o' = ?

Forums: Grammar, Esl, English
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Context:

The Wind in the Willows - Chapter 12
www.cleavebooks.co.uk/grol/grahame/wind12.htm

And that's the gallant Water Rat, a terrible fighter, walking along o' him! And yonder comes the famous Mr. Mole, of whom you so often have heard your father tell ...

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 699 • Replies: 7

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@oristarA,

abbreviation of 'of.'

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

abbreviation of 'of.'

Thanks.
So the "of" here means "with?" Walking along with him?

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@oristarA,

yes

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"Along of" is rural British English dialect for "along with", or at least Grahame and others (e.g. Kipling) appeared to think so.

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

"Along of" is rural British English dialect for "along with", or at least Grahame and others (e.g. Kipling) appeared to think so.

Thus it stands as an informal usage in English.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

contrex wrote:

"Along of" is rural British English dialect for "along with", or at least Grahame and others (e.g. Kipling) appeared to think so.

Thus it stands as an informal usage in English.

Yes, in some ways. Many dialect speakers would have had no notion of speaking other than in dialect, and so would not have been deliberately choosing to be "informal".

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@contrex,

In the area of Ontario I come from, people used "walking alongside of". That meant they were walking beside someone. Odd that the local dialect made the expression longer instead of shorter.

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o' = ?

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