'kushat''

[Valentina Zaitseva]

 On "kushat'" and poiteness:
The stylistic destination is certainly correct: "kushat'" is not neutral.
And, indeed, most  educated Russians  would not use it because of its
strong  associations with "meshchanstvo" - i,e,. the word is socially
stigmatized.
    There is, however, an interesting addition: not only "kushat'" is more
colloquial, but it also encodes the speaker's Empathy with the addressee.
Thus, Mayakovsky, who was not particularly polite about "burzhui", wrote:

Esh' ananasy,
Riabchikov zhui,
Den' tvoi  poslednij
 Prixodit, burzhui!

"Kushai "would not be appropriate here not only because of its colloquial
status (M. did not hesitate to use the rude "zhrat'" in other texts), but
rather  because it would show the author's tender concern with the
addressee, which is clearly not the case here.

Note Nekrasov's stylization:
    "Kushai tiuriu, Iasha, molochka-to net!
    -Gde zh korovka nasha?
    -Uveli, moi svet!"

And finally, here are som examples from Zemskaia's 'Russkaia razgovornaia
rech'.TEKSTY ( The text below was recorded in the family of educated urban
Russians):

R. Baba/ chto ty kupila?
A. Vot seichas blinok skushaesh'/ i pokazhu//
A. Kira idi kushat'/ beri Buratinku// (rebenok podxodit) Ty liubish'
Buratinka blinki? Sprosi ego/ so smetankoi blinki// (kormit) Davai /  sam//
Nu/ nu// To-o-nen'kii blinok/ na// Kushai// Vo-o-t//

We can't say that this woman was impolite or "meshchanka" ; it was no more
inappropriate than "sweety pie" as a form of address in itself. Is it rude?
That would depend on social roles and the place of the speech act.

Best,
Valentina

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