Posted by andyb on December 25, 2005 at 10:24:29 from 81.131.100.112 user beardbiter.
Compare:
'First gust of wind come along and away goes your canvas overboard. Well, it's all right now I'm here. We'll soon get things in shipshape'. Ben Butcher, in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)
'and if it's all the same to you, I seen a block up there that's like to come adrift, and . . .I might as well be putting a whipping on it'. Peter Duck, in Peter Duck (1932)
I'd say the difference is quite significant. Ben comes across as a braggard, PD as quietly competent.
For a time in my childhood Dr Dolittle and his company ran a close second to the S & As as lierary companions but I haven't read them for years. Lofting had some wonderful ideas:giant sea snail, floating islands and how did they get to the moon?