Posted by Robert Dilley on October 08, 1998 at 20:14:39:
Just to see if I can start another little squib fizzing.... Has anyone else noticed how often children in the series tell each other, individually or collectively, to "Shut Up"? We have tried to teach our girls that the phrase is rather rude and to be used only under great provocation (as when you are trying to do your homework and your sister begins humming the theme tune from "Titanic" for the 387th time). Was "shut up" more acceptable then? Are my wife and I being hopelessly Victorian? Were the Swallows and Amazons less well-mannered that they might have been? Any ideas? Or should I just shut up?