u/Armadillo_Abroad

I typed this to a friend this morning, and then I sat and thought “huh, that’s a weird construction” (which I’d never pondered before until I started reading this sub). I know it’s part of my regional Southern US dialect, but I’ve lived abroad for many years and BBC’d my accent pretty hard, plus moved around all over when I was kid so my accents are blended and hodge-podge.

Question 1: Does this read more Tennessee/North Carolina Southern, more North Florida/Southern Georgia, or more Southern Texas Southern? I’m trying to place it in my mind where I picked this one up. It’s also possible I got this from my Northern Minnesota maternal family, so that’s in the mix as well.

Question 2: If you were non-Southern or non-native, would you know what I meant if you heard me say this? (It’s sort of like “I thought you could use something, maybe you don’t need it, but there is no harm in sharing this.” It’s a positive statement.)

I am just re-reading the “wilderness speech” of Lady Catherine and it struck me how similar the construction and mannerism her speech has to Darcy’s original proposal.

1. Both show up unannounced, to the confusion of Elizabeth.

2. Both assume she knows why they are there and just start right without any background details. Causing Elizabeth to be utterly stunned.

3. Both are so boorish in their manners and bluntness that Elizabeth calls out their behavior as Not Good.

4. Both get a No, but neither leave feeling satisfied.

Man, I’ve read this book umpty zillion times, and just now the full parallel structure hit me as obvious. Lady Catherine and her nephew both tread a similar path of behavior at the start of the book, but coming up against Elizabeth’s IDGAF you better come at me with some dang politeness or GTFO attitude and Darcy shifts course. Lady Catherine’s speech happens later, and she’s not particularly interested in actually listening so the available lesson goes past her.

Jane was doing some genius stuff here. Love it.