Shopkeeper—"Ay, oo." (Yes, wool.)
Customer—"A' oo?" (All wool?)
Shopkeeper—"Ay, a' oo." (Yes, all wool.)
Customer—"A' ae oo?" (All one wool?)
Shopkeeper—"Ay, a' ae oo." (Yes, all one wool.)
These are two who will not have much to fear on the Day of Judgment—eh?"
You may, perhaps, imagine that laconism could no further go.
But you are mistaken; I have something better still to give you.
Alfred Tennyson at one time often paid a visit to Thomas Carlyle at Chelsea.
On one of those occasions, these two great men, having gone to Carlyle's library to have a quiet chat together, seated themselves one on each side of the fireplace, and lit their pipes.