Russkij mat

[Emil Draitser]

I apologize for an obvious error--instead of "Shostakovich" read :
"Rostropovich"

Emil Draitser

On Wed, 7 Feb 1996, Emil Draitser wrote:

> I have done some research on the subject for my book on Russian folk
> humor. First, mat in Russia is as old as Russia itself. I can refer to
> Boris Uspenskii article "Istoricheskie korni russkoi expressivnoi
> fraseologii". True, it was not always meant to be obscene, initially it
> had
> some pagan ritual roots. Secondly, not only Gogol and Pushkin admired it
> in simple folks ("krepkoe russkoe slovo"), but mat was widely used
> even in
> polite society, by Russian aristocrats in informal gatherings (see
> Gorky's memoirs about Leo Tolstoy). Today, the obscene language became a
> matter of pride of at least part of intelligencia as an example of
> survivability of
> Russian language and Russian spirit. Substandard fraseology have been used
> even in
> public speeches by such refined people, as Shostakovich (on ocassion of
> ill-fated putch of 1991) and Elena Bonner. As to the tendency of many
> Russians to blame foreigners
> (Tartars, Mongols, etc.) for contamination of their "pure" language, it is
> a known phenomenon in many cultures (e.g., "French kiss," "English leave"
> which in England is called "French leave", etc, etc,) (By the way, in her
> book on medieval sexual mores among Slavs, Eve Levin cites the fact that in
> medieval Russia what is called "French kiss" in America, the Russians
> named "Tartar kiss"). In 1994, an
> anthology "Russkii mat" was published under editorial directions of
> Russian academicians. In it, one finds an elaborate scholarly apparatus
> for studying mat and won't find any
> attempt to give away to any foreigners "the pearls of Russian slovesnot'"
>
> Emil Draitser,
> Hunter College of CUNY
>
>
> On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Ernest Scatton wrote:
>
> > Sort of tangential to the question, but....
> >
> > My wife's grandmother, who left Russia as a young woman about 1920 and
> > who was educated in the gimnazija, insisted to the point of violence that
> > the Russian language contained no obscenities. She never said where she
> > thought they did come from, but she sure refused to recognize them as
> > native Russian.
> >
> >
 *****************************************************************************
> > Ernest Scatton                                       Germanic & Slavic
 Hum254
> > 518-442-4224 (w)                                               UAlbany
 (SUNY)
> > 518-482-4934 (h)                                                    Albany
 NY
> > 518-442-4188 (fax)
 12222
> >
>