Words you first learnt in a Blyton book!

[Piehead]

Is there any words that you first saw in a book of Enid Blyton's that you had to look up and then remembered or used?(for me this was looking in the shorter Oxford of my Dad's - i.e pre internet days)

I can thank Fatty for teaching me two fantastic words (both said in relation to addressing how Goon speaks) - the words being "Verbose" and "Assernine"

Anyone else got any examples?

NB: I also enjoy the use of the word "trippers" - especially when expressing displeasure at the amount of people in tourist places!

[Katharine]

Yes - "stentorian".

And just a few weeks ago = "lugubrious".

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting topic, Piehead! Welcome to the website and forums!

I first encountered the following words in Enid Blyton books as a child, though I never looked up a word in the dictionary because the meaning was usually clear from the context:

'feeble' and 'monitor' - The Naughtiest Girl in the School

'ornithologist' - The Island of Adventure

'cataract' - The River of Adventure

'lugubrious' - The Rubadub Mystery

'goloshes'/'galoshes' - from various short stories (both spellings are used).

I can thank Fatty for teaching me two fantastic words (both said in relation to addressing how Goon speaks) - the words being "Verbose" and "Assernine"

I think the latter would be 'asinine'. I agree that they're both fantastic words.

[Kate Mary]

Coleopterist - The Mystery of the Missing Man

[Piehead]

I can thank Fatty for teaching me two fantastic words (both said in relation to addressing how Goon speaks) - the words being "Verbose" and "Assernine"

I think the latter would be 'asinine'. I agree that they're both fantastic words.

Indeed - yes - "Asinine" was of course the word!

I can't remember the exact "mystery" book in which it was used and I''m now wondering if it was Fatty or Jenks who said it to, or about Goon. I will have to have a quick check.

Addition - Turns out I was wrong! It is "Vanished Prince" and actually "asinine" is used by Jenks to describe the percevied poor behaviour of Fatty re the dressing up. Sorry Mr Goon!

I quote:
"There was a pause. “Yes,” came the Chief Inspector’s voice, at last. “I’d let Goon question
them, but I don’t think he’d get much out of Ern, somehow. You’d better see if you can find
out something, Frederick—though you don’t deserve to come in on this, you know, after your
asinine behaviour.”

[Fiona1986]

There are a few that come to mind, but there are probably more.

Stolid
Stentorian
Galoshes
Sou'westers

[Anita Bensoussane]

I can't remember the exact "mystery" book in which it was used and I''m now wondering if it was Fatty or Jenks who said it to, or about Goon. I will have to have a quick check.

Addition - Turns out I was wrong! It is "Vanished Prince" and actually "asinine" is used by Jenks to describe the percevied poor behaviour of Fatty re the dressing up. Sorry Mr Goon!

I quote:
"There was a pause. “Yes,” came the Chief Inspector’s voice, at last. “I’d let Goon question
them, but I don’t think he’d get much out of Ern, somehow. You’d better see if you can find
out something, Frederick—though you don’t deserve to come in on this, you know, after your
asinine behaviour.”

I'm not sure how many times the word 'asinine' appears in Blyton books but it's also used by Mr. Trotteville about Goon in The Mystery of the Strange Bundle:

To Fatty's relief his father decided next day not to inform Mr. Goon of the attempted robbery at all. Mr. Trotteville had no great opinion of Mr. Goon, and was not disposed to waste a morning with him.

"He'd ask asinine questions, and waste everybody's time," said Mr. Trotteville.

[Courtenay]

Ingots!

[Stephen]

I think it was The Sea of Adventure where the expression "pooh-pooh" is mentioned. Something about the children being glad that Bill hadn't pooh-poohed their plans. And naturally, as an impressionable child, my first reaction was "Did I just read that correctly?"

Not exactly the same thing, but consider that one of the best known brands in the world is Google. You think of it as a very modern thing - but I remembered that word from reading about google buns when I was a kid!

[John Pickup]

Spasmodic in Ring O' Bells Mystery. This word fascinated me for weeks after.

[Courtenay]

I'd heard the word itself before, but first learned what "being insured" actually means from reading The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage.

[Jack400]

I'd heard the words stalagmite and stalagtite before, but, only remembered which was which after Billycock Hill.

[IceMaiden]

'Verbose'. Like Mr Goon I went to look it up in the dictionary as soon as I could!

[Irene Malory Towers]

I learned purloined (from Circus of Adventure) when Philip purloins one of his mum's table cloths to use as a hanky and mutinous - also from Circus of Adventure when Dinah is told off by her mum about banging poor Gussy's head on the floor when he throws a book at Kiki. I am sure there are more words.

[Courtenay]

Mutinous! I knew what that word meant by the time I first read the Adventure series (I should hope so — I was over 30 by then! ), but it really stood out to me as a delightfully descriptive term for Dinah in one of her bad moods and I remember thinking "And they say Enid Blyton didn't have a sophisticated vocabulary!!"