"putin(ov)shchina" exists.

[Paul B. Gallagher]

colkitto wrote:

>>> Lenin and Stalin did change their names for "poetic" reasons, no
>>> doubt ( creating their own -ism's probably was not among their
>>> reasons), not everyone is lucky to have a beautifully sounding
>>> name like Napoleon (three sonorants out four consonants, for
>>> Russian, not for French) for overthrowing the world.
>>
>> I can understand someone wanting to be associated with steel, but 
>> laziness?? I'd've stuck with "Ulyanov," myself.
> 
> apparently Lenin took his name from the River Lena from his Siberian days

Sure, I've heard that story, too. But as I said to another subscriber 
privately in response to a similar comment:

"Sure, you can control what you mean, but not what people will read into 
it. Advertising and marketing folks spend millions of dollars every year 
ruling out potential product and company names for just this reason."

No matter what Ulyanov's intentions, some people will recognize the len' 
root in "Lenin," and even if they ultimately reject that hypothesis, it 
*will* cross their minds. Adolescents have great fun "recognizing" dirty 
words in innocuous contexts -- "the cock crowed three times" (hahaha), 
etc. -- and making up names to trip up the teacher ("Richard Hertz, but 
you can call me 'Dick,' " etc.). The human mind can't help "recognizing" 
these before the "parent module" steps in to reject them.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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