I
They ain't no immediate chance o' you gettin' ast out to our house to
dinner--not w'ile round steak and General Motors is sellin' at the same
price and common dog biscuit's ten cents a loaf. But you might have
nothin' decent to do some evenin' and happen to drop in on the Missus
and I for a call; so I feel like I ought to give you a little warnin' in
case that comes off.
You know they's lots o' words that's called fightin' words. Some o' them
starts a brawl, no matter who they're spoke to. You can't call nobody a
liar without expectin' to lose a couple o' milk teeth--that is, if the
party addressed has got somethin' besides lemon juice in his veins and
ain't had the misfortune to fall asleep on the Panhandle tracks and be
separated from his most prominent legs and arms. Then they's terms that
don't hit you so much yourself, but reflects on your ancestors and
prodigies, and you're supposed to resent 'em for the sake of honor and
fix the speaker's map so as when he goes home his wife'll say: "Oh,
kiddies! Come and look at the rainbow!"
Then they's other words and terms that you can call 'em to somebody and
not get no rise; but call 'em to somebody else and the insurance
companies could hold out on your widow by claimin' it was suicide. For
instance, they's young Harold Greiner, one o' the bookkeepers down to
the office. I could tell him he was an A. P. A., with a few adjectives,
and he'd just smile and say: "Quit your flirtin'!" But I wouldn't never
try that expression on Dan Cahill, the elevator starter, without bein'
well out of his earshots. And I don't know what it means, at that.
Well, if you do come out to the house they's a term that you want to lay
off of when the Missus is in the room. Don't say: "San Susie!"
It sounds harmless enough, don't it? They ain't nothin' to it even when
it's transferred over from the Latin, "Without no cares." But just leave
her hear it mentioned and watch her grab the two deadliest weapons
that's within reach, one to use on you or whoever said it, and the other
on me, on general principles.
You think I'm stringin' you, and I admit you got cause--that is, till
you've heard the details of our latest plunge in the cesspools o'
Society.