Khrushchev's bury remark

[David Powelstock]

As I read the Dushenko entry, NSK said "pokhoronim," then the English press
translated it as "we will bury you" (which, by the way, *is* an English
idiom for "to be at your funeral, but also a homonym for "we will defeat
you").  Some Russians somewhere then processed to back-translate "we will
bury you" into "my vas zakopaem," which NSK never said.

Frankly, I think we language types make a bit too much of this particular
mistranslation.  Fundamentally, NSK's policy of "peaceful
coexistence/competition" was extremely explicit, and I think perhaps the
Cuban missile crisis did more to cast doubt on its sincerity than this
single comment.

dp

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Andrew Jameson
Sent: Sunday, 07 May 2000 7:07 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: Khrushchev's bury remark


Lynn,
Did Nikita Sergeevich really say "my vas pokhoronim"?
The Dushenko dictionary of quotations clearly implies
that his original words were "my vas zakopaem".
(See my previous message.)
Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

----------
From: Lvisson at AOL.COM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: Khrushchev's bury remark
Date: 07 May 2000 03:54

Glad this subject came up...See also Sukhodrev's memoir, "Yazyk moi, vrag
moi."  This incident was written about on numerous occasions, and is a
superb
example of mistranslation with disastrous consequences:  "My vas
pokhoronim,"
as Khrushchev said, did not mean "We will bury you - " i.e. do you in, kill
you, but rather "We will survive you, be present at your funeral.
L. Visson

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