English Vernacular

"Next, I didn't fancy him that much, but I didn't find him sick-making." Pg. 98

     I believe the author has done something quite intelligent with the last few chapters. Instead of placing stock dialogue and common expressions throughout the story, he chose to write unique phrases which give the characters and the storyline more flavor. Some expressions are a function of the taboo life which the children live in. Consequently, euphemisms like "sick-making" stand in place of "odious" or "repulsive." When one of the children was "told off," the connotation was one of punishment. Instinctively, I think of vernacular as a language of a particular region. In this case, the vernacular that evolved was more because of the physical boundaries imposed upon the children. Maybe most Englishmen and women in fact did not talk like the students at all, but with their limited contact to the outside world, the kids had developed their own dialect. Perhaps the way they talked was also another tool to combat the unpleasantries that I spoke of before. If one can make something sound not so bad, it takes away the sting.