Patito de Hule
02-18-2012, 04:17 AM
The following quote is from Albion Tourgee, A Fool’s errand.
“The very idea I was going to advance as to the North,” laughed the old man. “I never could make out what interest they had in [slavery] at all. Now, the people who wrote those books I can understand. With them it was a principle, a religious idea. They thought it was a wrong and a sin which they would do God’s service to exterminate. They are what we call ‘fanatics.’ No one can blame them, only for not crediting us with like sincerity."
I’m interested in the sentence I bolded. The sentence I bolded jarred me slightly when I read it. I would say “except” or “but” but not “only.” At the same time I knew that when I was younger I would have used only in that way. What I’m wondering is whether this is a Southern colloquialism I picked up from my mother or if it is an obsolete usage or what? Anyone?
Also, is there a thread for questions of this nature?
“The very idea I was going to advance as to the North,” laughed the old man. “I never could make out what interest they had in [slavery] at all. Now, the people who wrote those books I can understand. With them it was a principle, a religious idea. They thought it was a wrong and a sin which they would do God’s service to exterminate. They are what we call ‘fanatics.’ No one can blame them, only for not crediting us with like sincerity."
I’m interested in the sentence I bolded. The sentence I bolded jarred me slightly when I read it. I would say “except” or “but” but not “only.” At the same time I knew that when I was younger I would have used only in that way. What I’m wondering is whether this is a Southern colloquialism I picked up from my mother or if it is an obsolete usage or what? Anyone?
Also, is there a thread for questions of this nature?