Unusual words and phrases in Blyton - dictionary needed?

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Does Enid Blyton ever have you reaching for the dictiona

Post by Rob Houghton »

I think one of the few words I didn't know, that I can remember off the top of my head, was 'volubly'- meaning a steady and never-ending flow of words. 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Does Enid Blyton ever have you reaching for the dictiona

Post by Lucky Star »

I can remember reading The Island of Adventure and being confused between the words Rough and Rogue! Other than that I mostly worked out new words for myself and if I was stuck I yelled for the nearest adult to come and explain. Usually my long suffering Mum. :lol:

However I thank Enid Blyton for the large vocabulary that I have today. She undoubtedly taught me as many, if not more, words than my early teachers.
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Re: Does EB ever have you reaching for the dictionary?

Post by Stephen »

I don't remember a word that completely stumped me, but I think I consulted the dictionary when reading the Wishing Chair books to establish the difference between Pixies, Brownies, Elves, Goblins and Gnomes.
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Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by MJE »

 Merged with an existing topic.

    I'm not sure if this will work; but, following on from another thread, I suggested two words in Enid Blyton books that are really quite unusual, and I wondered if anyone else would like to submit words found in Blyton books that will disprove the claim made by critics that her vocabulary is simplistic, repetitive, and limited.
     The Famous Five books include mentions of a "fusillade" of barks from Timmy (maybe a few times), and, at least once, someone shouting with a "stentorian" voice (in "Five on a Hike Together", I think, when Dick and Anne return from their horror night at Dirty Dick's house (thinking it was the "Blue Pond" Farmhouse), and Julian sees them from the distance and calls to them).
     I'm sure I've seen other unusual or advanced words in Enid Blyton, but I'm not sure I can remember them now. "Pandemonium", perhaps.
     Can people suggest many other words from Enid Blyton that would effectively refute accusations of a limited and simple vocabulary? Preferably please name the book and give at least a hint of the context where it appears, if it's not already obvious.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by pete9012S »

Five Fall Into Adventure - Chapter Seventeen OFF IN GEORGE’S BOAT (page 133 in some editions)
They had arrived not long after Joan had got up, and she had almost cried with surprise and relief when she had seen them walking up the front path.
‘And a lot of dirty little tatterdemalions you looked,’ she said, as she turned their breakfast out on to a big dish.
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by Rob Houghton »

one word Enid uses quite often is 'volubly - and also, if I recall right, 'verbose'. She uses these in several books but not sure exactly which ones. Might be the Find Outers. '
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by pete9012S »

Well remembered Rob!

Holly Lane:
Goon looked extremely startled. “Now, you sit down,” he said, trying to speak pleasantly. “I’m only just saying what a remarkable thing it is that you always seem to be around when these things happen. Nothing wrong in saying that, is there?”
“You mentioned something about snooping. And prying,” said Fatty.
“Ah, well, I’m a bit upset-like,” said Mr. Goon, taking out an enormous handkerchief and wiping his forehead with it. “Let’s forget it. I don’t want to interview you, but the law’s the law. It’s the last thing I want to do today —see you again. But I’ve got to ask you a few questions seeing as you and the others were the first on the spot, so to speak.”
“Ask away,” said Fatty, “but don’t be too verbose —I’ve got plenty to do.”
Goon wondered what “verbose” meant —something rude, he’d be bound! He determined to look it up in the dictionary when he got back. Verbose!
He began to ask Fatty a few routine questions.
“What time had Fatty and the others been there? Anyone about? Anything disarranged in the living-room? What had the old man said?”
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by MJE »

     Ah, yes - Fatty would be a good source for unusual words - clever, knowledgeable, and enjoying showing it off.
     I don't recall seeing "voluble" anywhere. Is there some particular character who tends to attract that description? Mam'zelle in the St. Clare's books, perhaps? (She certainly *is* voluble.) I suppose the various school stories would also be good places to look for less usual words.
     "Tatterdemalion" - sounds quaint now, perhaps very dialectical. I'm sure I'd get weird looks from anyone now if I used that word.
     I wonder if some words like these - "stentorian", "fusillade", and others - were once more usual in everyday contexts than today. However, I could conceive of "pandemonium" not appearing too weird, even today.
     "Ruffian" and "ragamuffin" are two more which are reasonably common in Blyton - both would probably seem a bit weird used today.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by Rob Houghton »

I know somewhere Enid describes a character talking 'volubly and loudly' but can't recall where. :-(
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by MJE »

     Beginning to sound like the St. Clare's Mam'zelle - or possibly Mam'zelle Dupont from the Malory Towers books. (Why are French mistresses so often voluble and excitable?)

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by Courtenay »

MJE wrote:(Why are French mistresses so often voluble and excitable?)
We had two French teachers at my school in Melbourne in the 1990s who were just that — and they weren't even French themselves, they were both English by birth! :lol:

As for Enid's vocabulary, I recall in the Adventure series, she more than once describes Dinah in a bad mood as being "mutinous". Brilliant word! :wink:
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by MJE »

     I think George is also mutinous sometimes.
     As for teachers, I never had one I'd describe as voluble - they were much too dignified and staid for that (my school was probably rather conservative even by the 1960s standards of the time). One would have been perfectly described as "magisterial", though - as well as "forbidding", "formidable", and perhaps many other things - being known as the school's main disciplinarian, and being really old-school. He was an expert in looking and sounding as if your whole world was collapsing in all around you when you violated some only medium-serious school rule or simply hadn't done your homework well enough.
     I had him for both Latin and History/Geography in Second Form (1967, my first year at school in Melbourne where we had just moved from Adelaide), and I made one crucial mistake: I did well in Latin, okay in Geography, and abysmally in History (a subject I hated). Not a good move. He was very intolerant of my doing so poorly in History (4 percent or so in one exam.) especially in view of doing well in Latin (which I liked and which appealed to my logical mind). My mistake was in failing to realize that, with a teacher like him, if you want to come across as a poor student, you must do so in all subjects equally!
     However, I was not as calculating as that, and not wanting to be a poor student as such - but just totally introverted, totally unworldly, wrapped up in my own interests, and much of the time unhappy because of sporadic bullying. (At least it was better than the near-constant bullying I got at junior school in Adelaide.)

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I remember enjoying the words "alibi" (The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat) and "ornithologist" (The Island of Adventure) as a child, though I think I had come across them before.

"Cataract" (meaning "large waterfall") was new to me when I read The River of Adventure though, and I'm pretty sure I learnt "coleopterist" from The Mystery of the Missing Man.
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by Courtenay »

I remember learning what insurance was from The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage! :D
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Refuting claims of Blyton's limited vocabulary.

Post by John Pickup »

Enid used the word spasmodic in Ring O' Bells Mystery but I can't recall it being used anywhere else.
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