To think this attitude to names like Fanny in old books is silly?

[Carla786]

I've seen posts here agreeing with the new Enid Blyton editions that changed Fanny to Franny and Dick to Rick, some even saying she must have meant it as a double entendre.

 Just seems silly & narrow-minded to me. Not everything was always meant as a double entendre. Should Fanny Price in Mansfield Park also be changed? Or other characters called names that mean different things now? 

I remember my mother passed down a minor Blyton book with a kitten called Bimbo in. Was that Blyton being rude, or just due to the fact that Bimbo was slang for 'kid' then?

A child should not understand the context of the word Fanny as adults now choose to use it.
It was not filth as you put it then. So it says a lot about the people of today sadly.

No I don’t think so. I still know of a few men called Dick and no one seems to take any notice of the name

Exactly.

It actually shows the adults as the more childish ones as they're the ones sniggering over it and unable to control themselves (some, that is).

'Fanny' is anyway used as slang more by older generations.

Yes, there was a sad post on a thread discussing Fanny on baby names where a person said a Dutch coworker called Fanny got 'the piss ripped out of her' often for it. Awful.

Interesting if there is a pattern (potentially sexist?) that Fanny is seen as making anyone called Fanny a joke,,but not Dick.

I'm pretty sure Dick is used as a joke in Whittington pantos, but that's a specific context.

In order to maintain consistency Peter, Willy, Rod, Lance, Dirk, John, Roger, Woody, Randy, Mickey, Buddy, Cherry, Tulip, Minnie, Muffy, and Mouse are all going to have to go too. Also the surnames Johnson, Wang, Hickey, Weiner, Bone, Bean, and anything including "cock".

(Speaking of which, I can't believe someone posted this on Ed Balls Day!)

Dick Turpin - if anyone tried to change his name I expect he’d come back and haunt them.

Sorry I'm naive : Peter? Mickey? Tulip? Buddy? 🤣

I think someone called Muffy would have issues but it's rare.

Good one! I love highwayman legends though the reality was probably gruesome

I'm more intrigued as to how the name Dick, ever became associated with a penis and the same re Fanny and a vagina-what possible connotations does each name have with the respective bit of anatomy? Adored Enid Blyton.

Updating the names doesnt alter the story.

Enid Blyton wrote a lot worse than some mildly amusing names. You should see the Orignal "Noddy" books for example.

Can’t stand messing around with books to pander to modern-day sensibilities.

I just saw FB's grave in Lisbon recently!

It is so irritating when publishers change characters’ names. Surely people are generally intelligent enough to understand that language isn’t static, words develop new meanings, and there’s no reason to snigger at a name that was perfectly ordinary in its original context.

And don’t even get me started on the abridged or simplified editions of brilliant works of literature, e.g. The Wind in the Willows.

It’s a shame to change them. It’ll take all the joy out of being 9-years-old and laughing hysterically about the fact someone’s actual name is Fanny

Do you think that real people with names such as Fanny and Dick should now be referred to by different names?

This!

Another old kids' book my mother read to me was the Violet Needham one The Black Riders (and the sequels). Exciting stories I've always thought would have worked well on TV. Anyway , fortunately the small press that republished it didn't decide to change it to 'Rick' a la Blyton's republishers!

Its ridiculous is what it is. It feels like you're rewriting history to suit a modern narrative. Even if it is fiction it reflects the values and norms of the time. Even novels are important historical documents.

And it's not filth it's a name. If your grandmother was called Fanny, would you pretend to your children that she was called something else? Or maybe even deny her existence altogether.

It's the opposite of progress.

I'm not sure that many 9yos now would be as aware of the slang anyway. I'm older Gen Z & maybe I'm naive but I don't think people my age use the slang that much. When I was 9 I'd only come across 'fanny' in that sense once I think (and that was in Roald Dahl's Matilda, where he oddly uses it in the US sense - Mr Wormwood says something about how Matilda shouldn't 'sit on her fanny reading story books' , unless I've misremembered!)

Anyway I don't think it's ideal to be laughing at the idea of it being someone's name when it was fairly common in living memory and still is in some countries.

The OG Fanny

(pic will take a few minutes to post)

I’m old enough to remember girls being named Gay. Or Gaye.

It’s pathetic, when I was growing up they were Fanny and dick and those words had ‘rude’ meaning then, nobody bothered. Kids nowadays must be total drips to not be able to cope.

Gay Search - Wikipedia

The Real Minty Clinch – A Skiing Legend | Ski Line ®

I used to work with more than one Dick.

I agree - it is silly. Apart from the racist ones (I remember the Little Black Sambo book in my grandparents' toy box. Rupert the Bear also had a few unfortunately-named international friends, if I recall correctly), which should be binned.

I like Jane Austen - Mansfield Park is an absolute masterpiece and I remember being highly annoyed at the puerile cacklings of my teen DB and his friends on learning that the heroine was called Fanny Price. It's only short for Frances. Although I will concede that I have occasionally inappropriately smiled at Henry Crawford's line "my Fanny will feel a difference indeed: a daily, hourly difference, in the behaviour of every being who approaches her".

Yes I feel like racist ones are different. Even at the time some were criticised..'Fanny' doesn't mean anything derogatory to a group as a slang term, it's just a body part.
That does sound annoying. 🙄 I agree you might chuckle occasionally but the reaction people often have is OTT.