TRANSLATION PROBLEMS: REPLIES

[Jules Levin]

At 02:52 PM 4/11/01 -0400, you wrote:

>>    I have noticed something. I have heard "drug" being used in the
>> sense of a "boyfriend". Perhaps, it may be a new usage.

I quote from Zhukovskij's Svetlana (1808-1812):
Kak mogu, podruzhki, pet'?/ Milyj drug daleko;/ Mne sud'bina umeret'/ V
grusti odinokoj.

I doubt that Svetlana is referring to a platonic acquaintance.  "New" slang
built on ordinary vocabulary often has an older heritage than one might
think.  I think "to put (someone) on" is in Shakespeare.  To connect the
dots here, a British word-a-day web site reports that a few slang terms
originating in "Clockwork Orange" have some staying power in contemporary
usage.  They cite specifically "droogish", which means "gangsterish", not,
I'm afraid, "boyfriendish".
Jules Levin

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