Slavs and nemtsy

[Leslie Farmer]

In a message dated 9/21/0 21:35:24, sforres1 at SWARTHMORE.EDU writes:

<< At 3:44 PM +0200 9/21/00, FRISON Philippe wrote:
>As far as 'nemets'is concerned, I have always been told that the term comes
>from the usage imposed by Russia's authorities in the Middle Age, according
>to which Russians were not allowed to speak to foreigners.
> [snip....] >>

A personal sidelight: I visited Russia for a couple of weeks last year while
studying in Brno.  Not speaking more than a few phrases of Russian and
reading a little Cyrillic, when I got lost or stuck and appealed to some
passerby...

I'd try first Czech, then English, French and the tattered remnants of
Italian.  If the Russian didn't speak any of these, s/he would inevitable
reply, "No speak English."  This struck me as odd--conflating three different
KINDS of non-Russian language into "English."  Explanation, anyone?

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