Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1914 — LANGUAGE. [ARTICLE]

LANGUAGE.

Dr. Osler tells the following to illustrate the elasticity of the English language, as used by the Southern negro. One day there came to the clinic a negress with a broken jaw. The examining physician, intent on discovering the exact nature and extent of the injury, asked numerous questions. To all of them the negress returned evasive answers. Finally, she admitted that she was “hit by a object.’’ “Wae it a large object or a small object?” asked the physician. “Tolle’by large.” “Was it a hard object or a soft object?” “Tolle’by hard.” “Was it coming rapidly or slowly?" "Tolleb’y fast.” Then, her patience exhausted, the negress turned to the physician. “To tell the truth, dodonTwas jest simply kick’d in the face by a gen’leman friend.” —Everybody’s.