From Carolyn to the List,
Jansy pointed out to me that my grammatical point was not seconded by her dictionary. Sure enough - - in Hoch Deutsch the singular of boy or knave is Bube and the plural Buben. I learned what little German I have in Austria where the language is slightly different. There the singular is dass Bub and the plural die Bube. This is correct Southern (Low) German. In fact in Salzburg the local dialect uses the plural Buben, (pronounced Buhren) and is considered substandard.
So as not to make my error a total waste of time I would like to take this opportunity to discuss Nabokov's entomological identification of Gregor Samsa as a dung beetle. The original word used by Kafka is "Ungeziefer" - - usually translated as "vermin." I learned the word when my cat was accused (most unfairly) of having Ungeziefer - - the word wasn't in my dictionary but it clearly meant fleas (literally uncountables). In other contexts it could mean lice, bedbugs, anything of that sort.
Why would Nabokov understand this to be a dung beetle?
Carolyn