"First Lady" in Russian

[Richard Robin]

Pervaja ledi has been used all over the news to describe the late Raisa. The
term has a long history of use to describe the American first lady (going back
to the mid 70s AT LEAST).

Francoise Rosset wrote:

> 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.
>
> 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.

G[jo]rlfrend too
--
Richard Robin - http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~rrobin
German and Slavic Dept.
The George Washington University
WASHINGTON, DC 20052
Can read HTML mail.
Читаю по-русски в любой кодировке.
Chitayu po-russki v lyuboi kodirovke.