I've come quite far in my studies of the English language; ask me what "eleemosynary," "perspicacious" or "rambunctious" means and I'll give you an instant definition. But I'm still not on a native level, because there are certain words and expressions that slip past the radars of vocabulary lists. Right now, I'm reading Mark Twain, and he might use expressions such as:
"Well, I lay that if get hold of you–" which is a very mysterious way of using "lay" that I don't fully understand.
"Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What is that truck?" Truck, in this case supposedly means some worthless rubbish. Never heard it before.
Most of the words I'm annoyed by are either very short, unconventional usages of common words or phrasal verbs. Where can I learn this part of the English language? How did Mark Twain learn it? Is it just a matter of reading a lot and attempting to infer it from the context?
Best Answer
This is slang from the 19th century that is no longer used much anymore. Mark Twain probably heard these expressions frequently, as I lay that they were in more common use back then. Some of them are going to stump native English speakers today, as well. I believe I have only seen "truck" used in that sense in books.
For "lay", "I lay" = "I bet". My guess is it comes from "lay a bet on".