My Apprenticeship

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Hello,I can't figure out what's meant by the coloured part:"Had to poke her snout in here, the pig! Got tired of sitting home, so the old fool decided to do the shops! Oho, if she was my wife, wouldn't I show her a thing or two though!"Thanks a lot.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

If she were my wife, I would punish her severely.

Clive

Coloraday · Answer

Thank you!

Why doesn't he simply use 'would' instead of using it negatively?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

It's a form of speaking rhetorically and emphatically,suggesting the negative in order to then affirm the positive.

eg I'm really, really thirsty, so I say 'Wouldn't I like a big glass of cold water? ( Yes, I would! I would! )'

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

coloradayWhy doesn't he simply use 'would' instead of using it negatively?

I would call this the use of a pleonastic negative. Compared to some other languages English uses this structure quite rarely. One place it occurs is in exclamations.

Wouldn't I show her a thing or two though!

Doesn't that look good! (about something that looks very good)

Aren't you hungry! (to someone obviously gobbling down food)

What they won't think of next! (to marvel at some new invention)

It also sometimes occurs after wonder (if).

I wonder if she isn't a little angry about it. = I wonder if she's a little angry about it (and I suspect she is).

Don't you wonder if they didn't skim off some of the profit for themselves? =

Don't you wonder if they skimmed off some of the profit for themselves? (I suspect they did.)

CJ

Coloraday · Answer

Thanks a lot, Clive & CalifJim!

Coloraday · Answer

I think I'd better ask my other questions from the book 'My Apprenticeship' by Maxim Gorky here in this thread. :-)

I can get what's to be meant by the coloured part but the usage of sick (with ed?) and the grammatical structure used there are so weird to me. Would you please throw light on this?

church watchman to the shoe shop boy after persuading the boy to steal him a pair of galoshes from the shop:

"And what if I be fooling you? What if I take those same galoshes back to the master and say you sold them to me for half a ruble, eh? The cost is over two, and you sold them for a half. Just for a little pocket money, eh?"

"What if it's the master himself as sicked me on: 'Go try out the boy of mine--see how much a thief he is.' What then?"

Thanks a lot.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

can get what's to be meant by the coloured part but the usage of sick (with ed?) and the grammatical structure used there are so weird to me. Would you please throw light on this?

church watchman to the shoe shop boy after persuading the boy to steal him a pair of galoshes from the shop:

"And what if I be fooling you? What if I take those same galoshes back to the master and say you sold them to me for half a ruble, eh? The cost is over two, and you sold them for a half. Just for a little pocket money, eh?"

"What if it's the master himself as sicked me on: 'Go try out the boy of mine--see how much a thief he is.' What then?"

'To sic a dog on someone ' means 'to order the dog to attack someone'.

'As' here is slang for that'.

The speaker is saying 'What if it were the master that told me to test you?'

Clive

Coloraday · Answer

Great, thanks a lot!

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