Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets
Most of the Drones short stories are also "Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets stories", as Wodehouse divides the club members into "Eggs", "Beans", and "Crumpets". This is allegedly based on the habit they have of addressing each other as "old egg", "old bean", or "my dear old crumpet"...although, in fact, no character in the stories actually addresses another character by these nicknames.
A few later stories introduce a fourth subset of Drones Club members known as "Piefaces".
Many of the Drones Club stories begin with unnamed members of The Drones Club talking about the latest exploits of Freddie Widgeon, Pongo Twistleton, Bingo Little, or another of their number. The story then transitions into a particularly well-informed Crumpet detailing the specifics of tale to an uninformed Egg or Bean:
- « "Beau Widgeon?" said the Egg, impressed. "What ho!" A Crumpet shook his head. "You won't catch Freddie joining any Foreign Legion, once he gets on to the fact that it means missing his morning cup of tea. " » (in "Noblesse Oblige")
- « " I allude, of course, to the Bella Mae Jobson affair." The Bean asked what the Bella Mae Jobson affair was, and the Crumpet, expressing surprise that he had not heard of it, said that it was the affair of Bella Mae Jobson. » (in "The Editor Regrets")
- « "He can't do that here," said an Egg, "Hoy!" he went on, addressing the Crumpet, who had entered as he spoke. » (in "The Word in Season")
Wodehouse had already used this technique in the stories told by his Mr Mulliner, who refers to his anonymous interlocutors by the name of their drink.
Read more about this topic: Drones Club