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Cadzao Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

"little" dealer in a "darling little shop"

"Hundreds of housed on back roads and highways in New England were turned into furniture and bibelot shop. Pewter that the family had put away when they could afford china, and luster candlesticks that had been forgotten when they could buy brass or silver came out of the attic or the cold-cupboard to be proudly displayed and sold for gratifying prices to avid collectors. There was hardly a suburban housewife who didn't habor a secret "little" dealer in a "darling little shop" to which she would not risk taking even her closest friends."

It's impossible for me to get what the author means with the blue sentence.

Please help!

Cadzao
  

Top answer

"Hundreds of housed on back roads and highways in New England were turned into furniture and bibelot shop. Pewter that the family had put away when they could afford china, and luster candlesticks that had been forgotten when they could buy brass or silver came out of the attic or the cold-cupboard to be proudly displayed and sold for gratifying prices to avid collectors. There was hardly a suburban housewife who didn't habor a secret "little" dealer in a "darling little shop" to which she would not risk taking even her closest friends.

— Widget

  • "Hundreds of housed on back roads and highways in New England were turned into furniture and bibelot shop.
  • Pewter that the family had put away when they could afford china, and luster candlesticks that had been forgotten when they could buy brass or silver came out of the attic or the cold-cupboard to be proudly displayed and sold for gratifying prices to avid collectors.
  • There was hardly a suburban housewife who didn't habor a secret "little" dealer in a "darling little shop" to which she would not risk taking even her closest friends.
  • " The author put parts of this piece of writing in quotation marks to try and convey the strange and unique way in which housewives used to speak.
  • If you know the comedic character "Dame Edna Everage", you will have an idea of how it sounds.
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4 Answers
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"Hundreds of housed on back roads and highways in New England were turned into furniture and bibelot shop. Pewter that the family had put away when they could afford china, and luster candlesticks that had been forgotten when they could buy brass or silver came out of the attic or the cold-cupboard to be proudly displayed and sold for gratifying prices to avid collectors.
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I wonder about the meaning of dealer here.

I don't think it means shop clerk or antiquities dealer.
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I absolutley do. What do you think it means? A drug dealer? They're talking about selling off the family heirlooms. What else could it mean?
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Thank you all for the very interesting explanation.

Cadzao
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