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Fw: CORRECTION: "stool" instead of "chair"
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<Ostap Bender, who wants to get from Ellochka the two Gambs* stools from Vorob'yaninov's old house that she happened to buy in the auction (in one of the twelve stools of the complete set a treasure is concealed under the upholstery)>
By "stools" I meant chairs, of course. The original title of Ilf and Petrov's novel is Dvenadzat' stul'ev ("The Twelve Chairs"**), stul being Russian for both "chair" and "stool" (in the sense "fecal matter;" cf. "[Van, before his duel with Tapper] had a structurally perfect stool"). Interestingly, Russian word for "stool" (in the sense "piece of furniture," a single seat or a short, low support) is taburetka. This word occurs in both "The Twelve Chairs" (1927) and its sequel, "The Golden Calf" (1931). In the former novel, Ostap Bender mockingly calls Vorob'yaninov okhotnik za taburetkami ("stool hunter"). In "The Golden Calf," Ostap affirms that samogon (home-distilled vodka) can be distilled even from a plain stool. "Some love taburetovka (samogon distilled from a stool)," he says to two American tourists who came to Russia in the hope to a find a recipe of the samogon (it was in the days of the "dry law" in the USA; Ostap offers to the Americans a recipe of any of the 150 samogon sorts that he knows and even draws for them, as a bonus, a construction of the best samogon distiller that can be made at home and concealed from strange eyes in a big compartment, tumba, of a writing desk). Taburetka is an interesting word that certainly deserves to be included in my charadoid (because it confirms that the truth is in vino). There are such words as tabu (taboo), truba (tube), trubka (pipe), kareta (carriage, coach), terakt (terrorist act), kabare (cabaret), burka (Caucasian felt cloak, it is worn by Van in his cabaret stunt, 1.30), batut (trampoline), batrak (farm-labourer), barak (wooden barrack), buket (bouquet), Brut (Brutus), Kuba (Cuba), Baku, Kura, ruka (arm, hand) and other in it. Tabu + m = Batum = tumba (Morris pillar; part of a writing desk)...
*Gambs (Hambs, 1765-1831) is a St. Petersburgian furniture maker.
The title of this novel strangely echoes Dvenadtsat' ("The Twelve"), that of Blok's poem (1921).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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By "stools" I meant chairs, of course. The original title of Ilf and Petrov's novel is Dvenadzat' stul'ev ("The Twelve Chairs"**), stul being Russian for both "chair" and "stool" (in the sense "fecal matter;" cf. "[Van, before his duel with Tapper] had a structurally perfect stool"). Interestingly, Russian word for "stool" (in the sense "piece of furniture," a single seat or a short, low support) is taburetka. This word occurs in both "The Twelve Chairs" (1927) and its sequel, "The Golden Calf" (1931). In the former novel, Ostap Bender mockingly calls Vorob'yaninov okhotnik za taburetkami ("stool hunter"). In "The Golden Calf," Ostap affirms that samogon (home-distilled vodka) can be distilled even from a plain stool. "Some love taburetovka (samogon distilled from a stool)," he says to two American tourists who came to Russia in the hope to a find a recipe of the samogon (it was in the days of the "dry law" in the USA; Ostap offers to the Americans a recipe of any of the 150 samogon sorts that he knows and even draws for them, as a bonus, a construction of the best samogon distiller that can be made at home and concealed from strange eyes in a big compartment, tumba, of a writing desk). Taburetka is an interesting word that certainly deserves to be included in my charadoid (because it confirms that the truth is in vino). There are such words as tabu (taboo), truba (tube), trubka (pipe), kareta (carriage, coach), terakt (terrorist act), kabare (cabaret), burka (Caucasian felt cloak, it is worn by Van in his cabaret stunt, 1.30), batut (trampoline), batrak (farm-labourer), barak (wooden barrack), buket (bouquet), Brut (Brutus), Kuba (Cuba), Baku, Kura, ruka (arm, hand) and other in it. Tabu + m = Batum = tumba (Morris pillar; part of a writing desk)...
*Gambs (Hambs, 1765-1831) is a St. Petersburgian furniture maker.
The title of this novel strangely echoes Dvenadtsat' ("The Twelve"), that of Blok's poem (1921).
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/