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I understand that えらい is an adjective which means distinguished/famous etc. Then I came across this conversation
「おいらよりマシかぁ、なぁんだ、じゃあえらいなぁ。」
「別にえらかァないよ...」
"Preferable to me!? What! Well, I'm distinguished."
"You're not particularly distinguished."
(all the extra あ and ア are supposed to be in small font. Any one know how to do that?)
The second sentence led me to think that there must also be a verb えらく -> えらかない. But I can't find it in any dictionary. What's going on in the second sentence?
えらかァない is a colloquial, collapsed way of saying えらくはない.
えらく(連用形/continuative form of えらい) + は(係助詞/binding particle) + negative ない
「おいらよりマシかぁ、なぁんだ、じゃあえらいなぁ。」
「別にえらかァないよ...」
"Better than me? Well, you're distinguished/great, then."
"I'm not particularly distinguished/great..."
