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QUESTION: What inspired Roald Dahl’s gobblefunk, the language used by the BFG?
Roald Dahl’s gobblefunk is a glorious mixture of quirky words, mixed-up grammar and malapropisms that has delighted generations of children.
Gobblefunk includes unique vocabulary such as ‘snozzcumber’ (a nasty-tasting vegetable), ‘whizzpopping’ (the noisy flatulence causedby drinking fizzy ‘frobscottle’) and ‘delumptious’ (delicious).
Dahl’s nonsense vocabulary extended beyond the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). Dahl invented 500 words, such as ‘oompa-loompa’, ‘snozzwanger’ and ‘vermicious knid’, all from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
However, it was in The BFG he really shone, with ‘childchewer’, ‘flushbunking’, ‘catasterous’, ‘humplecrimp’, ‘swallomp’ and ‘lixivate’.
His inventive skill was a reflection of his upbringing and imagination. His wife’s stroke and subsequent problems with language may have also been a factor.
Gobblefunk cleverly adapts existing words and distorts them into semi-recognisable ones.
Dahl was likely influenced by Lewis Carroll, who invented words inhis poem Jabberwocky.
Roald Dahl’s gobblefunk is a glorious mixture of quirky words, mixed-up grammar and malapropisms that has delighted generations of children. Here one of Dahl’s most famous character, the BFG is pictured
Dahl was fluent in Norwegian (his parents’ native language), allowing him to look at the construction of English more objectively than writers who are monolingual.
Dahl invented clever insults and expletives to give power to hispowerless characters and he wanted children to have fun reading.
In 1965, Dahl’s first wife, the Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal, had a brain haemorrhage, causing a stroke that nearly killed her.
As her brain healed, Dahl marvelled at how the stroke had affected her language. A drink was a ‘soap driver’, a cigarette an ‘oblogon’.
She said he made her ‘skitch’ (cross) and gave her ‘the sinkers’(depression).
However, when asked by a doctor, Tom Solomon, about the link, Dahl was non-committal.
‘Well, I’d always enjoyed making up new words. That’s part of the fun, you know, that keeps the nippers interested.
‘But I suppose, yes, some of the trouble Pat had did work its way into The BFG. Yes, it must have.’
T. S. Courtenay, Chepstow, Monmouthshire
QUESTION: Why are there so many Manchesters in the U.S.?
Many English place names have been adopted in the U.S., reflecting its historical ties to England, such as Birmingham, London, Cambridge, Oxford, Windsor,Chester and Richmond.
However, Manchester is conspicuous in its popularity; there are more than 30 Manchesters in America.
Dahl’s nonsense vocabulary extended beyond the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). Dahl invented 500 words, such as ‘oompa-loompa’, ‘snozzwanger’ and ‘vermicious knid’, all from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Pictured: Roald Dahl
The reasons are a mixture of nostalgia, association and timing. Nostalgia in that having crossed half the world, people wanted a reminder of their homeland.
Association and timing in that Manchester was at the peak of its industrial power in the 19th century, and at the forefront of the IndustrialRevolution, when these places were being named.
As towns and cities were industrialising in the U.S., the inhabitants wanted to project the image of this great city.
The village of Manchester in New York was named after the city in England. It was originally called Coonsville after an early settler, Valentine Coon, built a woollen mill there in 1812.
However, the citizens voted to rename the village in 1822 in honour of the British industrial city. Manchester in Michigan was named as such for similar reasons.
Ian Robbins, Wakefield, West Yorks
My late father Roy Cookson was also inquisitive about this and ended up writing a book called A World Of Manchesters (2002) in which he researched every place in the world called Manchester.
He included famous people, historical facts and city details on everyManchester in the world.There are Manchesters in Bolivia, Canada, Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand.
The reasons for the name are varied, with no realcommon theme.
Neil Cookson, Blackpool, Lancs
QUESTION: Have any animals been collected to extinction?
Further to the earlier answer, a species of tiny, brown, eyeless cave-dwelling beetle is on the brink of extinction for a bizarre reason.
In the 1930s it was discovered by a man who called it Anophthalmus hitleri (‘the eyeless one of Hitler’) because he was a devotee of the German chancellor.
The small, nondescript beetle is found only in a few Slovenian caves. Neo-Nazis regard the beetle as Nazi memorabilia and have been paying inflated prices for specimens.
The species is in imminent danger of being collected to extinction by virtue of its name.
Kate Turner, Colchester, Essex