Posted by PeterH on December 07, 2006 at 20:56:34 from 81.155.57.144 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: MISS NANCY - Re: the 'people's sheep' factor (was UHT milk posted by Ed Kiser on December 06, 2006 at 22:50:13:
Ed - thanks very much. From your findings it would seem that 'Miss Nancy' was the almost universally accepted way the local folk addressed the Terror of the Seas. BUT - in Swallowdale, Chapter III (p 46 in Cape) Mrs Dixon says 'You won't be seeing much of Miss Ruth and Miss Peggy just now.' Now why does Mrs D say 'Ruth' when all the other lake locals say 'Nancy'?
Furthermore, AR writes immediately afterwards: '(Ruth was Nancy's real name, but she liked being Nancy better.)' Now if AR had scripted Mrs D to say 'Miss Nancy', he need not have put in that explanation. And, as far as I can see, the name 'Ruth' does not occur again in Swallowdale (the G.A. does not speak directly in this book), so the bracketed explanation wasn't necessary.
So come on the TarBoard detectives - what's going on here? Why was Mrs Dixon so far off-message that not only did she fry bacon by hand but she also hadn't clocked Nancy's adopted name?