Mutton-headed galoots
Arthur Ransome's characters have some out of date but still appealing ways to describe their own, or others', stupidity. I...
Foreign-going steamship
All the romance and none of the hardship in these three words.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club
...
Long-memoried trees
We know that trees record time and climate in their year-rings – wide rings in good growing years, skinny...
Reed-fringed banks
An image of lazy summer afternoons messing about on rivers.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)),...
Sky-breaking storms
Another wet weather image. We have a single-slope roof which makes the rain sound an inch above one’s head, and...
Leadership as multi-tasking
You get to steer the ship because you can handle multiple tasks at once. Here, John demonstrates his leadership skills:...
Civilization, one scoop or two?
‘What is civilization?’ A deep and vital question we need to keep asking. I liked this pithy response, particularly one...
Dull as suet pudding
A charming alternative to ‘dull as ditchwater’. I also like the last affirmative sentence.
“Your brother is the most interesting...
Chatteration
'Again there was a sudden chatteration of gulls.' A fine description of the confabulations of sea-gulls when they get...
Light-hearted crew
May your crew be ever light-hearted.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)), p. 290
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Trim, trig and tickety-boo
Came across the upright word 'trig' in another of Arthur Ransome's charming children's adventure stories, Winter Holiday, which I read...
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