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Can you elucidate the meaning of the third sentence in the dialogue:

A: “I am no more sick than you are,” said the woman in bed.

B: “Oh, yes you are!”

A: “I just got more sense than you have, that’s all,” said the other old woman, nodding her head.

It means: 'I don't have any problems with my mental health, but you have', isn't it?

Thanks!

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    'I got' is informal or regional dialect (mainly US) for 'I have'. 'Sense' is everyday wisdom or 'the characteristic of having good judgment, especially when it is based on practical ideas or understanding'. The woman in bed is saying that she has better judgment than the other.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 13:35
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    It sounds like the woman is taking steps to look after her health. ‘Sense’ here sounds like it’s referring to common sense rather than a mental health.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 13:37

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Mental health is overstating it.

"Sense"

the characteristic of having good judgment, especially when it is based on practical ideas or understanding:

People can have bad judgment -- as in this case, where one sick woman is foolishly avoiding the rest she needs to recover -- without being insane

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The first woman's comment, "I am no more sick than you are," needs to be interpreted correctly. Like "got more sense," the phrase is idiomatic. Another way of phrasing the sentence "I am no more sick than you are" could be:

Neither of us is sick. I'm not sick, and you're not sick. If you think you are sick, then you're wrong. I'm healthy; you're healthy.

Then again, what the first woman is saying means something completely different if what she said were to be worded as follows:

I am not sicker than you are.

When the second lady responds, "Oh yes you are," the first lady emphasizes that her assessment is better than the second woman's assessment because her assessment makes more sense, since she has better sense than the second lady has.

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  • Except that the first sentence and the third are said by the same person.
    – Mary
    Commented Apr 21, 2021 at 0:51
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    @Mary: Thank you. Because of your comment, I revised my answer. If my second interpretation is correct, the first lady is saying to the second lady (in effect), "I know that I'm not sicker than you because I have more common sense than you do, and my common sense tells me we are equally sick. " As for the accusation of hypochondria, it probably isn't an issue, so I left it out of my revision. Don
    – rhetorician
    Commented Apr 21, 2021 at 16:46

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