Learn English – Would you help me understand the meaning of this excerpt

meaning-in-context

I started to read Mark Twain's book titled as "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". At the very beginning of the book I came across with this sentence:

I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe the Mary.

Now I have two questions:

  1. Is that "I never seen" part correct? Does it have anything to do with the dialect?

  2. I cannot fully get the meaning of the sentence; Would you please tell me the meaning of the sentence in plain English. Particularly, I have problem with the "but" and "without it" parts.

Best Answer

The idea can be phrased like the following :

I never met anybody who didn't lie from time to time. I think the only exceptions were Aunt Polly,the widow and Mary.

He is not sure about Mary though.(Don't use the before the name). I think the author wants to show that the boy is not educated and homeless. Nobody taught him.It's a literary device based on a dialect."Without it" means without this fault"(lying).

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