There is also strangely PF-relevant
(and Zemblan-sounding) Russian tongtwister: "Karl u Klary ukral korally" (Karl
stole Klara's corals)...crown jewels?
Victor Fet
By a remarkable coincidence, I just began to read a
Russian translation of "Philosophie der Mystik" (1885) by Carl du
Prel, a German author (1839-1899) who was very popular in the Russia of
VN's youth and who interests me in connection with Ada. Note the unusual (for a
German) spelling of his first name and the fact that "Prel" is an anagram
of perl (Russian for "pearl"). Now, if we pick out from the middle
of the English word the superfluous "a" and add it to the writer's last name,
we'll get aprel (Russian for "April"), the month in which Du Prel
(and also VN) was born. Besides, prel' is Russian for "rot" and
"Carl du Prel" means in Russo-French something like "the rotten
Karl."
Alexey Sklyarenko