The Vernacular Language In The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

Does the thought of betting on a frog’s ability to jump sound humorous? In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain tells the story of betting on a jumping frog. In the story, Twain uses the power of vernacular language to convey the painfully comedic story that the narrator has to endure, and its all for another’s amusement. Twain was writing in the nineteenth century at a time when writers were expected to use formal language, yet Twain wrote in the vernacular language. His choice to do this only added to the significance of this story. If someone was to tell a story of a man who was “betting on anything that turned up” (102) it would not make sense for it to be in an educated tone. Twain uses the diction that one would expect out of a man lurking in a bar with the name Simon Wheeler. Wheeler tells his story of Leonidas Smiley using words such as “feller’d” (102), “reg’lar” (102), and “thish-yer” (103). While reading this story the reader already starts to see some comedy just in Twain’s vernacular word choice. However, the true comedy lies within the story that those words are telling.

Twain sets up the story with Wheeler backing the narrator into a corner and blockading him with his chair (101), and picturing that can add a smile to the reader’s face. Wheeler “regarded [the story] as a really important matter” (102), for Wheeler believed the story and no part of it was humorous to him. When someone is telling a story that is ridiculous, yet truly believes it, then that is actually quite humorous. Sadly for the narrator this is just the beginning; he still has to endure the telling of betting on a fighting bull pup, a dying wife, and then finally the jumping