CHAPTER XXI
LITTLE ELLA
Scholars 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).
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