Kto kogo?

[ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN]

The expression _kto kogo_ is at least as old as Gogol'.  It's used by
Khlestakov in _Revizor_:  "Nu-ka, popadis'-ka ty mne teper'.  Posmotrim,
kto kogo!" (cited in entry K-445 in Sophia Lubensky's magnificent
_Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms_ [Random House, 1995]).

The fact that the expression is not included in N. S. Ashukin and
M. G. Ashukin, _Krylatye slova_ (2nd. ed., Moscow, 1960) might suggest
that it was popularized in the Soviet Union by Stalin, rather than
Lenin, but that's just a guess.  It might be worth checking the
first edition of Ashukin and Ashukin.

                Bob Rothstein