Find English Teachers
Lost Soul
Oh my ears and whiskers
Come now
curiouser and curiouser
Jan 20, 2022 6:21 PM
Answers · 2
1
What is your question?
The first and the third come from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
Notice that the context for the third phrase is "'Curiouser and curiouser!' Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)." Lewis Carroll is warning us that "Curiouser" is NOT correct English. It isn't a word. "Curious" does not have comparative and superlative forms. If you check an English dictionary, you will not find the word "curiouser." Alice is a seven-year-old girl and is still learning English. It is natural for children (or anyone!) to think that all adjectives ought to have comparative and superlative forms. We have old, older, oldest. Why don't we have curious, curiouser, and curiousest? But in fact, we do not.
The White Rabbit says "Oh, my ears and whiskers..." This is a variation on a phrase pattern. They all express worry, or dismay, or irritation. The strongest form is "Oh, my god," expressed online as "OMG." Mentioning "god" this way is "bad language" so people use substitutes. Examples include "Oh, my goodness," "Oh dear," "Oh, for heaven's sake." Lewis Carroll imagines that a rabbit might use a form like "Oh, my ears and whiskers."
You won't find this expression anywhere else. If you say "Oh, my ears and whiskers," English speakers will recognize it as being from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
January 20, 2022
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Lost Soul
Language Skills
English, Slovak, Turkish
Learning Language
English
Articles You May Also Like

The Power of Storytelling in Business Communication
43 likes · 9 Comments

Back-to-School English: 15 Must-Know Phrases for the Classroom
31 likes · 6 Comments

Ten Tourist towns in Portugal that nobody remembers
59 likes · 23 Comments
More articles