kushat'

[David Boruma]

Kushat'

The distinctions embraced by the various list members (and an array of
authorities they have brought to our attention) collectively serve well
to block out the full range of discreet and overlapping nuances between
the more marked [kushat]' and the more elemental [est'].

In the nature of the such distinctions, perceived peer fashion,
subconscious affectation, class identification and gender are in play,
as stylemes filter into speech or literary pattern.

My unsubstantiated opinion would be that [kushat'] is a fossil of the
urban, affluent, nursery-operating, household. French 'goûter' may be
the item Mademoiselle referenced first, and her charges carried on
through life. Its intimate character in childhood contexts, which
several contributors have pointed out, morphs into a grown-up hint of
civilizing privacy, sophistication and urbanity. It is a word somewhat
more evocative of the distaff side, but, equally, just the sort of word
that might represent somewhat suspect "baggage" to the more dour of
Soviet stylistics mavens.

James O'Brien
rediscovering, with your help, Russian-- after a gap of 35 years

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