Re. s lica vody ne pit'

[Robert A. Rothstein]

V. P. Zhukov's _Slovar' russkikh poslovits i pogovorok_ (M., 1991) lists
both "s litsa vodu ne pit'" and "ne s litsa vodu pit'," explaining the
meaning as "ne krasota vazhna" with the additional comment "govoritsia
pri vybore nekrasivoi nevesty ili zhenikha."  Zhukov cites extended
examples from Dement'ev, Leskov, Mamin-Sibiriak, Chekhov, Staniukovich
and Garin.

In his dictionary entry for _litso_ Dal' includes "s litsa ne vodu pit',
umela by pirogi pech'" with the explanation "zhena."  His "Skazka o
pokhozhdeniiakh cherta-poslushnika," quoted by Mikhel'son, contains an
example of the inverse of the proverbial expression:  "Byvalo, moia, kak
priodenetsia, da priumoetsia, tak khot' voditsy ispit'..."

Bob Rothstein

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