Subject
Russian greeting styles & Boyd's "cruchon: note (PNIN)
Date
Body
From: Vitaly Kupisk <104361.1700@CompuServe.COM>
------------------ I am sure you are going to get a number of replies on
"zdravstvuy(te)", "kak dela", the paramilitary "zdraviya zhelayu", etc.
What I'd like to add is a recollection of Nabokov mentioning somewhere
that one could judge the "St. Petersburg culture" of a speaker by whether
he enunciated "zdravstvuy(te)" (the first "v" is often omitted, the whole
word is often slurred to "zdraste"), the more enunciation the more
Petersburgian, per VN.
I question Boyd's note to Pnin (note #418.13 on p.
890 of the new Library of American Nabokov set translating Pnin's
"cruchon" as "a small jug"; the Oxford Russian dictionary concurs with Boyd.
I am quite sure that the Russian "kryushon" is a beverage, perhaps a fruit
drink, I am not sure whether alcoholic or not, but Pnin is obviously
referring to his potent punch. While there were no kryushons sold at the
fruit-juice-stands of Russia of my childhood, I am pretty sure it was a
common drink (and word) to Timofey.
Vitaly Kupisk
Berkeley, CA, USA
104361,1700@compuserve.com
kupisk@worldnet.att.com
----------------------------------------
------------------ I am sure you are going to get a number of replies on
"zdravstvuy(te)", "kak dela", the paramilitary "zdraviya zhelayu", etc.
What I'd like to add is a recollection of Nabokov mentioning somewhere
that one could judge the "St. Petersburg culture" of a speaker by whether
he enunciated "zdravstvuy(te)" (the first "v" is often omitted, the whole
word is often slurred to "zdraste"), the more enunciation the more
Petersburgian, per VN.
I question Boyd's note to Pnin (note #418.13 on p.
890 of the new Library of American Nabokov set translating Pnin's
"cruchon" as "a small jug"; the Oxford Russian dictionary concurs with Boyd.
I am quite sure that the Russian "kryushon" is a beverage, perhaps a fruit
drink, I am not sure whether alcoholic or not, but Pnin is obviously
referring to his potent punch. While there were no kryushons sold at the
fruit-juice-stands of Russia of my childhood, I am pretty sure it was a
common drink (and word) to Timofey.
Vitaly Kupisk
Berkeley, CA, USA
104361,1700@compuserve.com
kupisk@worldnet.att.com
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