics as some call them, will be right there rooting them on and waiting for the next magical challenge.