Khrushchev's bury remark

[David Powelstock]

If we're looking for an accurate translation, I think "We shall dance on
your grave" works pretty well.

To be sure, as Francoise R. notes, Cold War hype was the real culprit here,
making it possible to believe that Khrushchev could really do something as
stupid as threaten to destroy the US.  US cold warriors had no interest in
disabusing the populace of this misunderstanding, since it played into their
propagandistic goals.  For the press, it was lovely headline.  Pace Anthony
V., the misleading translation is more important as a *symptom* (of cold-war
mentality) than as an event or peril.  In other words, it didn't make
anything happen that wasn't already happening.  The bomb-shelter industry
was doing well enough as it was.  Conversely, had it been translated more
appropriately, the cold war would have still continued icily along.  The
problem was not mistranslation, but misunderstanding and mistrust, magnified
by the effect of Pascal's wager: the odds were good that the USSR didn't
want to make war, but nuclear weapons made the stakes very, very high.  Then
there was the "military-industrial complex," but I'll save that for the next
summer of love....


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Emily Tall
> Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 3:21 PM
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: Re: Khrushchev's bury remark
>
>
> "I'll bring flowers to your funeral" is an expression I haven't
> heard (I'm a
> native speaker of English) but it sounds very benign to me. I can
> imagine myself
> saying it to a friend, so it really isn't an appropriate
> translation for the
> Khrushchev remark, it seems to me. Emily Tall
>

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