Hi Carolyn,
Actually, Nabokov does use it in this sense in Ada, at least - as Jansy alluded to earlier in this discussion, I think? In the "transmongrelizers" discussion in Part 1, Van uses it to pun on the transformation of Rimbaud's "souci d'eau" into "care of the water": "Flowers into bloomers." But Marina's confusion (she assumes he means what I would call knickers) suggests Nabokov didn't expect Americans to understand the word immediately. It recurs, with this meaning, on two other occasions.
Your mention of the etymology, and the Britishness of this usage, does make me wonder whether the faint link to "bloody" might be intentional - given the flowers/sex/blood connections throughout Ada. Out of curiosity I searched for "bloody" in Ada Online, and found it crops up once, in Part 1, Chapter 42 (the duel) - and despite the numerous mentions of real blood in that chapter, it's used in the British sense (though Van points out that it is also literally
appropriate).
Best wishes
Emily Collins
Bristol
Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:bloopers and traps for translators it would be surprising to find Nabokov using bloomer with that meaning - - not bloody likely, anyway.
Carolyn
Inbox full of spam? Get leading spam protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail.
Search
the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
Contact
the Editors
All private editorial communications, without
exception, are
read by both co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies