The Monroe journal., 1922-02-07
HARRY TAKES A WHIRL
AT JOURNALS LANGUAGE
Thinks Nobody Would Drop Anything
On Ills Foot PurPcsely and He
Wants Some Words Left 0H
By Harry Shaw

the Interesting things that We see
in The Journal every week. that arti-
Gle last week about the good luck
horse shoe on the car has attracted
my attention most.
Now that horse shoe just won't do.
It's all a fake. But when it comes
down 10 "lef hine foot ob a rabbit
Il shore will do de wurk." The horse
shoe theory comes from barbarism
and idol worshippers. Psychology
teaches US that the horse shoe will
not keep the evil spirits away for
this reason: A horse wears four
shoes and out of the FOUR any one
will do, so the users and believers
say. Well. now you see that is too
many 10 select from. But when
science gets il down TO one foot. and
that foot is left hiud foot of a
rabbit, We have no more to say. We
are not supcrstitious but this is Just
too plain. We can't help believing
in the rabbit foot.
Ii you will carry a left hind foot
of a rabbit in your car it will make
your car run better and you need
never be afraid Of punctures and
.brako-downs for an unlimited time
We believe that man down about
Marshville that The Journal men
toned that had car Eve years and
the castings were pretty good yet. car
ries 4 rabbit foot. Ask him.
Accidentally Dropped
knockers don't win and winners
don't knock" Well, wouldn't
knock anybody for fifty cents bad
as | need the money. But this is
what | am trying TO get to. The
Journal is real anxious 10 keep gram
mar in its official form and TO per-
form its different functions as it
lis intended.
The Journal preferred "the brides
pastor" instead OF "the pastor OF the
BRIDE l am very ignorant about
grammar but the brides pastor
sounds better and | will agree with
The Journal on that point. Just so
they got married it makes no differ
enco to me which one married them.
But in another paragraph of The
Journal | noticed that the ice man
dropt some ice on his foot hurting
il seriously. The Journal says, "he
accidentally dropt il.
1t seems to me every time | see
The word accidentally" following an
accident that the word is nonessenti-
AL When the paper or writer says
accident that covers all the ground.
For no one with a sound mind would
drop anything on their foot or other
limbs on purpose. Couldn't we elimi-
nate the words accidentally dropt'
when we use accident in previous
sentence? How far from wrong will
some grammarian figure me?
Expressive Colored Language
Talk about the Missisisippie negro
all YOU want to | don't believe they
have anything on our North Carolina
negro in the way of dialect and the
attempted use of big words. A con-
fab in my place of business the other
night runs something like this: Say
niger us had do mos fun up TO my
house dis monin' youse eber seed.
NY boy sot his rabbit guns an caught
two dis monin' an he hitched dem
up to a little ole toy cyart an dey
gut loose frum de boy an great gawd
but dem bucks did 90 down cross dc
con nel wild dat cart Dey shore dld.
Dev broke loose too as de boy didn't
have the traces nailed very 'sustanc-
ious'. Great gawd but dem rabbits
sho' did lef here"
Then the conversation drifted on
to the subject of how TO dispose OF
ones property legally. Ian shore
is a mess / done tole you. You sho
better get good lawyer ter draw
up dat deed il youse poets TO yo an
cestors 10 git 1t when YOU gwine way
frum dis worl. You sho had.
We have some negroes over here,
peculiar to the others. They are
called "Geeches''. big Czech ana
Little Czech" according TO size. One
day big Czech" went TO the post
office and asked: "ls dey any mai
fur Big Czech" mo, l have not
seen any" he was told well is
dere any for Little Czech? No,
rather sour who is Little
Geech?" Oats Big Geeches' pa"
We have some Mississippi negroes
here too. And they were puzzle
at first. Especially when they came
in the store to purchase something
What would you get If someone came
in your store and asked: cap gim-
me dimes worth OBJ Mississippi
flats didn't know at first but
now | get butter beans and the order
is filled.
How many people, besides the
store men, know that II is real
characteristic of our North Carolina
negroes to buy in just as small
quantities as possible. l don't care
how much education you may give
him 1t will not break him from this
one habit. | asked a negro professor /
about this and he laughed and said
that It was just a charactistic of the
whole colored race. He was guilty
OF buying his groceries by the nickel
and dimes worth.
The other day big stout negro
came in and said: Boss, gimme a
nickel wof of swamp seed. Il
haven't been in any swamp getting
swamp seed. Tell me what you
want" Here 1t is boss in dis box.
And | looked in the box and sure
enough il was there-rice'