When can you tell them that Beth dies?

At long last, the last Harry Potter book has been released. In anticipation of finishing the series, a small group of friends have been e-mailing each other when they finished, indicating that it was okay to talk about it.

In that thread, entitled "finished yet?", there was some general teasing of grandly false reveals, but when people announced they were finished, private threads were started to discuss.

Today, I got an e-mail in the original thread from a friend announcing that they are going to read the books now that ALL were published and to remove him from the discussion. First, I found this funny since he wasn't part of any real discussion, but then it made me think of a question I have often asked. Is it ever allowed to say to someone, "Tough, we are talking about it and yes, Beth dies?"

(For non-fans of FRIENDS, I refer to when Rachel revealed to Joey that Beth dies in LITTLE WOMEN.)

When books or movies or TV finales come out, very often you have to watch what you say because people around you haven't read or seen it yet. And of course, if you haven't finished HP7 by today, or saw last night's TV show finale or last weekend's big movie, you do your best not to reveal anything.

But what about last year's big shocking item? Is it ever safe to say, um sorry, Beth dies, the ship sinks, or who is Kaiser Souse?

I say yes. There is a statute of limitations on keeping surprises secret. What that is, I don't know. A few months maybe? A year? I just did SIDE SHOW, and the actor playing Terry mentioned that he had never seen SEVEN and someone else said he was shocked that so many people didn't understand what was in the box at the end (revealing said object), and Terry was all, "You ruined it!" The movie came out years ago. Unless you say, "I have never seen SEVEN and don't say anything, I am renting it this week!", you run the risk of someone saying, "That was a great movie. I can't believe that _____ was in the box at the end!"

What I can say to my future HP reading friend, even if you start reading now, you will probably reach this limit before you get to book 7. Just warning you.

So, the next time you tell me, "I have never read Little Women.", don't be surprised if I tell you how much I love that book and cry every time Beth dies unless you instantly tell me to keep my trap shut! And for those of you keeping track, sorry, there is a box at the end of SEVEN and someone IS Kaiser Souse.