Subject
What rhymes with Russian "opyty"? (Luzhin/Defense)
Date
Body
In answer to Eric Naiman's query...
NABOKV-L thanks <Alexander Klimin <ank@cityline.ru>
-------------------->
In Zashchita Luzhina there are a couple words and
phrases that have left
> me wondering....
>
> 1.Is the word "gralitsa" found elsewhere? "kak lunnaia gralitsa na more."
> English -- 'like moonlight on the sea"
>
> 2. A kak na vecerinke okazalos', chto Arbuzov umeet igrat' na roiale?
> Pomnite, kak u nego nikogda opyty ne vykhodili? I kakuiu my na "opyty"
> pridumali rifmu?
> The English is "And how it turned out at the school party that Arbuzov
> could play the piano? Do you remember how his experiments never used to
> come off? And how we thought up a rhyme for him - 'booze off'?'
>
> What is the rhyme implied on "opyty", and how do we go from there to
> "booze off"? This seems a far looser translation than other moments in
> this text.
The rhyme for "opyty" is, certainly, "zhopa ty" ("you're an ass"), which
is hardly translatable wordplay. I think that after his search for an
adequate rhyme for the word "experiment" VN switched the target of joke
to poor Arbuzov.
poka
ak
NABOKV-L thanks <Alexander Klimin <ank@cityline.ru>
-------------------->
In Zashchita Luzhina there are a couple words and
phrases that have left
> me wondering....
>
> 1.Is the word "gralitsa" found elsewhere? "kak lunnaia gralitsa na more."
> English -- 'like moonlight on the sea"
>
> 2. A kak na vecerinke okazalos', chto Arbuzov umeet igrat' na roiale?
> Pomnite, kak u nego nikogda opyty ne vykhodili? I kakuiu my na "opyty"
> pridumali rifmu?
> The English is "And how it turned out at the school party that Arbuzov
> could play the piano? Do you remember how his experiments never used to
> come off? And how we thought up a rhyme for him - 'booze off'?'
>
> What is the rhyme implied on "opyty", and how do we go from there to
> "booze off"? This seems a far looser translation than other moments in
> this text.
The rhyme for "opyty" is, certainly, "zhopa ty" ("you're an ass"), which
is hardly translatable wordplay. I think that after his search for an
adequate rhyme for the word "experiment" VN switched the target of joke
to poor Arbuzov.
poka
ak