Words you first learnt in a Blyton book!

[Stephen]

An obvious one I'd forgotten was 'Anonymous' from Spiteful Letters. Or rather thinking like Bets and the two ladies she was eavesdropping that the word was 'Nonimous' - until Fatty put us right!

Going back to the Grease discussion, I never saw it until my twenties or perhaps even early thirties (it just hadn't appealed to me before) - but one of my earliest memories of Top of the Pops was when I'd have been about 5 and seeing John Travolta and his mates apparently walking over rows of benches singing 'Summer Nights'!

[RDMorrell]

Stalagmites and stalactites, in one of the Famous Five books, and also the way to tell the difference between them! (The stalactites hold tight to the roof of a cave, and the stalagmites might be able to reach them some day.)

Also, I only ever saw the word "beastly" used in a Blyton book, so I guess it's fair to say I learned that term from her as well.

[Boatbuilder]

Stalagmites and stalactites, in one of the Famous Five books, and also the way to tell the difference between them! (The stalactites hold tight to the roof of a cave, and the stalagmites might be able to reach them some day.)

It's possible they are the only two words that I can recall learning from an EB Book. I don't remember which book but I do remember the 'difference' explanation. Thinking about it, I'd have thought it was one of the Adventure books, but I'm probably wrong.

edit: The reference is made in Billycock Hill and is on this page:
http://onlinereadfreenovel.com/enid-bly ... _hill.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is also a reference in 'The Valley of Adventure' on this page, but there is no mnemonic.
https://bookfrom.net/enid-blyton/page,1 ... nture.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MJE]

Patrins were the signpostings that gypsies left for each other. I have only come across that word in EB books.

     It's real - see here, for example:

  http://www.tmg-uk.org/tmg-arts/patrin-gypsy-project/

     I'm sure there are many words I first learned about in Enid Blyton - but I think most of the ones I can think of have already been mentioned: "ingots", "stentorian", "stolid", "lolloping" (quite expressive, really) - and probably others too.
     And people say her books have a very limited, simplistic vocabulary! I suspect most of Enid Blyton's critics have never read her books, but just heard what others said about them.

Regards, Michael.

[RDMorrell]

Many thanks indeed for the additional information, Boatbuilder and pete9012S. Very much appreciated. It's funny, Billycock Hill was one of my least liked Famous Five books, yet it still taught me the difference between stalactites and stalagmites. And just like Anne, I have never forgotten!

[pete9012S]

Thanks Rowan. I remember it coming up as a question in junior school and being the only one who knew - thanks to Billycock Hill!

[Anne Gracie]

Fix (getting into a). This seems to have recurring use among at least two series. I’ve never used this term in everyday language in this context. It’s very Blytonesque to me!

[Courtenay]

I just remembered another one — "civil war", which I first heard of when Enid describes it simply and memorably in The Treasure Hunters:

"Well," said Granny, "this treasure was in the Greyling family for some years, and then civil war broke out. You know what civil war is, don't you?"
"It's a war when a country fights against itself," said Jeffery. "Families against families. Daddy says it's the worst of all wars."
"It is," said Granny....

[Anne Gracie]

‘horrid’ is another one. Only and and still do, use horrible, not horrid. Although.. I have heard it used by others more recently.. is it becoming mainstream or making a comeback.. it’s probably the globalisation and the Internet eh.

[Courtenay]

"Horrid" does still get used occasionally here in Britain, I've noticed since moving here — maybe more by older people, or when someone's being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it's still around.

Have I mentioned "mackintosh" and "galoshes" as two more words I definitely first heard from Enid?

[IceMaiden]

'Galoshes' is a word I first head of in a Beatrix Potter book not an EB, when Jeremy Fisher gets half eaten by a pike. They sounded quite odd and exciting and I was disappointed to find they were only shoes!

[Courtenay]

We didn't have Jeremy Fisher when I was little, but I certainly learned quite a few new words from Beatrix Potter as well — like "tam o'shanter" and "soporific"!!

[RDMorrell]

Beatrix Potter taught me the words "impertinent" (used to describe the character of Squirrel Nutkin) and "affronted" (which is what Tabitha Twitchit was with her kittens' behaviour in The Tale of Tom Kitten). In fact, I'm pretty sure I learned the word "simpleton" (in reference to Jemima Puddle-Duck) from her as well. For books aimed at very young children, her works certainly had a sophisticated vocabulary, but were anything but soporific!

[Chrissie777]

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)
Anyone else got any examples?

Yes, it was the word "ingots" in FOATI. I've read the book some time in the late fall or winter of 1965/1966.

[Irene Malory Towers]

Reading the Mystery of the Spiteful Letters reminded me that there are 3 words I learnt - capacious as in Fatty's capacious pockets containing a clothes peg, lots of keys, a live white rat and cowed (Mr Goon to Fatty) and abounds (mystery abounding with strange clues.)