"First Lady" in Russian

[Francoise Rosset]

Last time I was in Russia the papers and magazines kept writing
"Pervaja ledi" -with a "backward" e- when referring to Naina Eltsin.
I detected no tone attached to it. I can't help thinking some people
find it silly when applied to a *Russian* F.L. (especially as she is
not supposed to have any visible role), as opposed to the U.S. First
Lady where the calque would be the only logical term.

And of course it brings up the touchy issue of wholesale linguistic/
cultural borrowings from the West.

By the way, my assistant, who is fresh from Moscow, tells me that
she's been using "bojfrend" in Russia because the Russian terms are
not quite right for conveying that relationship.

Francoise Rosset                          phone:  (508) 286-3696
Department of Russian                     fax:    (508) 286-3640
Wheaton College                           e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu
Norton, Massachusetts 02766