The Enid Blyton Society

Katharine wrote:In Five Go Off in a Caravan I like the part where Pongo meets Timmy and after shaking paws with him, goes round the back and shakes Timmy's tale. That's something I'd like to witness first hand.

I'd like to have witnessed Timmy writing the tale!

That will teach me to go not to post on the forums instead of going to bed when I'm tired.

I'm now off to read more tales about Timmy's tail.

There were lots of moments in the Adventure Series that made me laugh - one being the quote I now have as my signature! Most of them weren't so much outright comedy as little exchanges between the characters. For example, at the end of the first chapter of The River of Adventure, where Kiki has just learned to whistle and shout for the police, and the children are trying to shush her, when they're all startled by a "most imperious knock" and a loud voice at the door: "Who wants the police? They're here. Open in the name of the law!" It turns out, of course, to be Bill having a joke - a little vignette that shows what a fun-loving and loveable step-father he's become for the four children.

I could probably find some other examples, but that happens to be the book I most recently read, so it's the clearest in my memory at the moment!

Katharine wrote:That will teach me to go not to post on the forums instead of going to bed when I'm tired.

Did you not sleep well, Katharine?

Oh no! What's worse, is that I read that through about 3 times to make sure I hadn't made any more mistakes. Who needs comic moments in Enid's books - they can just laugh at me instead.

Maybe I had better start a new game:- '"Spot the mistakes in Katharine's posts"

Katharine wrote:Who needs comic moments in Enid's books - they can just laugh at me instead.

But I wasn't laughing at you - just chuckling in a nice friendly way!

Katharine wrote:Maybe I had better start a new game:- '"Spot the mistakes in Katharine's posts"

Stones in glass houses come to mind! I know I make loads of mistakes, we all do from time to time. I don't think your thread would be as long as some others, including mine. I often don't express myself well and feel I have a bad habit of using dashes where commas or conjunctions should go.

I tend to dash off dashes willy nilly as well - and overuse brackets (and exclamation marks!)

Same here - there I go again. I have started going over what I write and trying to limit their use, but I find they do help to convey what I'm trying to express.

Don't worry Sarah, I don't mind you chuckling at my (frequent) mistakes. I think I should concentrate on quality, not quantity! I'm always using exclamation marks as well, don't know if it's too much or not. This is a bunch of friends having a chat, so I don't think there's any harm in being a bit informal when we write. Although we are all pretty good at picking each other up on the odd grammatical error or mis-spelled word from time to time. As Miranda's mother would say "such fun!"

Someone (Farwa?) was taken to task by another forummer for using too many exclamation marks not long ago. I use too many too, but now aware that it irritates some, I always re-read my posts and delete any superfluous ones.

I always remember, being a fan of Enid Blyton, who used a lot herself (!) that I was told off by my teacher at primary school for using exclamation marks such a lot in my creative writing...but I just thought they HAD to be used!! I don't use them so much now! But I do use them on forums quite a bit!

Moonraker wrote:Someone (Farwa?) was taken to task by another forummer for using too many exclamation marks not long ago. I use too many too, but now aware that it irritates some, I always re-read my posts and delete any superfluous ones.

It was Farwa, Nigel! And I was the one who told her off! Not that I don't use a lot of exclamation marks myself! It's just that she wrote a post where every single sentence ended with one! Like this! And I found it did come across as irritating, like a loud, bossy, over-excited teenager! So I said so!

I might have guessed it was you!

I remember emailing Poppy once, suggesting she used fewer exclamation marks. Maybe I should email myself as well!

Moonraker wrote:I might have guessed it was you!

Nigel, how dare you suggest I'm the sort of person who goes around telling people off!! But then, I guess it takes one to know one.

Guilty, as charged!