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Oh my ears and whiskers
Come now
curiouser and curiouser
20 de jan de 2022 18:21
Respostas · 2
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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."
20 de janeiro de 2022
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Lost Soul
Habilidades linguísticas
Inglês, Eslovaco, Turco
Idioma de aprendizado
Inglês
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