It's a Fine Doctor Would Have his Parlour Full of ....

[HSS]

Dear Teachers,

I was reading 'The Story of Doctor Dolittle when I came across

"John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his parlour full of hedgehogs and mice!"

Now the last sentence ... Is this an acceptable sentence? How could I interpret it?

Best,

Hiro

[BobK]

Dear Teachers,

I was reading 'The Story of Doctor Dolittle when I came across

"John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his parlour full of hedgehogs and mice!"

Now the last sentence ... Is this an acceptable sentence? How could I interpret it?

Best,

Hiro

It's a relative clause with the pronoun suppressed: It's a fine doctor who/that would have his parlour full of hedgehogs and mice!". I wouldn't say it was acceptable in current speech, but it occurs quite a lot in old texts. This omitted relative pronoun occurs (i.e. doesn't occur) in the fossil:

'Tis an ill wind blows nobody any good.

This is usually sanitized, with a "that", but I've found it on this Gaelic site: 200+ seanfhocal . As the site is obviously for Gaelic speakers though, it's possible that this suppressed relative pronoun mimics Gaelic syntax; I really don't know - though it's familiar in some Irish folk lyrics: e.g. 'There was an old woman from Wexford/In Wexford town did dwell'.

b

[HSS]

Hi, Bob.

So, the meaning of the sentence is, "(Only) a 'fine' doctor would have his office full of hedgedogs and mice (but you are not a fine doctor), isn't it?

Hiro

[BobK]

You've reached the right conclusion, but for the wrong reason! 'Fine' is used (here) sarcastically. 'It's a fine doctor [who...]' means 'A good doctor wouldn't do that'. Fine is often used like this: example 'A fine friend you are' - meaning 'that is an unfriendly way to behave'.

b