Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

[Alina Israeli]

Those who study oral vs written speech have seen that an oral interview
would be encoded somewhat differently when it comes into print. With
Khrushchev the issue was usually the opposite, he was prone to
extemporizing, then some of his extemporization would not make it into the
official text of the speech. I remember my grandfather telling me that in
one May day speech he said "Esli by idei Marksa da maslom pomazat'..." That
statement also did not make it into print. Some stuff he said caught on. I
remember our grammar teacher quoting Khrushchev "a ja, desushaka, eshche
porot' budu." She adored him (as she adored Stalin before him). It's
Khrushchev's slightly bafoonish qualities of an uneducated peasant that
made it so much fun. Jokes about him outlived his reign. He was replaced by
a very boring troyka who were very impersonal, never smiled and stuck to
the protocol.

_____________
Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016

phone:  (202) 885-2387
fax:    (202) 885-1076

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