In addition to all the words mentioned already, I have some more:
Tuck Boxes - I never knew what they were until I read the boarding school books, must say I quite liked the idea, though.
Spook as in spook trains - I then knew it was something scary.
Scarecrow - I did make a stick "thing" and dress it up with some old clothes....one time even a dress.
The Chief looked at Fatty. "Brains are good, courage is excellent, resourcefulness is rare," he said, "but generosity crowns everything, Frederick. One of these days I'll be proud of you!" - "Vanished Prince".
Shilling - reading the books in the 1970s I had no idea what old money was. I remember asking my mum and she explained about the old monetary system and showed me some of the old coins.
Last edited by shadow on 15 Jan 2022, 00:45, edited 1 time in total.
If I could live here on this secret island always and always and always, and never grow up at all, I would be quite happy
Loads. Reading this thread gives the lie to the lazy idea EB was somehow writing dumbed down prose. She was a proper writer using a vocabulary that stretched her readers whilst still being wonderfully accessible. Anyway, I learnt most of what’s already been mentioned; and also lacrosse (although I’d never heard it said aloud and pronounced it in my head as lack-er-oss).
I don’t remember which new words I learned from reading Enid Blyton, I do know that for a couple of years from six to eight years old, I read almost nothing but EB, quite indiscriminately, anything available at our public library. There were other choices at the library, but EB book predominated in the children’s fiction section because that waas what every child in our district wanted to read as their first choice. I knew I was learning new words and concepts all the time.
The skill that Enid Blyton had was to introduce ‘advanced vocabulary’ in a way that enabled the child to absorb the meaning from context. Rereading her books I can see that this was quite a deliberate choice by the author. Just as with modern technical writing, she defined her ‘terms’, but did so in the flow of the narrative. Has anyone done a close textual analysis of Blyton’s work in respect of how and what it teaches? I suspect that the current generations of ’educators’ would think it beneath them. They might come away rather surprised once the veil of prejudice has been lifted.
“To grow up in intimate association with nature – animal and vegetable – is an irreplaceable form of wealth and culture.”
~Miles Franklin, Childhood At Brindabella: My First Ten Years
I had learnt good English from.Enid blyton books only
--Words like -- mantlepiece, sideboard, boxroom, attic, larder were all words I learnt and loved.Also mixture of words like.-- scrumplicious, delumptious are too good.Today, the English I know I owe to Enid blyton books
Goon is on one occasion talking to Fatty. Fatty says to Goon, “don’t be too verbose.”
Although I didn’t know the word verbose, it was obvious what it meant.
Christmas had been a mad and merry time in the Lynton’s house. All the
children had come home from school in high spirits, looking forward to
plenty of good food, presents and jollifications.
This was a new word for me when I first read this book.
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane - Society Member
