Hi,

Please explain the meaning of the phrase 'Tain't a turn, it's wind. It is from By Courier, O'Henry

In the story, the man asks the boy to go and tell the woman something. She tells the boy to do his act, but not to attract attention since they are in public. Her words are:

You may execute your song and dance, but do not sing too loudly. It is a little early yet . . . . . and we might attract attention.".  'Execute your song and dance' is a humorous way of telling him to 'go ahead and do what you want to do'.

The boy replies: 'Tain't a turn, it's wind. A 'turn' means 'an act, often a dance'. 'Wind' means speaking (ie using wind in your throat). Tain't is a shortened form of it ain't which is a shortened form of it is not. What the boy is saying to her is that his task is not to dance but to simply speak to her, to give her a message.

In this story, the boy speaks in a form of dialect that you would never hear today, and perhaps did not even hear in the real world in the author's time. Don't say this kind of thing today, please!

Best wishes, Clive