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they shorten up all their adjectives

 

Visits of Elizabeth by Elinor Glyn
Mladé naivné dievča z vyšších kruhov, ktoré je na návšteve u príbuzných, píše list a v ňom opisuje pozvanú spoločnosť: „They all call each other by pet names, and shorten up all their adjectives (it is adjectives I mean, not adverbs).“
Čo tým chcel básnik povedať?

The book, published in 1900, is about the way people in „high society“ and the „smart set“ around the turn of the century lived their lives. These people sometimes adopted unusual mannerisms that formed part of their group identity as the „smart set“, and they would play with language in ways which people who were not part of „high society“ wouldn't understand.

There's an example of how these people „shortened (up)“ adjectives a few paragraphs further down, where Miss La Touche describes the narrator's hat as „too devey for words“. Here, „devey“ is a shortened form of „divine“. This kind of language mannerism isn't used today and wouldn't be understood. See also „Deevie and diskey“ here (mleddy,blogspot).

 

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