In the First Formers at St. Clares, the twins and Kathleen secretly adopt a puppy.
If I recollect Kathleen names him "Binks" because he is a binks? I could not find the meaning of the word "binks". (There was a only a reference to the Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks )
Could someone please help here and explain the origin of the word "Binks" and why it would be apt for a puppy? Thank you so much.
That's interesting.
I've never read any of the school books so I don't know about the puppy, or the reason for its name. But there's at least two characters called Mr Binks in other stories - in Five Go Down to the Sea, Mr Binks is one of the two inside Clopper the Pantomime horse. And in one of the Circus Books there's a goat called Mr Binks.
So it's certainly an unusual name that Enid liked to choose.
"And during the half-hour between morning school and dinner, four girls crowded round an
excited dog and quarrelled as to what name he should be given!
“I’m his owner and I’m going to choose!” said Kathleen, firmly. “His name is Binks. I
don’t know why—but he looks like a Binks to me.”"
I have no idea where the name or nickname 'Binks' originated, but it was clearly in use in popular culture in the 1940s - 1950s as in Antonia Forest's earlier Marlows novels (the first of which came out in 1948) the younger Marlow boy, Peter , is nicknamed 'Binks' by his twin sisters Lawrie and Nicola. They are meant to be around 12-13 at the time , ie the same age as the St Clare's Juniors within a year or two, and the books were set at the time that AF wrote them. She was carful to use current slang and 'buzz words' for each book, which has led some of her 1960s books with their gang members' 'Teddy By' or 'Mod' slang seeming dated, so she presumably used then current schoolgirls' names for people. Peter is a bit wild and uncontrollable and does unexpected things, though at a strict Royal-Navy-linked training school, but is basically good-natured - like a puppy? When I first read the books I had never heard of anyone called 'Binks', apart from one or two schoolboys in 1960s comic strips ; I imagine it came from regional dialect.
I just took it to mean that the name Binks popped into Kathleen's head and she thought it suited the puppy, perhaps because it sounds cute and uncomplicated and cheery.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
Yes, I'm sure she'd heard of the name and thought it sweet and jolly - rather like Jinks which she had used for a cheerful, friendly goblin in The Green Goblin Book.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
Binks is a term for a rabbit behaviour. It's short for binkying, a sudden jump in mid air with the head and body twisting in opposite directions, only done when a rabbit feels really happy or exited. It's a word for happiness and contentment (in the rabbit world) and I think it perfectly suits a bouncy lively joyful puppy.
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