"stroinyi kak topol'" and other arboreal epithetry

[Francoise Rosset]

>To go with the most common
>folk idiom, a man would be described as "stroinyi kak topol' (poplar),"
>whereas a woman is "stroinaia kak berezka (birch)." I tend to use
>"slender" for women, and "lean" for men when translating "stroinaia/yi"
>into English.
>
>It seems the visual comparison of people to trees is a Slavic thing, and
>not really found in English. Or am I mistaken? Is there an English
>equivalent to "moguchii kak dub," or "gibkaia kak iva"?

Well, there's "willowy," apparently used for men as well as women
(I've only heard it applied to impossibly proportioned model types).
I'm never sure what it means -- most likely tall and slender and 
flexible-looking.
One online definition even used the term "pliant" ... no comment.
-FR


-- 

Francoise Rosset
Russian and Russian Studies
Interim Coordinator, Women's Studies
Wheaton College                         
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
        
phone: 	(508) 286-3696
fax #:   	(508) 286-3640
e-mail: FRosset at wheatonma.edu

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