Nov 15 2008
Diction and Dialect in Hanging Woman Creek by Louis L’amour
Loius L’amour’s choice of words in Hanging Woman Creek really helps set apart the character of Pronto Pike and Eddie Holt.
Pronto describes handling his horse as “dabbed a loop on him.” (Hanging Woman Creek p. 30). In 21st century United States, very few people would dab a loop or even know what such a phrase would mean.
Take L’amour’s description of Bud Oliver. “Now Bud was a long, lean drink of water with a hawk face on him, and he was stubborn as a hammer-headed bronc, but I had never known him to be so downright skittish before.” (Hanging Woman Creek p. 28)
Words like “drink of water,” “hammer-headed bronc,” “downright,” and “skittish,” are all very different from modern adjectives. A more contemporary description might use words like frightened, skinny, hard headed, or nervous. Phrases like these really help to take the reader back in time and place to the old west and create a sense of altered reality that is vivid, real and captivating.
