Decide which parts of this excerpt contain dialect.

Buck's senses came back to him, but not his strength. He lay where he had fallen, and from there he watched the man in the red sweater.

"'Answers to the name of Buck,'" the man soliloquized, quoting from the saloon-keeper's letter which had announced the consignment of the crate and contents. "Well, Buck, my boy," he went on in a genial voice, "we've had our little ruction, and the best thing we can do is to let it go at that. You've learned your place
and I know mine. Be a good dog and all 'll go well and the goose hang high
. Be a bad dog, and I'll whale the stuffin' outa you.
Understand?"

1 answer

The excerpt contains dialect primarily in the following parts:

  1. "my boy" - This phrase conveys a colloquial and informal way of speaking that suggests familiarity and a casual relationship.

  2. "we've had our little ruction" - The term "ruction" is dialectal and implies a disturbance or quarrel, which might not be commonly used in standard English.

  3. "Be a good dog and all 'll go well and the goose hang high" - This phrase uses idiomatic expressions that reflect a regional or informal way of speaking. The expression "the goose hang high" is an idiomatic phrase meaning that things will go well if the advice is followed.

  4. "I'll whale the stuffin' outa you" - The use of "whale" as a verb to mean to hit or beat someone and the phrase "stuffin' outa you" reflect a more informal, aggressive pattern of speaking that conveys a strong, regional flavor.

Overall, the dialogue reflects a specific character's informal and colloquial speech, marking it as dialect.

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