Although rarely seen in public UK playgrounds*, helter-skelters are well known here to kids of all ages. They turn up at travelling fairs, in kindergartens, large stores, and there’s even a very posh model (built from  metal tubes) at the New Tate, London. The very name has probable ME roots (skelton — to hurry) and a rhyming reduplicative format that appeals to the young. (Compare HARUM-SCARUM.) I hope we don’t get involved in defining precisely the physical attributes of the helter-skelter. Spiral slide is a good approximation, although I’ve seen many variations. What seems beyond doubt is the widespread idiomatic use of ‘helter-skelter’ that would be clear to most English native speakers. Which came first, the slide or the predicate is best left to the word-anoraks with time to burn. If based on the giddy mix of FUN and FEAR enjoyed by those sliding spirally under the accelerating force of gravity, ‘helter-skelter’ is a natural adv. or adj. for hurried and uncontrolled activity. Helter-skelter the predicate has never been quite as derogatory as harum-scarum (which is nearer to DING-BAT)

As a description of the SHAPE of VN’s BRAIN (or MIND?), though, ‘helter-skelter’ seems highly inappropriate, both physically and metaphorically! Even worse, it’s boringly daft. E.g., “I find Zadie Smith’s mind shaped like an aubergine.” “Really? Methinks it’s more like a melon.”


* The nanny-state is increasingly cautious as to what is safe for the unsupervised.


On 24/1/07 22:05, "TA Colquhoun" <tacolquhoun@BTOPENWORLD.COM> wrote:



That must be London, Ohio or somewhere. I don't think I’ve ever seen something called a ‘helter-skelter’ in any playgrounds around here (London). Slides, swings, ponds with boats. No helter-skelter, though.

Tina Colquhoun


From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of Priscilla Meyer
Sent: 24 January 2007 15:49
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Nabokovs brain is shaped like a helter-skelter ...

The second. It's a substantive noun in her context, denoting a common playground item seen all over, for example, London.

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