Is Harry Potter a resident of the United Kingdom?

Some time ago at the Mirror Maze, we came up with the statement, "The wizard Harry Potter is a resident of the United Kingdom." If you say that this statement is true, then we can counter with, "One of the residents of the United Kingdom is the wizard Harry Potter," which most agree is false. However, if you detect a trap and say that the original statement is false, then we can counter with, "The wizard Harry Potter isn't a resident of the United Kingdom." Most agree that this statement is also false.

We resolved this paradox by noting that statements often convey hidden information. One of the often-mentioned examples is, "If you're free tonight, we're going to see a movie at 8pm." Looking carefully, the statement seems silly: even if you're not free tonight, we're still planning on going to the movie. However, there's a hidden unsaid piece of information. What I really mean when I say that is, "If you're free tonight, then it is relevant to you that we're going to see a movie at 8pm." There are a bunch of other hidden assumptions in language that people have tried to describe.

In the case of Harry Potter, we decided that the beginning of the statement establishes context. When I start to say, "The wizard Harry Potter," there's a hidden assumption that we are talking about the fictional universe of Harry Potter. On the other hand, if I start the sentence with, "One of the residents of the United Kingdom," there's a hidden assumption that we're talking about the real UK.

These sorts of unsaid assumptions happen quite frequently, so if you hear us say, "It's like Harry Potter living in the UK," now you'll know what we mean!