Anne of Green Gables

Here is an excerpt of Anne of Green Gables:

"There's never anybody to be had but those stupid, half-grown little French boys, and as soon as you've taught one them the ways of your farm, he's up and off to the lobster canneries or the States".

1/ What is the meaning of "There's never anybody to be had". Can it be "There's never anybody around?"
2/ "As soon as you've taught one them" or perhaps "As soon as you've taught one of them"? Which one sounds better?
3/ What is the meaning of "he's up and off to"

Thanks in advance.

Paul N.

Glad to see someone studying Canadian literature!

"There's never anybody to be had but those stupid, half-grown little French boys, and as soon as you've taught one them the ways of your farm, he's up and off to the lobster canneries or the States".

"1/ What is the meaning of 'There's never anybody to be had'. Can it be 'There's never anybody around?'

That's what it means. She's complaining that you can never find anyone to hire but those "French [Canadian] boys."

"2/ 'As soon as you've taught one them' or perhaps 'As soon as you've taught one of them'? Which one sounds better?"

The latter: "As soon as you've taught one of them." That "of" is obligatory; without it the phrase doesn't make sense.

3/ What is the meaning of "he's up and off to"

It's an idiom. She's saying "he gets up and goes off to the States."

"As soon as you've taught one of them."

That is the only way to say it, Paul; I think your excerpt may have simply had a typo in it. Editors are only human!

JJM -- read all those books when I was a little girl! I doubt I would be able to get into them now, but I liked them back then.

"Up and off" just means that they run away or leave to go make better money in the canneries or the States.

"To be had" means available. The farmer couple were trying to adopt an (male) orphan basically to be an indentured farm hand, and accidentally got Anne instead. (Which maybe wouldn't go over so well in our modern day world , but it was a hundred years ago....)

I'm getting back to you with a couple of lines from "Anne of Green Gables". As usual, many thanks in advance for helping me.

1/ "We've been thinking about it for some time -- all winter in fact," returned Marilla. "Mrs. Alexander Spencer was up here one day before Christmas and she said she was going to get a little girl from the orphanage OVER in Hopeton in the spring.

OVER -- What can be the meaning of the ‘OVER’ in that context? Does it really convey any meaning? Or is it for style only?

2/ And I know another case where an adopted boy used to SUCK THE EGGS out of the henhouse--THEY COULDN'T BREAK HIM OF IT.

SUCK THE EGGS – Is it possible that the adopted boy was so crazy on eating fresh eggs that he couldn’t refrain himself from sucking the egg yolks? And in order to keep his ‘craziness’ in secret he usually left over the empty egg shells intact in the henhouse. If so, why so? Not that I like eating the eggs so much but I’ve never heard of anyone sucking fresh eggs. Perhaps it was a local tradition in those days. I don’t know.

THEY COULDN'T BREAK HIM OF IT – The adopted boy’s masters were probably not able to force him out of his "egg-sucking habit". Is this correct?

3/ At first Matthew suggested getting a Home boy. But I said `NO` FLAT TO THAT. `They may be all right--I'm not saying they're not--but no LONDON STREET ARABS for me,' I said. `Give me a native born at least.

`NO` FLAT TO THAT -- I really find this strange. It may be a colloquial phrase.

LONDON STREET ARABS – I suspect the phrase’s origin goes back to Britain’s colonial era. A Home boy could be a boy who was punished for his mischief-making activities in the streets of London (then commonly called as London street arab). He consequently was transferred to one of Britain’s overseas territories to correct his behavior. Is this right?

Paul N.

"Over in ..." is a very common English construction that simply implies that the location in question is some distance away. It is the same as simply saying "in Hopeton". It may have some more "real people talking" overtones but is not nonstandard, per se. Yes, i think that was chosen for stylistic reasons.
It does not literally mean "over" as in "above".

Sucking eggs -- gross, but apparently some people do it. To "break" some one of do this is to train them not to do it -- same construction as "breaking a bad habit".

I can't comment on the Home boys, because I know nothing about that. But the use of "no flat to that" is slightly different than how I would put it -- either "a flat no" or "I flatly said no", so I would assume that was a local PEI usage. A "flat no" or a "flat refusal" is standard English for a brusque no that implies that the speaker is not willing to reconsider or hear anay arguments about it -- a final answer.

I've heard that in the U.S. to say "suck eggs" to someone is highly offensive because Americans think of it in relation to the female reproductive system. At least this may have been the case in the past. Is this true?

It's an expression I might say to put someone down if I see them mess-up or if I outdo my rival in some activity.

<<I've heard that in the U.S. to say "suck eggs" to someone is highly offensive because Americans think of it in relation to the female reproductive system.>>

If so, that's news to me. I have never heard that one.

"Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs" is an old saying that means basically, don't presume to teach someone older and wiser something that they already know how to do better than you -- soft-boiled eggs were a favorite food of the (toothless) elderly.

Uriel,

Many thanks for your help. Have a great day.

Paul N.