Mar 13, 2012 10:10
12 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
"what done it"
English
Art/Literary
Linguistics
Southern dialect
I am having trouble understanding a phrase that I think may be dialectal (i.e. based on a grammar different from "American English"). It is spoken in the movie "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus". The context is a character telling a story about how his father's hands had been blown off by dynamite. The father was holding a stick of dynamite in one hand, a box of caps in the other, and smoking a Chesterfield cigarette (the narrator suggests that the ash on the Chesterfield gets really long before it drops) - the ash from the cigarette ignited the caps which ignited the stick. The phrase I'm not sure about is "he never did know what done it":
"And if there weren't fire in them ashes fell in them caps and set them off, he never did know what done it."
My intuition is telling me to expect this to mean "If there had been fire in those ashes, he would have died." But this does not seem to make sense in the context of the story (there was only one stick of dynamite and it did explode, and there must have been something in the ash to ignite the caps). So maybe "he never did know what had done it" means "that would not have happened to him"? (I do believe that "he never did know" is equivalent to "he would not have known").
"And if there weren't fire in them ashes fell in them caps and set them off, he never did know what done it."
My intuition is telling me to expect this to mean "If there had been fire in those ashes, he would have died." But this does not seem to make sense in the context of the story (there was only one stick of dynamite and it did explode, and there must have been something in the ash to ignite the caps). So maybe "he never did know what had done it" means "that would not have happened to him"? (I do believe that "he never did know" is equivalent to "he would not have known").
Responses
4 +1 | what caused it |
Mark Nathan
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4 +9 | explanation |
Sheila Wilson
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Responses
+1
8 mins
Selected
what caused it
as in "it was the ash that did it"
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Note added at 9 mins (2012-03-13 10:19:07 GMT)
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He never knew exactly what had set the dynamite off
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Note added at 17 mins (2012-03-13 10:27:45 GMT)
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His father guessed that there must have been fire in the ashes because there was no other possible explanation.
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Note added at 20 mins (2012-03-13 10:30:57 GMT)
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It's as simple as that!
I think the author is just trying to give a bit of regional/period flavour through the language.
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Note added at 9 mins (2012-03-13 10:19:07 GMT)
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He never knew exactly what had set the dynamite off
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Note added at 17 mins (2012-03-13 10:27:45 GMT)
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His father guessed that there must have been fire in the ashes because there was no other possible explanation.
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Note added at 20 mins (2012-03-13 10:30:57 GMT)
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It's as simple as that!
I think the author is just trying to give a bit of regional/period flavour through the language.
Note from asker:
I don't understand the connection - "if there hadn't been fire in the ash, he wouldn't have known what caused it"? It makes sense on paper, but I'm not sure why he would say that as part of the story (the story is basically about the ash setting off the explosives) |
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Melanie Nassar
: He couldn't think of any other cause for the explosion//there was no other possible cause (except the ashes. I'm no expert, but did spend some childhood years in the South
40 mins
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+9
8 mins
explanation
The context can be rephrased to read:
If there wasn't fire in the ash (that fell from the cigarette) which fell into the caps and caused them to explode, then he never did find out what caused the explosion.
In other words, he supposed it was the ash igniting the caps that caused the explosion. If this supposition was wrong, well... he never found any other explanation for the explosion.
All of the grammar is colloquial Southern States. It wouldn't look good in an English-language examination, but it's correct spoken English for the context.
If there wasn't fire in the ash (that fell from the cigarette) which fell into the caps and caused them to explode, then he never did find out what caused the explosion.
In other words, he supposed it was the ash igniting the caps that caused the explosion. If this supposition was wrong, well... he never found any other explanation for the explosion.
All of the grammar is colloquial Southern States. It wouldn't look good in an English-language examination, but it's correct spoken English for the context.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Carol Gullidge
: yes, he could think of no other explanation other than that the explosion was caused by the cigarette ash falling onto the caps. Incidentally, the "dialect" also sounds much like Cockney or even my local Devonshire - on paper, at least
18 mins
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Thanks. Yes, I read it with a Southern accent (if you know what I mean :-). But I can hear now that it does work for others. Strange, because you'd never have trouble telling the speakers apart, would you?
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agree |
Charles Davis
: This covers it
23 mins
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Thanks
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agree |
Alison Sparks (X)
: Likewise colloquial in the UK Nottingham and area
25 mins
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Thanks
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agree |
Terry Richards
: He assumes it was the cigarette ash that caused the explosion because he can't imagine anything else that could have caused it.
27 mins
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Thanks. Of course, as has been mentioned in discussion, he'd have to be pretty dim not to know!
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agree |
Jack Doughty
40 mins
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Thanks.
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agree |
Phong Le
1 hr
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Thanks
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agree |
Ioanna Karamanou
2 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
Susana Magnani
3 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
trsk2000 (X)
5 hrs
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Thanks
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Discussion
"Everybody has a story in some form, almost invariably of sudden death, sin or redemption - yet all transformed by the characteristic grim humor and natural eloquence of the Southern imagination."
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/searching_for_the_wrongeyed_...