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Kapa Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary
Meaning
Hello dear friends,
Could you please tell me about the meaning of the bold part?
There were blue-brown shadows under her eyes, and the lines from her nostrils to the corners of her mouth were definite. No doubt about them, she thought. She pulled her cheek to one side and peered at the tiny mother line. I couldn’t care less. By the time I’m ready to get married I’ll be ninety and then it’ll be too late. Who’ll bury me? I’m the youngest by far—that’s one reason for having children.
What kind of line in the face is it?
Thank you.
Could you please tell me about the meaning of the bold part?
There were blue-brown shadows under her eyes, and the lines from her nostrils to the corners of her mouth were definite. No doubt about them, she thought. She pulled her cheek to one side and peered at the tiny mother line. I couldn’t care less. By the time I’m ready to get married I’ll be ninety and then it’ll be too late. Who’ll bury me? I’m the youngest by far—that’s one reason for having children.
What kind of line in the face is it?
Thank you.
Top answer
This is apparently more Southern idiom from the 1950's, unfamiliar to non-Southerners today. Apparently it was believed you could tell things about a person - like people tell fortunes by reading the lines on a palm - by certain lines on the face. The "mother line" on a woman's face would indicate the likelihood of a woman becoming a mother, a small mother line being a bad sign for a woman as far as motherhood is concerned.
- This is apparently more Southern idiom from the 1950's, unfamiliar to non-Southerners today.
- Apparently it was believed you could tell things about a person - like people tell fortunes by reading the lines on a palm - by certain lines on the face.
- The "mother line" on a woman's face would indicate the likelihood of a woman becoming a mother, a small mother line being a bad sign for a woman as far as motherhood is concerned.
- The woman being described as a small mother line, this, in combination with the alarming natural signs of aging on her face - the dark shadows under the eyes, the crow's feet from her nostrils and mouth - indicate she's not a good candidate for motherhood.
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2 Answers
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This is apparently more Southern idiom from the 1950's, unfamiliar to non-Southerners today. Apparently it was believed you could tell things about a person - like people tell fortunes by reading the lines on a palm - by certain lines on the face. The "mother line" on a woman's face would indicate the likelihood of a woman becoming a mother, a small mother line being a bad sign for a woman as fa
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AnonymousThis is apparently more Southern idiom from the 1950's, unfamiliar to non-Southerners today. Apparently it was believed you could tell things about a person - like people tell fortunes by reading the lines on a palm - by certain lines on the face. The "mother line" on a woman's face would indicate the likelihood of a woman becoming a mother, a small mother line b
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