The Enid Blyton Society

Good one, Pete!

Clever!

Well done, Pete. Another piece of advice I remember seeing in a similar list was "Don't verb nouns."

Brilliant, Pete.

Remember " a double negative is a no-no"

Good one Jack400!

Or there's the one about the English teacher who's telling his class that while in English a double negative becomes a positive statement, there's no instance in which a double positive becomes a negative statement.

From the back of the class comes a mutter of "Yeah, right..."

Moonraker wrote:Smyths (toy retailer), Nisa (grocery chain), Leffe (beer) all confuse me! As do Pilescu and Ariste Leonides. I also know of someone who isn't sure of avatar and Houghton!

We watched Crooked House, last night - a 2017 film adapted from the book. I was pleased to hear *Ariste Leonides pronounced several times, so I now know how to say it in my ind when I next read the book:

Aristeed Lay-on-a-dees.

*This should have been Aristides

I'm confused now. Shouldn't that be Aristide Leonidas?

Dave

Moonraker wrote:

Moonraker wrote:Smyths (toy retailer), Nisa (grocery chain), Leffe (beer) all confuse me! As do Pilescu and Ariste Leonides. I also know of someone who isn't sure of avatar and Houghton!

We watched Crooked House, last night - a 2017 film adapted from the book. I was pleased to hear Ariste Leonides pronounced several times, so I now know how to say it in my ind when I next read the book:

Aristeed Lay-on-a-dees.

People get confused with Houghton all the time, especially how to pronounce it! 'up North' (where it originates) they say 'Horton' - in Birmingham its more often 'Howton' Some people pronounce it to rhyme with 'cough' - Hoffton - and some say 'Huffton'.

As for spelling it...I guess it depends how you say it!

Rob Houghton wrote:Some people pronounce it to rhyme with 'cough' - Hoffton - and some say 'Huffton'.

I pronounce cough as huff, so I was quite confused there for a second.

Darrell71 wrote: I pronounce cough as huff, so I was quite confused there for a second.

I think you've confused us all now!

Domino wrote:I'm confused now. Shouldn't that be Aristide Leonidas?

Sorry, you too have confused me! Do you mean Leonides is incorrectly spelled? If so, it is how Agatha Christie spelled it.

Jack400 wrote:Remember " a double negative is a no-no" :lol:

     This reminds me of a story I once read - not sure if it's true or not, or just told as a joke.
     A professor was lecturing in a linguistics class on the comparative features of different languages, and he said: "There are some languages where a double negative is a positive, and English is an example of that. There are also languages where a double negative is a negative, made stronger, of which Russian is an example. But there is no language where a double positive is a negative."
     At this point a bored student from the back row piped up: "Yeah, right!"

Regards, Michael.

Rob Houghton wrote:People get confused with Houghton all the time, especially how to pronounce it! 'up North' (where it originates) they say 'Horton'

     Well, is that in fact correct, Rob? Is that how you say it?
     That's how I've always said this name, ever since at least 1967 when my English teacher was Mr. Houghton Williams (double-barrelled surname, possibly hyphenated - not sure on that). It never occurred to me that anyone would say the name any other way.
     There is a British pianist called Stephen Hough, but in that case it's "Huff". But perhaps the absence of the second syllable makes a big difference.

Regards, Michael.