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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'>Barry Popic wrote,</span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><<<In the WALL STRET
JOURNAL EUROPE, 4 October 2000, pg. 1, col. 1, a Russian declares that his
creditors deserve "dead donkey ears."<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>That is, nothing.>>></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Well, to begin with, it doesn’t look like
it’s worth trying to connect that phrase to something in English. Myself being
a native Russian speaker I can assure all of you that it’s the phrase of
Russian origin. Here’s the basis for the above-written statement. It appears in
a Russian book, considered to be one of the very few true masterpieces of a
classic Russian satirical/humor prose. The book in the question is “The Twelve
Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov. (For a brief bio of the authors check <a
href="http://www.odessit.com/namegal/english/ilf_petr.htm">www.odessit.com/namegal/english/ilf_petr.htm</a>
) It was written in 1928. And the expression “dead donkey’s ears” appears in
ch.12. in the following context (I’ll take a long breath and run into the risk
of being criticized for my own translation):</span></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>“… We’ve also got a vest’s sleeves, the inside
of a donut, and a dead donkey’s ears. Take the whole package wholesale – it’ll
be cheaper. And the stuff aren’t hidden in chairs so you don’t have to rummage
for it.”</span></span></font><font color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>You won’t find the phrase “dead donkey’s
ears” in everybody’s vocabulary here nowadays, and it’s very unlikely it was at
the time of writing the novel. The authors are very famous for the coinage of
many similar phrases, most of which though ARE in a wide use these days. But
even these widely used phrases of theirs haven’t gone the usual way from an
author’s invention to a general pool of the language idioms. Almost every
native Russian speaker will recognize right away that such-and-such phrase is
from The Twelve Chairs, or The Golden Calf (another work of theirs.) Maybe it
happens because these books are still read almost by everyone, the number and
colorfulness of these coined phrases are still unbeaten by any other Russian
writer, what’s more, there are two different movies based on the novels that
are being rebroadcasted on TV over and over (myself witnessed this happened at
least three times this year.)</span></span></font><font color=black
face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";color:black;
mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Hope it shed some light on your discussion,</span></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>An amateur linguist, with his self-taught
English, who’s standing in admiration [almost speechless] before all you big
linguistic wheels,</span></span></font><font color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Sincerely, Vladimir Tsourikov.</span></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black'><span
style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>newvo@selena.kherson.ua</span></span></font><font
color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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