Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/154

 

LITTLE ELLA

cholars have calculated that William Shake­speare's vocabulary comprised some twelve thousand words. The cannibal race of Mumbo Jumbo have a vocabulary of three hundred words, but Ella Shchukin managed quite well with a vocabulary of thirty words. Here are the words, phrases, and exclamations which she had chosen from out of the rich and expressive Russian language;

(1) You're a fool.

(2) Ho! Ho! (which according to the circumstance expressed sarcasm, surprise, delight, hatred, joy, scorn, and satisfaction).

(3) Marvellous!

(4) Black (used for everything; for instance:

'Black Peter has come.' 'What black weather!'

'Oh! the black cat!' etc.).

(5) Darkness.

(6) Terror or terrible (for instance, when you meet a good friend it is a 'terrible meeting').

(7) A lad (used for all male acquaintances irre­spective of age or social position).

(8) Don't teach me how to live!

(9) Like a child ('I beat him like a child'—this when playing cards. 'I shut him up like a child,' used in conversation with some one important).

(10) Beauty!

(11) Fine and Fat (used to describe both the animate and inanimate).

(12) Let us take a cab (when speaking to her husband).

(13) Let us take a taxi (when speaking to any male acquaintance).