Posted by Ed Kiser on May 13, 2016 at 08:42:56 user Kisered.
In Chapter 6 of "Swallowdale", as John and Nancy consider the job of raising the sunken SWALLOW...
"It'll be all right," said Nancy. "Captain Flint's coming today,
and he'll howk her up in two jiffs."
I presume that the meaning of "howk" as used here could be "jank."
"Dialect" comes to us again.
One of the problems in introducing these books to subsequent generations is getting by the words they do not understand. When trying to overcome their reluctance by reading it aloud to them, it suddenly falls on me to be able to answer their question as to "what does that mean?" For the most part, it was translated simply by considering the general jist of what is going on. My interpretation was hopefully close enough to being the proper translation so we could get on with the story, having some years ago struggled on my first reading to understand things like "what is a Duffer?" Some meanings had to wait until years later, when this forum came up with some answers such as "midden" - which I had no idea what THAT was. Jacky certainly gave us a few other words to try to translate, but somehow, it added to the delights of digging through these stories, being educated without having to realize it. It has been a learning experience, all these years, and I keep making discoveries that keep me coming back to those childhood friends of long ago as they take me with them, again and again.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky, USA
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