Posted by John Turnbull on April 13, 2004 at 00:37:21 from 195.92.67.77 user johnt.
In Reply to: Re: Q and A-"and a child shall lead us" posted by John Nichols on April 12, 2004 at 14:20:18:
I agree, sort of... AR might be horrified by all our nitpicking..he might suggest we all get out in the fresh air and do something really exciting....and yet, and yet - he was fairly meticulous in his small details himself, knowing that young readers like everything to be just right, with no loose ends, to be believable - that is all part of his charm. And the very fact that he was so careful makes it all the more fun if we can occasionally catch the master out...
And I rather fancy he might have taken to the idea of a "team of international sleuths". He was one himself, wasn't he? Titty would certainly have liked it. And how about: "Devil in the Detail, with Dot and Comma, The Detective Twins", a literary Romance, by Dorothea Callum, Chapter One...
Re "anorak" - as described, the meaning has extended from the coat to the wearer, meaning someone obsessively concerned with the detail of a particular subject.
An alternative definition might be "A person who displays an iritating depth of knowledge of a subjuct in which I am totally ignorant/entirely uninterested." (eg in my case almost anything to do with technology)
The verb conjugates as follows.. "I enthuse, you obsess, he/she is an anorak...."
What the hell, off to Coniston...