right little beggars to get rid of

[frindle]

Hello. I wonder what the underlined part means in this context below.
Does it mean the roaches in the shop are very little and it was hard to get rid of them?
Please help. Thank you.

=========
"What was that?"
"Roaches. My uncle had roaches in his shop-right little beggars to get rid of.
Did you know they reckon cockroaches would survive a nuclear war?"

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

Does it mean the roaches in the shop are very little and it was hard to get rid of them?

NOT A TEACHER

No, I don't think so. There's no mention in the text that it was actually hard to get rid of the roaches. It seems that he or she is describing what the roaches were like. They were beggars that needed to be exterminated.

"Right" in this context means the following:

8 emphasis [ only before noun ] British English spoken used to emphasize how bad someone or something is SYN total , complete : He sounds like a right idiot!

The house was in a right mess when we got back.

Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

 

[5jj]

"Roaches. My uncle had roaches in his shop-right little beggars to get rid of.
Did you know they reckon cockroaches would survive a nuclear war?"

This informal expression means that they were very difficult to get rid off. Less sensitive people might replace the e of 'beggars' with a u.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

This informal expression means that they were very difficult to get rid off. Less sensitive people might replace the e of 'beggars' with a u.

On second reading of the sentence, this makes absolute sense. (I thought at first that it meant something similar to: "Roaches. My uncle had roaches in his shop-right little beggars that need to be exterminated. Here little is just a description of the roaches).

 

[5jj]

(I thought at first that it meant something similar to: "Roaches. My uncle had roaches in his shop-right little beggars that need to be exterminated. Here little is just a description of the roaches).

It isn't necessarily. 'Right little xxxs' are probably not particularly large, but the emphasis in expressions of this sort is on how annoying/bad/unpleasant they are, not on their size.

 

[emsr2d2]

My cousin is nearly 2 metres tall and 28 years old. My aunt (his mother) still says "You little bugger" when she's angry with him.

Note: normally, I would use an asterisk for b*gger and from now on I will, but I wanted to make it clear that she never calls him "a little beggar".

 

[5jj]

I'll write the word with no asterisk in the post. The word 'bugger' is an interesting one, in that some people find it offensive in any context, but others find it quite inoffensive at times. The expression 'play silly buggers' for example is indeed informal, but occasionally heard by people who would never use what they consider to be offensive words. My mother has been known to describe me as a 'daft/silly bugger'. She is horrified if I let slip the F-word, as ems's aunt would probably be.

I recommend that learners do not use the word, as there is a risk of causing offence, However, they should not be too surprised if they hear it.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

It isn't necessarily. 'Right little xxxs' are probably not particularly large, but the emphasis in expressions of this sort is on how annoying/bad/unpleasant they are, not on their size.

Interesting. But what if we were to omit "right". Would the sentence still retain its original meaning? My guess is that it won't.

 

[5jj]

Interesting. But what if we were to omit "right". Would the sentence still retain its original meaning? My guess is that it won't.

Your guess would be wrong.

 

[Tdol]

Interesting. But what if we were to omit "right". Would the sentence still retain its original meaning? My guess is that it won't.

It adds emphasis, so removing it would affect the degree of difficulty, but wouldn't change the meaning fundamentally IMO.

 

[emsr2d2]

It would mean much the same to be honest but would sound less natural. It could have read:

My uncle had roaches in his shop - right little beggars to get rid of.
My uncle had roaches in his shop - [they're] little beggars to get rid of.
My uncle had roaches in his shop - a bugger to get rid of. (BrE only, I think)

With "right" it does give more of an impression of how frustrating it is to try to get rid of them.

The use of "a bugger" to mean "a pain" or "difficult" is used quite a lot in BrE. It's not just applied to animals or people.

- The lid on this jam jar is a bugger to get off.
​

 

[birdeen's call]

Less sensitive people might replace the e of 'beggars' with a u.

Note: normally, I would use an asterisk for b*gger and from now on I will, but I wanted to make it clear that she never calls him "a little beggar".

I've always found it fascinating how native speakers tend not to notice the spelling differences where r-colored vowels and similar phenomena are involved. My first contact with English was through text and in my mind "-ar" and "-er" are completely different endings. I pronounce them the same, but they're in different drawers in my head. It means in particular that when I read the posts quoted above, it struck me at once that it's not enough to replace "e" with "u" in "beggar" to obtain "bugger", and that "b*gger" cannot stand for "beggar".

 

[emsr2d2]

I did consider pointing out the fact that the "u/e" part was not the only difference between the spellings of "beggar" and "bugger" but I actually decided that it would confuse the issue even more. It's not at all that I don't notice the spelling differences between the two, and "-er" and "-ar" are of course completely different endings.

I would not put any asterisks in the word "beggar" for obvious reasons.

I would normally put an asterisk in "bugger" but the problem with that is that, without context, people might think that I mean "bigger" or even (rarely), "bagger". I decided that, as "bugger" is not deemed by most people (in the UK) to be a particularly offensive word, I would make life simpler for this thread by writing it in full each time.

 

[birdeen's call]

I'm sorry I assumed you didn't notice that. It's because I've seen native speakers confuse spellings like that a lot. And it seems to happen among highly educated people quite often, which is what I find fascinating.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm sorry I assumed you didn't notice that. It's because I've seen native speakers confuse spellings like that a lot. And it seems to happen among highly educated people quite often, which is what I find fascinating.

I'm quite certain that you're right about many native speakers not noticing/not being aware of/not caring about the difference. However, I didn't get to be School Spelling Champion for eight consecutive years without noticing that kind of thing! ;-)

 

[birdeen's call]

However, I didn't get to be School Spelling Champion for eight consecutive years without noticing that kind of thing! ;-)

Eight years! :shock:

 

[emsr2d2]

I know. Believe me, until I was twelve, I was a real girly swot! ;-)

 

[5jj]

Swotess? Swottess?

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, if you're going to get sexist, I'll be a "swoterina" please!