Runglish

[David Borowitz]

On 9/13/07, Darya Kostina <tamarra at ngs.ru> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Darya Kostina <tamarra at NGS.RU>
> Subject:      Re: Runglish
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Oh that's ok, Wilson. It's a problem for Russian as well.
> Mark Bernes, the most famous performer of the song, made
> it sound like unfathomable 'peresi' for the whole country.
> And those who don't live in Odessa (like myself) hardly
> ever know what 'moldavanka i peresi' mean and just don't
> wonder. (Until a foreign linguist tries to banter back his
> Russian proficiency reputation and they google the song ;)
>
> 'Miting' hasn't replaced 'vstrecha'. But again, I'm not
> talking about old Slavonic roots. Besides, even 'fstr' is
> more comfortable in sliding from the lips to the palate.
> At least that's my native speaker's subjective sense, if
> that counts to you. As I've said, it's not about the CC,
> CCC or CCCC.


It's always struck me as odd that Russian phonotactics require epenthetic
"o" in "vo vremeni" but not "v kvartire." I've always had trouble
pronouncing the initial /fkv/ (or maybe /fkf/). (On top of that I have no
idea whether "voyti" and "vvoyti" are pronounced differently, or, given
that, what about "v vremeni" makes it so hard to pronounce that you need the
"o." But such questions are kind of silly, considering I don't hold English
to anywhere near that high a standard of self-consistency.)

On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:06:30 -0400
>   Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> ><ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Runglish
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > How about [fstr] in _vstrecha_? Or do _biznesmeny_
> >prefer _miting_, nowadays?
> >
> > Sineet more za bul'varom
> > Kashtan nad gorodom tsvetet
> > Nash Konstantin beret gitaru
> > I tikhim golosom poet:
> >
> > Ia vam ne skazhu za vsiu Odessu
> > Vsia Odessa ochen' velika
> > No i moldovanka i _peresyp_
> > Obozhaiut Kostiu moriaka
> >
> > Chto znachit _peresyp_? It's not in Smirnitskii.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
    -Tom Stoppard

Borowitz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org