azhong wrote:Thank you so much, Linguaphile; in your reply you have introduced to me quite a few resources of American culture that I don't know yet, and I've watched all them through on YouTube except for the TV series "Gunsmoke". Thank you.
That's great! (And you're welcome.)
By the way, the folk songs and Christmas carols are originally from England. They are definitely part of "American culture", but not exclusively American.
I'll give you one more example of American culture. See how well you can understand Festus's English.
I chose this clip from Gunsmoke because it uses the a-prefixed construction you were asking about, it is on Youtube as a short clip and I could find the text of it online (
here) so I can provide you with the text without having to type it all out myself. So that's why I chose this clip. In it, Festus has recently recovered from a not-very-injured knee and is exaggerating how bad it was by limping when he could probably walk normally if he wanted to. He is complaining that Doc Adams charged him money for his work as a doctor instead of doing it for free as a friend. Festus uses a dialect that is supposed to reflect his lack of education and rural late-19th-century speech (and on the television series this has a humorous effect).
The title of the Youtube clip has one of the lines written out the way it sounds ("..jes’ like you’s a fixin’da reetire tomorra!") while the script has it written in more standard spelling ("Just like you was a-fixin' to retire tomorrow").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3ywZwBeykDoc Adams: ... join one of them traveling acting companies. Look at you.
Festus: What?
Doc Adams: The way you're walking.
Festus: What's the matter with the way I'm walking?
Doc Adams: Well, you're walking like a peg-legged sailor pacing the deck of a four-masted schooner rounding the Horn in the Cape.
Festus: Why, you old scudder. You just got done taking that splint off my leg that I've had there for four weeks. What do you expect me to do? A clog dance?
Doc Adams: I told you three weeks ago you didn't even need the splint.
Festus: Well, I had to stove-up a pretty near busted leg.
Doc Adams: Wrenched knee. Reset a wrenched knee.
Festus: Well, you charged me for a stove-up pretty near busted leg.
Doc Adams: Charged you?
Festus:
Just like you was a-fixin' to retire tomorrow.Doc Adams: Charged you?
Festus: And you call yourself a friend. If you ain't
a-raggin' a body, you're
a-gouging him like he was one of them rich ray jobs.
Doc Adams: A rich what? What was that? A rich what?
Festus: And the thing that frets me is you ain't gonna be able to spend all your money. If you try taking it with you, your buryin' box is gonna be...
Doc Adams: Just hush up.
Festus: .... so blamed heavy, I'll get a sprained backbone.
Doc Adams: Just hush.
Festus: But you go on reading them little old books so that you can flick, flick some of that herb medicine on sick folks
and then start gouging them again. You done got enough money to burn a wet elephant with.
Doc Adams: I'm gonna tell you something...
Festus: Oh, howdy, Arlie Joe.
Arlie Joe: Hi, Festus, Dr. Adams.
Doc Adams: Arlie Joe.
Festus: How's everything out at the farm?
Arlie Joe: Oh, fine, Festus. Oh, by the way, that tonic you gave Mrs. Frye is working out just fine. She's perking around
spryer than springtime.
Doc Adams: Well, good. I'm glad to hear that.
Festus: You working hard, are you?
Arlie Joe: Yeah, but I'm enjoying it.
Festus: I always say, when a fella can get enjoyment out of the work he's doing, it's the most envious-some thing there is.
Doc Adams: Yeah, well, how d'you know about that?
Festus: Of course, there's things that's more important in life than money is. Of course, there's some old quack-quacks that wouldn't know that.
Arlie Joe: Well, I'd better head on out of here before this gets any farther.
Arlie Joe: Oh, howdy, Marshal.
Matt: Arlie Joe.
Doc Adams: What was that about the quack-quack again?
Festus: Do you want it writ down?
Doc Adams: You can't write.
Festus: Smart aleck. Matthew, what would you say about a old skinflint that'd charge a fella three prices for doctoring him and then turn right around and say there wasn't nothin' wrong with him in the first place? What would you say about that?
Matt: Well, I tell you what I'd say. I'd say that the best thing for me to do is keep my mouth shut.
Doc Adams: I wish... I wish you could write. That's what I wish.
Festus: I'll tell you this. There ought to be a law against...
Doc Adams: And you'd write what you set down. I'd sue you...
Festus: A old money-grabbing skinflint...
Doc Adams: That'd be the day!