Dickens: A Custum ’Us officer
Marius Hancu
Why "Custum/Custom 'Us" for customs? I assume it's some dialect,
but ...
The buttons involved: are they their uniform markings?
Why is the part after the comma necessary in
"up with one tide and down with another, and both with and against
another?"
Just to emphasize they went both ways on the river?
---
[In a public house on the shores of Thames, there are reports that
there might be customs or police in disguise around]
“Why, what do you make out that they done with their buttons then,
Jack?” asked the landlord, vacillating weakly.
“Done with their buttons?” returned the Jack. “Chucked ’em overboard.
Swallered ’em. Sowed ’em, to come up small salad. Done with their
buttons!”
“Don’t be cheeky, Jack,” remonstrated the landlord, in a melancholy
and pathetic way.
“A Custum ’Us officer knows what to do with his Buttons,” said the
Jack, repeating the obnoxious word with the greatest contempt, “when
they comes betwixt him and his own light. A four and two sitters don’t
go hanging and hovering, up with one tide and down with another, and
both with and against another, without there being Custum ’Us at the
bottom of it.”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, p. 659
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ge/chapter54.html
---
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
James Hogg
> Hello:
>
> Why "Custum/Custom 'Us" for customs? I assume it's some dialect,
> but ...
Custom House
--
James
CDB
>
> Why "Custum/Custom 'Us" for customs? I assume it's some dialect,
> but ...
>
> The buttons involved: are they their uniform markings?
>
have them:
>
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1892/aug/11/allowance-for-customs-officers-uniforms
>
> Why is the part after the comma necessary in
> "up with one tide and down with another, and both with and against
> another?"
> Just to emphasize they went both ways on the river?
>
followed one tide up and another tide down, and sometimes they rowed
with and sometimes against yet another tide, for a long time (since
there must have been at least three tides). Loitering with intent.
Marius Hancu
> > Why "Custum/Custom 'Us" for customs? I assume it's some dialect,
> > but ...
>
> > The buttons involved: are they their uniform markings?
>
> Very likely. Maybe being used to stand for their uniforms, They did
> have them:
>
> http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1892/aug/11/allowance-for-...
>
> > Why is the part after the comma necessary in
> > "up with one tide and down with another, and both with and against
> > another?"
> > Just to emphasize they went both ways on the river?
>
> The repetition is for emphasis, but I think it has meaning too. They
> followed one tide up and another tide down, and sometimes they rowed
> with and sometimes against yet another tide, for a long time (since
> there must have been at least three tides). Loitering with intent.
OK, now I'm getting it.
> > ---
> > [In a public house on the shores of Thames, there are reports that
> > there might be customs or police in disguise around]
>
> > Why, what do you make out that they done with their buttons then,
> > Jack? asked the landlord, vacillating weakly.
>
> > Done with their buttons? returned the Jack. Chucked em
> > overboard. Swallered em. Sowed em, to come up small salad. Done
> > with their buttons!
>
> > Don t be cheeky, Jack, remonstrated the landlord, in a melancholy
> > and pathetic way.
>
> > A Custum Us officer knows what to do with his Buttons, said the
> > Jack, repeating the obnoxious word with the greatest contempt, when
> > they comes betwixt him and his own light. A four and two sitters
> > don t go hanging and hovering, up with one tide and down with
> > another, and both with and against another, without there being
> > Custum Usat the bottomof it.
Thank you both.
Marius Hancu
Marius Hancu
> “A Custum ’Us officer knows what to do with his Buttons,” said the
> Jack, repeating the obnoxious word with the greatest contempt, “when
> they comes betwixt him and his own light. A four and two sitters don’t
> go hanging and hovering, up with one tide and down with another, and
> both with and against another, without there being Custum ’Us at the bottom of it.”
"at the bottom of it"
does it mean
"in fact?"
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
I think that in this case "at the bottom of it" means the same as
"behind it": responsible for it but not visibly so.
"To get to the bottom" of something is to get to the roots of the
matter.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
more.k...@gmail.com
>
> The buttons involved: are they their uniform markings?
Peter Duncanson [BrE]
>
>>
>> The buttons involved: are they their uniform markings?
>
>i looked up the Buttons reference, it refers to a nickname for a pageboy in the mid 19th century.
"Buttons" is the name of a character in the Cinderella pantomime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttons_%28pantomime%29
He is often dressed in a traditional red or blue bellboy's costume
with polished buttons down his front and a pillbox hat.
For those unfamiliar with the British pantomime tradition:
http://suite101.com/article/pantomime---the-great-british-tradition-a279625