"well-endowed"
Michael Holman
mj at HOLMAN52.FREESERVE.CO.UK
Wed Apr 12 16:39:43 UTC 2006
What about 'stroinaya'? It may seem a bit tame after all the other body-part
slang, but it's still a fine word with no immediately obvious universal
equivalent in English. It is, I recollect, the word Tolstoy uses to describe
the stroinaya krasavitsa Marianna in 'Kazaki'. She was certainly well
endowed and beautifully proportioned in all the right places.
Michael Holman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alina Israeli" <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "well-endowed"
>Sorry, I didn't get your point: I am afraid, neither Bunin nor Pushkin
>would
>be helpful with the current Russian equivalent for "well-endowed" ;))
That's exactly the point. Neither used a Jayne Mansfield type model.
Whatever is of interest to men is (at least in part) culture specific (and
time specific). Just think for a moment of an Indian beauty, not the one
which is groomed for a Miss Universe contest, but which is considered a
beauty in India.
As Julia Trubikhina mentioned:
well-endowed is the one that would be in a different stylistic
"register" in Russian, unless it's just neutral: "with large
breasts"-- (s bol'shoi grud'iu)
Otherwise, (grudastaia, iadrenaia)
And of course there is a score of less and less "decent" epithets...:)
much of it not very flattering.
Bunin's story has a laundry list of qualities:
Я в одной папиной книге,-- у него много старинных
смешных книг,-- прочла, какая красота должна быть у женщины...
Там, понимаешь, столько насказано, что всего не упомнишь: ну,
конечно, черные, кипящие смолой глаза,-- ей-богу, так и
написано: кипящие смолой!--черные, как ночь, ресницы, нежно
играющий румянец, тонкий стан, длиннее обыкновенного руки,--
понимаешь, длиннее обыкновенного!-- маленькая ножка, в меру
большая грудь, правильно округленная икра, колена цвета
раковины, покатые плечи,
but the bosom must be "v meru bol'shaja", and what is the measure exactly?
>
>Please don't forget about Bunin's Legkoye Dihaniye.The end of this
>story.
>
>And it is I think continues the conversation between Anatol and Dolokhov in
>W and P(vol.2,part 5): " Oni razobrali dostonstvo ee ruk,nog,plech i
>volos".
That's a good start for cross-cultural analysis.
__________________________
Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Mass. Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016
phone: (202) 885-2387
fax: (202) 885-1076
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