having sixteen

[Peter Jiong]

“Well,” said one good lady, “I’d rather not ’ave her maternity bag at all than be treated like that. Why, she treats you as if—well, as if you wasn’t married.”
“Yes,” said another, “that’s just what I complain of—I promise you I ’ad ’alf a mind to take my marriage lines out of my pocket an’ show ’er. It (giving birth) ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed about—nice thing it would be after ’avin' sixteen, if I was bashful.”

(From Mrs. Craddock by W Somerset Maugham）

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...snippet&q=nothin’ to be ashamed about&f=false

What does "nice thing it would be after ’avin' sixteen, if I was bashful" mean?

 

[GoesStation]

It would be odd if I were shy after having given birth sixteen times.

 

[Peter Jiong]

Giving birth is nothing to be ashamed of — having given birth sixteen times is something to be ashamed of.

Doesn't that sound more natural？

 

[Peter Jiong]

What does “nice thing” mean？

 

[Peter Jiong]

How can I understand the sentence "It ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed about—nice thing it would be after ’avin' sixteen, if I was bashful." as a whole?

 

[GoesStation]

How can I understand the sentence "It ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed about—nice thing it would be after ’avin' sixteen, if I was bashful." as a whole?

See post #3 for its overall meaning.

It ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed about: It (giving birth) is nothing to be ashamed of.
nice thing it would be: It would be the opposite of "nice", a foolish thing
after ’avin' sixteen: After having had sixteen children
if I was bashful:​ If I were shy about it.

The character is speaking in dialect. If the story's set in London, it's probably Cockney.

 

[Peter Jiong]

Why does she say “sixteen” instead of ten or twenty?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Why does she say “sixteen” instead of ten or twenty?

Because she had sixteen children. If she were bashful and if having children were shameful, then she'd be in an awkward position.

She's using "nice thing" ironically. It would not be a nice thing to be bashful and have sixteen children.