when the posh children in Enid Blyton have an "ice", I always thought it meant "ice lolly"...

[sadpapercourtesan]

...but I was reading "Five Go To Billycock Hill" last night, and they talked about having an "ice" in a tub with a little wooden spoon...surely that's an ice cream?!

Yes, I have too much time on my hands. I should be doing stuff

I didn't realise they were posh. I thought they were like me...

Definitely old-fashioned term for icecreams.

I've been rereading EB with my eight year old first the first time since I was his age, and what always strikes me about the Famous Five's food/drink arrangements now is that they are continually setting off on long hikes/cycling holidays in hot weather without anything to drink with them, and relying either on helpful springs or little shops for drinks (and ices).

Of course bringing glass bottles of lemonade or their favourite ginger beer with them in backpacks would have been incredibly heavy, and there simply wasn't the culture of bottled water, either way, in the 1940s, for obvious reasons. I think it just struck me because the books take such delight in nice food and the Famous Five get through so much of it! that the reliance on very occasional lemonade/ginger beer supplies struck me, especially when they're cycling or hiking for hours every day.

(Also that there's an assumption that random farmhouses would be able to sell them food...?)

But the real delight is having to explain to my eight year old why, when the Five Find Outers befriend Ern, the village policeman's working-class nephew, and he comes back to Pip or Fatty's house to tea, he eats in the kitchen with Cook and the parlourmaid, while the other children eat upstairs in their playroom.

My eight year old has also pointed out that EB considers tomatoes a great treat, and it's true -- she fetishises them!

Aww Flossie Teacake!! I had forgotten those books. I loved her so much. Flossie and Bella. So many good memories.

Five find outers were way better than the famous five though.

But did any of you dip prawns in pineapple juice a la Malory Towers midnight feasts?

Yeah, ice is icecream, like a choc-ice.
I always found my FFs highly confusing because some things had been updated (the coins were 10p instead of a shilling, the kids wore jeans not slacks) but lots of other things hadn't.
Also when they have macaroons they are not having these pretty little lovelies they are having these robust biscuity things. I was aware of that as a child but for my kids macaroons are the French things.

I still read the St Clare books when I'm down in the dumps and need an easy read. I'm 31!!!!

They're ridiculous books to be fair. Most of the characters are horrible people!

I was aware of that as a child but for my kids macaroons are the French things.

Those are macarons. Macaroons have always been the big biscuits.

I always assumed that it meant ice-creams. I read her books from the age of 5 or 6 up until I was around 12 and loved them. I was completely aware that they were old fashioned without anyone ever telling me this, and somehow my brain worked out what all the old fashioned terms meant. I found it strange when they updated the books and replaced the references to old money with decimal money - surely children understand that they are old books and that money was different back then?

I used to love the descriptions of all the nice food. It only occurred to me as an adult that it was probably mentioned so much because rationing was probably in place during the time she wrote a lot of the books.

(Also that there's an assumption that random farmhouses would be able to sell them food...?) - Or in fact give them food because they are so taken with the kids. Every farmer's wife seems to be a Mrs Doyle, pressing cake, sweets, ham, bread, and in one case I seem to remember "bottled raspberries" whatever they were, onto the children completely gratis.

OP, Billycock Hill is one of my favourites, I like the way it pisses down for several days in a realistic fashion rather than being sunny sunny sunshine all the time. I also like the second one in the series, because it is snowing. Refreshing change.

I don't think they were posh actually, just normal middle class.

I think the use of ice would just be language used by everyone in that particular day and age.

I don't think they were posh actually, just normal middle class.

They did go to boarding school which is quite posh, although I suppose more children did then. I always felt FF (and the Findouters) were posher than the Secret Seven because they all went to normal school it appeared, although perhaps they were too young for boarding school.

@LadybirdInTheWindow

I was aware of that as a child but for my kids macaroons are the French things.

Those are macarons. Macaroons have always been the big biscuits.

I think the language is slipping - the BBC calls them macaroons www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaroons_16105

Years ago, the little tubs of ices with wooden spoons were a delightful feature of trips to the cinema.

They're definitely hoity-toity posh kids. And very snobbish with it.

The book was published in 1957. Most childrens literature at that time was very upper-middle class, especially Enid Blyton. I was certainly not UMC but I remember the phrase being used in such books. My sisters and I read them a lot. We called it an icecream but a colloquial term where I lived was an 'oakey'.

If you want ridiculous racial stereotyping try Five Get Into a Fix, which is set in the Welsh mountains.

Just came here to say restraaaauuuuuuuuughhhhhhnnn

......Is restaurant. I heard Boris say it too so it must be true.

@SerenDippitty

If you want ridiculous racial stereotyping try Five Get Into a Fix, which is set in the Welsh mountains.

Ah yes, Aily (sp?) the feral mountain child. There was also Jan the feral Cornish child in another one.

Or in fact give them food because they are so taken with the kids. Every farmer's wife seems to be a Mrs Doyle, pressing cake, sweets, ham, bread, and in one case I seem to remember "bottled raspberries" whatever they were, onto the children completely gratis.

Exactly! Because they like Julian and his seigneurial manners (the fascist little toad). You can always tell the 'good' working class from the 'bad' working class in EB, because the good ones press food upon the children, tug forelocks, address the children as 'little Master and Miss',and tell them old stories in charming West Country/Welsh voices. The bad ones are urban, Cockney, or suspiciously foreign, and if they're rural policemen, they don't defer to the children OR believe their stories about mysterious lights/smugglers/spook trains, so the children have to go over their heads to the middle-class inspectors, who have big cars, invariably believe them, and treat them to a hotel tea when they've solved a case.

Five find outers were way better than the famous five though.

This with bells on! My favourite was the mystery of the disappearing cat.

The Magic Faraway Tree stories were the very best of Enid Blyton though. I always wanted a google bun!

I thought ice was short for water ice which was a basic version of a sorbet - so frozen fruit juices basically not ice cream . The Monica Dickens book One Pair of Feet (another great comfort read) about her time as a 'domestic' is really educational about food in the 40's and 50's

"Macaroons have always been the big biscuits."

Unless they are coconut ones?

My DC are reading the famous five at the moment. We watch the famous five episodes from the 80s on YouTube after they've finished each book, they love seeing the book in action afterwards!

My dd read all the famous 5 books, them Mallory towers, then asked to board at school.
Be careful what you let them read.