Test No 1: Stylistic Semasiology - М. П. Ивашкин, В. В. Сдобников, А. В. Селяев

М. П. Ивашкин, В. В. Сдобников, А. В. Селяев


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Test No 1: Stylistic Semasiology


  1. Stylistic semasiology deals with

  1. shifts of meanings and their stylistic functions;

  2. stylistic functions of shifts of meanings and combinations of meanings;

  3. shifts of meanings and combinations of meanings.

  1. Figures of replacement fall into the following groups:

  1. figures of quantity and figures of quality;

  2. figures of quantity, figures of quality and irony;

  3. figures of similarity, figures of inequality and figures of contrast.

  1. Periphrasis is based upon

  1. transfer by similarity;

  2. transfer by contiguity;

  3. transfer by contrast.

  1. Epithet belongs to

  1. the metonymic group;

  2. the metaphorical group;

  3. the ironic group.

  1. Synonyms of variation are used

  1. to characterize the object spoken about precisely;

  2. to produce humorous effect;

  3. to make the speech less monotonous.

  1. In the sentence «The pennies were saved by bulldozing the grocer» we come across

  1. metonymy;

  2. metaphor;

  3. irony.

  1. The sentence «The magi were wise men - wonderfully wise men» contains

  1. an epithet;

  2. an antithesis;

  3. a gradation.

  1. In the sentence «Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail» the simile is used

  1. to impart expressiveness to the utterance;

  2. to produce humorous effect;

  3. to enable the reader to visualize the scene completely.

  1. The phrase «She craved and yearned over them» contains

  1. synonyms of precision;

  2. synonyms of variation;

  3. a metaphor.

  1. Indicate the sentence which constitutes a simile:

  1. «She writes novels as Agatha Cristie»;

  2. «She is as talkative as a parrot»;

  3. «She sings like Madonna».


STYLISTIC LEXICOLOGY
It is known that words are not used in speech to the same extent. Since certain words occur less frequently than others, it is natural to presume that the difference between them is reflected upon the character of the words themselves. Those words that are indispensable in every act of communication have nothing particular about them - cause no definite associations. On the contrary, words used only in special spheres of linguistic intercourse have something attached to their meaning, a certain stylistic colouring.

Indispensable words are stylistically neutral. Words of special spheres are stylistically coloured. This is the main division of words from the stylistic viewpoint.

Thus, words pertaining to special spheres of linguistic intercourse possess some fixed stylistic tinge of their own. Regardless of the context, they reveal their attachment to one linguistic sphere or another. An English speaking person needs no context to state that such synonyms as chap - man - individual or dad - father - sire are stylistically different. But this differentiation does not remain stable. The stylistic value undergoes changes in the course of history, with the lapse of time. Therefore, stylistic classifications must be confined to synchronic aspect.

So, all the words are divided into neutral and non-neutral. The general stylistic classification must show the relations of non-neutral words to neutral ones. It is evident that certain groups of stylistically coloured words must be placed, figuratively speaking, above the neutral words. These groups are formed by words with a tinge of officiality or refinement about them, poetic words, high-flown words in general. Other groups are to be placed below the neutral words. Their sphere of use is socially lower than the neutral sphere. We can name them «super-neutral» (elevated) and «sub-neutral» (words of lower ranks), respectively.

Super-neutral Words
Among elevated words we can find those which are used in official documents, diplomatic and commercial correspondence, legislation, etc. Such words have a tinge of pomposity about them. Their colouring is that of solemnity, and the words are termed «solemn words». The other variety of words is the poetic diction - words used in poetry and lyrical prose. They are «poetic words». True, it is hardly possible to delimitate strictly solemn words from poetic words.

The stylistic colouring of elevation also occurs in archaisms, bookish words and foreign words.

Archaisms. This term denotes words which are practically out of use in present-day language and are felt as obsolete. Archaisms may be subdivided into two groups. The first group is represented by «material archaisms», or «historical archaisms» - words whose referents have disappeared. The second group is formed by archaisms proper - those words which have been ousted by their synonyms.

In the works of fiction the use of archaic words serves to characterize the speech of the bygone epoch, to reproduce its atmosphere. It should be noted that archaization does not mean complete reproduction of the speech of past epochs; it is effected by the use of separate archaic words.

In other cases, occurring in the speech of a person, archaic words show his attachment to antiquity.

In poetry archaisms are used to create romantic atmosphere, the general colouring of elevation. The colouring may be described as poetic and solemn at the same time.

In official form of speech the function of archaisms is the same as in poetry (to rise above the ordinary matters of everyday life), but the colouring produced is different. It is the colouring of solemnity.

Bookish words. These words belong to that stratum of the vocabulary which is used in cultivated speech only - in books or in such special types of oral communication as public speeches, official negotiations, etc. They are mostly loan-words, Latin and Greek. They are either high-flown synonyms of neutral words, or popular terms of science. Consider the following example:

A great crowd came to see - A vast concourse was assembled to witness.

Began his answer - commenced his rejoinder.

A special stratum of bookish words is constituted by the words traditionally used in poetry («spouse» - husband or wife, «woe» - sorrow, «foe» - enemy. Some of them are archaic: «aught» - anything, «naught» - nothing, others are morphological variants of neutral words: «oft» - often, «list» - listen, «morn» - morning.

Foreign words. Foreign words should not be confused with borrowed words. Foreign words in English are for the most part late borrowings from French - those words which have preserved their French pronunciation and spelling. For example, the French formula «Au revoir» used in English by those ignorant of French has somethong exquisite. In the French word «chic» the same tinge of elegance is felt.
Sub-neutral Words
Among the sub-neutral words the following groups are distinguished:

  1. words used in informal speech only - the colloquial words;

  2. jargon words and slang, as well as individual creations (nonce-words);

  3. vulgar words.

The first group lies nearest to neutral words. In their use there is no special stylistic intention whatever on the part of the speaker. The words of the second group have been created, so to speak, on purpose with a view to intentional stylistic degradation. The lowest place is taken by vulgarisms, i.e. words which due to their indecency are scarcely admissible in a civilized community.

Colloquial words. They are words with a tinge of familiarity or inofficiality about them. There is nothing ethically improper in their stylistic coloring, except that they cannot be used in official forms of speech. To colloquialisms may be referred:

  1. colloquial words proper (colloquial substitutes of neutral words), e.g., chap;

  2. phonetic variants of neutral words: baccy (tobacco), fella (fellow);

  3. diminutives of neutral words: daddy, piggy, as well as diminutives of proper names - Bobby, Becky, Johny;

  4. words the primary meaning of which refer them to neutral sphere while the figurative meaning places them outside the neutral sphere, making them lightly colloquial. E.g., spoon as a colloquial word means «a man with a low mentality».

  5. most interjections belong to the colloquial sphere: gee! Er? Well, etc.

Jargon words. Jargon words appear in professional or social groups for the purpose of replacing those words which already exist in the language.

Jargon words can be subdivided into two groups: professional jargonisms and social jargonisms. The first group consists of denominations of things, phenomena and process characteristic of the given profession opposed to the official terms of this professional sphere. Thus, professional jargonisms are unofficial substitutes of professional terms. They are used by representatives of the profession to facilitate the communication.

The group of social jargonisms is made up of words used to denote non-professional thing relevant for representatives of the given social group with common interests (e.g., music fans, drug-addicts and the like). Such words are used by representatives of the given group to show that the speaker also belongs to it (I-also-belong-to-the-group function). Very often they are used for the purpose of making speech incoherent to outsiders. When used outside the group in which they were created, such words impart expressiveness to speech. In literary works jargonisms indicate to the fact that the speaker belongs to a certain professional or social group.

Very close to jargon is cant.

Cant is a secret lingo of the underworld - of criminals. The only primary reason why it appeared is striving to secrecy, to making speech incomprehensible to outsiders. It also serves as a sign of recognition.

It is noteworthy that when jargon words and cant are used in literary works they are employed to show that the character belongs to a certain professional or social or criminal group (the function of characterization).

Slang. Slang is the part of the vocabulary made by commonly understood and widely used words and expressions of humorous kind - intentional substitutes of neutral and elevated words and expressions. The psychological source of its appearance and existence is striving for novelty in expression. Many words and expressions now referred to slang originally appeared in narrow professional groups; since they have gained wide currency, they must be considered as belonging to slang.

In creation of slang various figures of speech take part:

the upper storey (head) - metaphor;

skirt (girl) - metonymy;

killing (astonishing) - hyperbole;

whistle (flute) - understatement;

clear as mud - irony.

In slang we find expressions borrowed from written speech (e.g., «yours truly» used instead of the pronoun «I»). Some slang words are just distortions of literary words: cripes (instead of Christ). Sometimes slang words are just invented: shinanigan (trifles, nonsense).

Nonce-words. Nonce-words are defined as chance words, occasional words, words created for the given occasion by analogy with the existing words by means of affixation, composition, conversion, etc. E.g., «There was a balconyful of gentlemen...» (the word balconyful was coined by analogy with the words «mouthful», «spoonful», «handful»). Being non-existent, unknown, yet comprehensible in the given situation, such words produce humorous effect. Being used just once, they disappear completely.

Vulgar words. This is a stylistically lowest group of words which are considered offensive for polite usage. They may be subdivided into two groups: lexical vulgarisms and stylistic vulgarisms.

To the first group belong words expressing ideas considered unmentionable in a civilized society. It is, so to speak, the very lexical meaning of such words which is vulgar.

The second group - stylistic vulgarisms - are words the lexical meanings of which have nothing indecent or improper about them. Their impropriety in civilized life is due solely to their stylistic value - to stylistic connotation expressing derogatory attitude of the speaker towards the object of speech.

In real life vulgar words help to express emotions, emotive and expressive assessment of the object spoken about. When used in works of literature they perform the function of characterization.

If used too frequently, vulgar words loose their emotional quality and become mere expletives (e.g., «You are so darn good-looking»).
Interaction of Stylistically Coloured Words and the Context
The following general rules of stylistic interaction may be stated:

  1. An elevated word placed in a stylistically neutral context imparts the latter a general colouring of elevation, i.e. makes the whole utterance solemn or poetic, provided the subject of speech is consistent with the stylistic colouring of elevation.

  2. An elevated word in a neutral context produces an effect of comicality if the subject of speech or the situation is inconsistent with elevated colouring.

  3. Sub-neutral words in a neutral context lower the stylistic value of the whole.

  4. Sub-neutral words in a super-neutral context or vice versa produces a comic effect.


Dialect Words
Against the background of the literary language dialect words as dialect peculiarities of speech are stylistically relevant. They show the social standing of the speaker. Nowadays it is only in the speech of the people deprived of proper school education forms of speech are signs of provincialism.

On the whole dialects differ from the literary language most of all in the sphere of phonetics and vocabulary.

Of special significance for English literature is the so-called Cockney - the dialect of the uneducated people in London. The characteristic features of the Cockney pronunciation are as follows:

  1. the diphthong [ei] is replaced by [ai]: to sy, to py instead of «to say», «to pay»;

  2. the diphthong [au] is replaced by monophthong [a:]: nah then instead of «now then»;

  3. words like «manners», «thank you» are pronounced as menners, thenk you;

  4. the suffix «-ing» is pronounced as [n]: sittin’, standin’.


EXERCISES
Exercise 1. State the type and the functions of super-neutral words in the following examples:


  1. He kept looking at the fantastic green of the jungle and then at the orange-brown earth, febrile and pulsing as though the rain were cutting wounds into it. Ridges flinched before the power of it. The Lord giveth and He taketh away, Ridges thought solemnly (Mailer).

  2. Yates remained serious. «We have time, Herr Zippmann, to try your schnapps. Are there any German troops in Neustadt?».

«No, Herr Offizier, that’s just what I’ve to tell you. This morning,

four gentlemen in all, we went out of Neustadt to meet the Herren

Amerikaner» (Heym).

  1. «Oh, I believed,» Fabermacher shrugged away the phrase. «To me neutrons were symbols, n with a mass of mn= 1.008. But until now I never saw them» (Wilson).

  2. Anthony... clapped him affectionately on the back. «You’re a real knight-errant, Jimmy», he said (Christie).

  3. A young lady home back from school was explaining. «Take an egg», she said, «and make a perforation in the base and a corresponding one in the apex. Then apply the lips to the aperture, and by forcibly inhaling the breath the shell is entirely discharged of its contents». An old lady who was listening exclaimed: «It beats all how folks do things nowadays. When I was a gal they made a hole in each end and sucked» (Jespersen).

  4. I had it from Sully Magoon, viva voce. The words are indeed his... (O’Henry).

  5. There was a long conversation - a long wait. His father came back to say it was doubtful whether they could make the loan. Eight per cent, then being secured for money, was a small rate of interest, considering its need. For ten per cent Mr. Kugel might make a call-loan. Frank went back to his employer, whose commercial choler rose at the report» (Dreiser).

  6. Not so the rustic - with his trembling mate.

He lurks, nor casts his heavy eye afar...

(Byron).

  1. The man, who obviously, did not understand, smiled, and waved his whip. And Soames was borne along in that little yellow-wheeled Victoria all over star-shaped Paris, with here and there a pause, and the question. «C’est par ici, Monsieur?» (Galsworthy).

  2. If manners maketh man, then manner and grooming maketh poodle (Steinbeck).

  3. «Jeff», says Bill to me, «you are a man of learning and education, besides having knowledge and information concerning not only rudiments but facts and attainments». - «I do», says I, «and I have never regretted it...» (O’Henry).

  4. Mrs. Tribute «my deared» everybody, even things inanimate, such as the pump in the dairy (Deeping).

  5. From the dark, crowded center of the bar someone called «Garсon!» and he moved away from me, smiling (Baldwin).



Exercise 2. State the type of sub-neutral words in the following examples:


  1. I’ve often thought you’d make a corking good actress (Dreiser).

  2. They graduated from Ohio State together, himself with an engineering degree (Jones).

  3. «Poor son of a bitch», he said/ «I feel for him, and I’m sorry I was bastardly» (Jones).

  4. I’m here quite often - taking patients to hospitals for majors, and so on (Lewis).

  5. Can we have some money to go to the show this aft, Daddy? (Hemingway).

  6. «How long did they cook you!» Dongere’s stopped short and looked at him. «How long did they cook you?» - «Since eight this morning. Over twelve hours...» - «You didn’t unbutton then? After twelve hours of it?» - «Me?.. They got a lot of dancing to do before they’ll get anything out of me» (Howard).

  7. Hello, kid! Gee, you look cute, all right! (Dreiser).

  8. «George», she said, «you’re a rotten liar... The part about the peace of Europe is all bosh» (Christie).

  9. «No real sportsman cares for money», he would say, borrowing a «pony» if it was no use trying for a «monkey». There was something delicious about Montague Dartie. He was, as George Forsyte said, a «daisy» (Galsworthy).

  10. I didn’t buy the piano to be sonatoed out of my own house (Greenwood).


Exercise 3. Determine the functions performed by colloquialisms in the following examples:


  1. With all your bitching you’ve never finished a tour of duty even once (Heller).

  2. I was feeling about as cheerio as was possible under the circs when a muffled voice hailed me from the north-east... (Wodehouse).

  3. Brenner had two more plays on Broadway in later years, both disastrous flops. One of them was produced by Craig (I.Shaw).

  4. She let the program drop to the floor. «Did you cast an eye on the stuff I sent over?» (I.Shaw).

  5. I had a little operation on my dome and the doc left a couple of fox-holes in my skull to remember him by (I.Shaw).

  6. Since when have you been so palsy with Ed Brenner? (I.Shaw).

  7. «You think we’ll run into that shark?» - «Nope» (Benchley).

  8. Of course he’d say that. Why shouldn’t he? He’s your pal, isn’t he? He probably told you you were doing the right thing (Benchley).

  9. He had wanted to do the right thing; they had forced him not to... If he couldn’t stand up to Vaughan, what kind of cop was he? (Benchley).

  10. But you mustn’t, Ma. Gee, you mustn’t cry. I know it is hard on you. But I’ll be all right (Dreiser).


Exercise 4. Determine the functions performed by slang words in the following examples:


  1. You right, old buddy. Let’s make it (Baldwin).

  2. «Now, listen», he said, «I ain’t the kind of joker going to give you a hard time running around after other chicks and shit like that» (Baldwin).

  3. «If you don’t mind, Belinder», he said, «I’m going to try to nap a little. I am absolutely bushed» (I.Shaw).

  4. She really didn’t have any idea who this nut could be, or what he was after (Baldwin).

  5. And you carry that message to the Holy Ghost and if he don’t like it you tell Him I said he’s a faggot and He better not.0 come nowhere near me (Baldwin).

  6. «...So we made a lot of junk. I’m not too proud to admit it. Four hundred, five hundred pictures a year. Masterpieces don’t come in gross lots and I’m not saying they do. Junk, okay, mass production, okay, but it served its purpose» (I.Shaw).

  7. What’s Broadway today? Pimps, whores, drug-pushers, muggers.I don’t blame you for running away from it all (I.Shaw).

  8. Murphy was contemptuous of Klein. «That punk little hustler», was Murphy’s description of Klein (I.Shaw).

  9. «Swell», Brody said. «That’s just what I wanted to hear» (Benchley».

  10. «He’s a very rich man. No matter how long this shark thing goes on, he won’t be badly hurt. Sure, he’ll lose a little dough, but he’s taking all this as if it was life and death - and I don’t mean just the town’s. His» (Benchley).

  11. Roberts whispered savagely: «Beat it. Get out of here. I want to be alone, I said» (Wildler).


Exercise 5. Determine the functions performed by jargon words in the following examples:


  1. They put me in this little cell with about four or five other cats (Baldwin).

  2. - I try to write interviews in depth for magazines. You’re making face. Why?

- «In depth», he said.

- You are right, she said. Deadly jargon. You fall into it. It shall never pass my lips again (I.Shaw).

  1. - I think we’ve got a floater on our hands, Chief.

- A floater? What in Christ’s name is a floater?

It was a word Hendricks had picked up from his night reading. «A drowning», he said embarrassed (Benchley).

  1. «I just don’t see myself in the Army», Matthew said stubbornly. «Get sent to some damn base in the Deep South - you know I ain’t for that. I ain’t about to take no crap off them red-necks...» (Baldwin).


Exercise 6. Determine the functions performed by vulgarisms in the following examples:


  1. And that’s a crime, in this fucking free country (Baldwin).

  2. He said, «That’s a hell of a note» (Baldwin).

  3. You can tell by the way he’s taken all this shit that he’s a man (Baldwin).

  4. «Man», he said to Joseph, «you know I don’t want my boy’s life in the hands of these white, ball-less motherfuckers» (Baldwin).

  5. It’s just that the bastards in the front offices won’t hire me (I.Shaw).

  6. Let people know you are alive, for Christ’s sake (I.Shaw).

  7. He would have to get Murphy to stop calling him that little punk (I.Shaw).

  8. Who could say what that gigantic manythroated «FUCK» meant? It was a word like many other and he used it himself, although not often. It was neither ugly nor beautiful in itself, and its use was now so widespread that it had almost no meaning or so many different meanings that it was no longer a valid linguistic coin. In the voices of the giant choir of the young in the film it had a primitive derision, it was a slogan, a weapon, a banner under which huge destructive battalions could march. He hoped that the fathers of the four students who had been shot at Kent State would never see «Woodstock» and know that a work of art which had been dedicated to their dead children contained a message in which nearly half a million of their children’s contemporaries had mourned their death by shouting «Fuck» in unison» (I.Shaw).

  9. It isn’t as though marriage has to be a prison, for God’s sake (I.Shaw).

  10. You two dizzy off-white cunts, get the fuck out of my face, you hear? (Baldwin).

  11. I was always on that stoop, me and the other cats, and they was always passing by, and, while I wasn’t never on no shit, they knew some of the other cats has to be... (Baldwin).

  12. You was making it with that white Jew bastard when you should have been with your son (Baldwin).


Exercise 7. Analyze the vocabulary of the following; indicate the type and function of stylistically coloured units:


  1. «You are arguing outside of my faculties of sense and rhetoric», says Bill. «What I wanted you to do is to go to Washington and dig out this appointment for me. I haven’t no ideas of cultivation and intrigue. I’m a plain citizen and I need the job. I’ve killed seven men», says Bill; «I’ve got nine children; I’ve been a good Republican ever since the first of May; I can’t read nor write, and I see no reason why I ain’t illegible for the office. And I think your partner, Mr. Tucker», goes on Bill, «is also a man of sufficient ingratiation and connected system of mental delinquency to assist you in securing the appointment. I will give you preliminary», says Bill, «$1,000 for drinks, bribes and carfare in Washington. If you land the job I will pay you $1,000 more, cash down, and guarantee you impunity in boot-legging whiskey for twelve months. Are you patriotic to the West enough to help me put this thing through the White-washed Wigwam of the Great Father of the most eastern flag station of the Pennsylvania Railroad?» says Bill (O’Henry).




  1. «I always used to play out on the street of evenin’s ‘cause there was nothin’ doin’ for me at home. For a long time I just sat on doorsteps and looked at the lights and the people goin’ by. And then the Kid came along one evenin’ and sized me up, and I was mashed on the spot for fair. The first drink he made me take, I cried all night at home, and got a lickin’ for makin’ a noise. And now - say, Tommy, you ever see this Annie Karlson? If it wasn’t for peroxide the chloroform limit would have put her out long ago. Oh, I’m lookin’ for ‘m. You tell the Kid if he comes in. Me? I’ll cut his heart out. Leave it to me. Another whiskey, Tommy» (O’Henry).




  1. «...You must of done something to make a passle of enemies here in this place, buddy, because it seems there’s sure a passle got it in for you».

«Why, this is incredible. You completely disregard, completely overlook and disregard the fact that what the fellows were doing today was for my own benefit? That any question or discussion raised by Miss Ratched or the rest of the staff is done solely for therapeutic reasons? You must not have heard a word of Doctor Spivey’s theory of the Therapeutic Community, or not have had the education to comprehend it if you did. I’m disappointed in you, my friend, oh, very disappointed. I had judged from our encounter this morning that you were more intelligent - an illiterate clod, perhaps, certainly a backwoods braggart with no more sensitivity than a goose, but basically intelligent nevertheless. But, observant and insightful though I usually am, I still make mistakes».

«The hell with you, buddy».

«Oh, yes; I forgot to add that I noticed your primitive brutality also this morning. Psychopath with definite sadistic tendencies, probably motivated by an unreasoning egomania...» (Kesey).


  1. I went up on the peak of the little mountain and ran my eye over the contiguous vicinity. Over towards Summit cxdsew32I expected to see the sturdy yeomanry of the village armed with scythes and pitchforks beating the countryside for the dastardly kidnappers. But what I saw was a peaceful landscape dotted with one man ploughing with a dun mule. Nobody was dragging the creek; no couriers dashed hither and yon, bringing tidings of no news to the distracted parents. There was a sylvan attitude of somnolent sleepiness pervading that section of the external outward surface of Alabama that lay exposed to my view. «Perhaps», says I to myself, «it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have borne away the tender lambkin from the fold. Heaven help the wolves!» says I, and I went down the mountain to breakfast (O’Henry).


Exercise 8. Observe the dialectal peculiarities in the following example:
«That’s so, my Lord. I remember having tae du much the same thing, mony years since, in an inquest upon a sailing-vessel ran aground in the estuary and got broken up by bumping herself to bits in a gale. The insurance folk thocht that the accident wasna a’togither straightforwards. We tuk it upon oorselz tae demonstrate that wi’ the wind and tide setti’ as they did, the boat should ha’ been well-away fra’ the shore if they started at the hour they claimed tae ha’ done. We lost the case, but I’ve never altered my opeenion» (Sayers).
Exercise 9. Consider the lexical peculiarities of the following abstracts paying special attention to interaction of different types of vocabulary:


  1. We were down South, in Alabama - Bill Driscoll and myself - when this kidnapping idea struck us. It was, as Bill afterward expressed it, «during a moment of temporary mental apparition»; but we didn’t find that out till later (O’Henry).

  2. Philoprogenitiveness, says we, is strong in semi-rural communities; therefore, and for other reasons, a kidnapping project ought to do better there than in the radius of newspapers that send reporters out in plain clothes to stir up talk about such things (O’Henry).

Exercise 10. Analyze the vocabulary of the following abstract; determine the type and the functions of stylistically coloured lexical units:
...«I got a nice little Indian girl down in Torreon», began the other man. «Say, it’s a crime. Why, she don’t even care if I marry her or not! I-»

«That’s the way with ‘em», broke in the other. «Loose! That’s what they are. I’ve been in the country seven years».

«And do you know», the other man shook his finger severely at me. «You can tell all that to a Mexican Greaser and he’ll just laugh at you! That’s the kind of dirty skunks they are!»

«They’ve got no pride», said Mac, gloomily.

«Imagine», began the first compatriot. «Imagine what would happen if you said that to an American!»

Mac banged his fist on the table. «The American Woman, God bless her!» he said. «If any man dared to dirty the fair name of the American Woman to me, I think I’d kill him». He glared around the table, and as none of us besmirched the reputation of the Femininity of the Great Republic, he proceeded. «She is a Pure Ideal, and we’ve got to keep her so. I’d like to hear anybody talk rotten about a woman in my hearing!»

We drank our Tom-and-Jerries with the solemn righteousness of a Convention of Galahads.

«Say, Mac», said the second man abruptly. «Do you remember them two little girls you and I had in Kansas City that winter?»

«Do I?» glowed Mac. «And remember the awful fix you thought you were in?»

«Will I ever forget it!»

The first man spoke. «Well», he said, «you can crack up your pretty senoritas all you want to. But for me, give me a clean little American girl!»... (J.Reed. Mac-American).
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