The Enid Blyton Society

Judging by the other Secret Seven titles, I'm sure Enid would have called one of their adventures 'Way To Go, Secret Seven' if she'd been writing nowadays. Really love that title.

I always thought the saying meant 'what a way to go' as in, fast, smoothly, successfully etc.

Tony Summerfield wrote:You frequently hear 'Way to Go' yelled out at American golf tournaments, along with 'You're the Man' - but I guess that "Way to Go Secret Seven" sounds better than "You're the Man, Fatty!"

"You're the Man, George!" would be a nice compliment someone could pay to a certain Ms Kirrin ...

Way to Go, Secret Seven is a fabulous title, far better than any of the real Secret Seven titles!

Ming wrote:And the winner is Ming...

Sorry Nige, but majority wins. The adjudicators agree with me.

Sorry Tass, but just because more people agree doesn't make it right. The reason why we have so many international lovers of Blyton is because the books are written in good old English. I am afraid that many American expressions are meaningless. Why do people say "Hey!" when meeting someone? The gave us the term "Hi!" then changed it to "Hey!"

Gah!

Now that's a thought. Hmm... when I'm IM-ing, I say "hey" sometimes, but mostly "hi" (Or "hello"). Yet I never SAY "hey". It's always Hi.

I usually say 'Hiya'!

I usually say, "Good Morning! And how do I find you on this day?"

Never heard you say that.

[Nigel:] Why do people say "Hey!" when meeting someone?

I don't know, but even Brer Rabbit says "Heyo!"

Anita

Great Snakes! This forum sure is wunnerful!

I dont mind Americanisms provided they are in their proper context. Phrases like Gas Station (petrol Station) or Trash Can (rubbish bin) are a part of America and I accept them as such. What I do dislike is the American habit of putting words such as Hey or Like into sentances as in; Hey I'm kinda like, you know like, thirsty so hey why dont we grab like a beer or something? That irks me greatly but to be fair it seems to be a younger generation thing over there too.

Needless to say I am dead set against any Americanisms creeping into Blyton's works. They just do not belong.

'Hey man!' said George, 'Let's like go and have some ginger beer: would that be cool?'

'Hey yeah,' said Julian, 'And let's like solve some cool mystery while we're at it: that would be doubly sick, man.'

'Come on then, let's step on the gas,' said Anne...

Sorry...!

I may be making myself unpopular on my first day back, but I have to say, as someone with American friends, what I find objectionable is the superior attitude a lot of Brits adopt to all things American.

In Britain, we have a HUGE number of sayings which match and surpass such Americanisms as "way to go" and "I'll get the door" for sheer meaninglessness. "It's raining cats and dogs" springs to mind, as does "talking through one's hat" and "keeping Mum". And if we're adding to the list of Secret-Seven-titles-that-could-have-been, how about a nice British-sounding Go To It, Secret Seven! Huh? Go to what?

You'll find it is the younger generation of Americans who pepper sentences with the filler words "like" and "kinda". And really, is anything worse than the dreaded "innit?" for which Britain is solely responsible.

My experience has always been that Americans find our Britishisms endearing rather than annoying, unlike those supercilious Brits who sneer at the American way of speech.

I had to laugh at this thread, especially Robert's "doubly sick" line. I'm one of those who often gets irritated at Americans for their "must-Americanize-it" attitude, possibly because I see so much British TV Americanized over here -- including innocent kids' shows like Thomas the Tank Engine with American accents!

But having said that, I heard today that The Backyardigans (a favorite of Lily's) plays in Britain with British accents! That's just silly. Whoever created the show, is it really worth the bother changing the accents?

I find myself agreeing with Matt too. Nothing is worse than "innit." It's bad enough imagining any of Blyton's work with "like" and "cool" and other modern expressions, but actually these aren't Americanisms, they're just, er, youthisms. It's true that it would be terrible to hear Fatty saying, "Wassup my man?" but it would be just as terrible to hear Mr Goon saying, "Will you's lot stop faffin' about! You're doin' my head in," or Julian joining in with, "These sarnies are wicked!"

Yes, it's modern youthisms we have a problem with, more than Americanisms. Although that won't stop me from complaining about Americans as I always do.

I think most of what I wrote above, including the use of the word 'sick' is actually British rather than American. I actually like many American sayings, and I really DO like the title 'Way To Go, Secret seven' - it's one of the best S.S titles there never was!

I just thought it would be fun to speculate on what a modern Five (or any other series) would sound like. Wasnt really getting at the American way of speaking. British youths are probably, like, a lot worse, like,know what I mean, man?

Just posting the 40,000th message. Congratulations to all!!