A dialect can refer to a way of speaking particular to a certain region or a certain social class. The workers on the ranch are not very well educated and this is evident in the way that they speak. You will see grammatical mistakes and slang, the latter of which probably comes from the western United States in general.
When George inspects the beds at the ranch, he notices a can of insecticide:
“Says ‘positively kills lice, roaches and other scourges.’ What the hell kind of bed you giving us, anyways. We don’t want no pants rabbits.”
"Pants rabbits" means lice or bed bugs. This is a slang term, perhaps common to the western dialect of the era depicted in the story.
When the boss leaves, George scolds Lennie for talking. Note the use of "wasn't" and "was" instead of "weren't."
“So you wasn’t gonna say a word. You was gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me do the talkin’. Damn near lost us the job.”
In describing Curley's wife, Lennie uses the word "purty," which means "pretty." It is a term that was/is used in some western and southern dialects.
Carlson's complaints about Candy's dog really show the western drawl with words and phrases like "looka here" and "ever' time."
Well, looka here, Slim. I been thinkin’. That dog of Candy’s is so God damn old he can’t hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too. Ever’ time he comes into the bunk house I can smell him for two, three days.
No comments:
Post a Comment