Posted by Adam Quinan on November 18, 2014 at 03:06:06 user Adam.
In Reply to: Re: Ransome's language posted by Magnus Smith on November 18, 2014 at 00:25:18:
Beastly may have been a general 1920s-30s word (coming out of the First World War, perhaps?) rather than just being limited to children.
In a quick sample of John Buchan's books for example it is found in
Mr Standfast (published 1919) five times
Huntingtower (published 1922) six times
Three Hostages (published 1924) twice
The Island of Sheep (published 1936) six times
in each mostly, if not always, by adults.
In The Thirty Nine Steps (1915) "beastliness" is used once but beastly is not used, Greenmantle (1916) has no instances.