Life, 1925-01-15 · page 23 of 36
Life — January 15, 1925 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This sketch satirizes Southern American dialect and education. A Virginia schoolteacher corrects her students' pronunciation, demanding they adopt exaggerated rural Southern speech patterns—dropping g's, elongating vowels ("frawg" for "frog"), and inserting y's. The humor lies in the irony: the teacher is teaching *improper* English as "correct," replacing standard pronunciation with caricatured dialect. The piece mocks both regional speech affectations and a romanticized "pure Virginian" identity. By the sketch's end, the teacher proudly notes her students will soon be "totally incomprehens'ble"—the pedagogical goal is linguistic isolation, not education. This reflects early 20th-century Northern urban attitudes toward rural Southern culture as quaint, backward, and linguistically inferior—though Life magazine presented it as humorous rather than cruelly mocking.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE - Lessons in Pure Virginian Scene: A Sunny Schoolroom; Virginia. "THE TEACHER: Little boys an’ gyuhls, have y’awl pared yo’ Virginian lesson? Tue Ciass (in chorus) : Sho’ 'nuff, Miss Lucy, reckon so! fue Teacner: Ve'y good. Commence, Ma’y 'Lisbeth. Mary Exizanetn: They is a mouse in the house, Tue Teacter: Fo’ shame, Ma’y ’Lisbeth. Yo’ pronunci- n is all wrong. Dohreen Anne, yo" say it. Doxeen ANNe: They’s a moase in the hoase. Tue Teacher: Ve'y good. ow say afteh me: “The oat scoat is oat and aboat.” (They say it.) Hainreh yatah, staht readin’, please, seh. Henry Lee Carter:See d’ frawg on d’ lawg. D’ dawg sd’ frawg on d’ lawg. Does d’ frawg on d’ lawg sce dawg?” Tue Teacuer: Puhffeck, Hainreh Lee, simply astoundin’! don't reckon anybody would understan’ yo’, Dohreen ©, Tecite yo’ po’try, please, ma’am. It was the English, Cyaspah said, "At put the Frainch to roat = Maky Exizasetu: Huccume dey English make like ‘at, Miss Lucy? Tracer: Ma’y 'Lisbeth, y'awl stop ‘at fussin’ ‘o’ heah? How much is fo’ times fo’ times fo" SUGGESTION TO HOTELS A CROSSWORD PUZZLE PAD AT THE TELEPHONE IN EACH ROOM WILL SAVE WALL PAPER AND INCREASE PATIENCE OF PATRONS Mary Etizaseti: ‘Boat fo’ hundred, Ah reckon, Tue Teacner: That's the wrong ansch, but the propah way to say it, Ma'y ’Lisbeth. Now, children, don't forget to drop all yo’ “g’s” and put a “y” in wheaheveh y’awl can. Tue Cumpren: We-awl promise, Miss Lucy, honey, sugah. Tue Teacuer: Then y’awl are dismissed fo’ the evenin’, (Wild tumult.) A Curn’s Voice: I've got me uh raid apple fo’ lernch, Anotuer Cuitp’s Voice: I got me uh awringe! A Mate Cutp’s Voice: Y'awl hesh! J got me uh chawklit cigyah! (The teacher watches them as they go out.) Tue Teacner: Bless they dawlin’ hyahts, they suttinly are luhnin’ rapid. This time nex’ week, they all ought to be totally incomprehens’ble. Cyuntain, Henry William Hanemann. A Tough One “QO you fell down on that crossword puzzle?” “No wonder. It contained the names of a vice-presi- dent, a writer of a last year’s best seller and the winner of a peace prize.” GRIM NECESSITY She: wy pip YOU COME SOUTH THIS WINTER? LOT of money that nobody ever had has been made He: BECAUSE I COULDN'T AFFORD A 'COON-SKIN COAT. in Wall Street recently. comicbooks.com