The Bear

[Alina Israeli]

>Smirnov as I remember is kind of a boor - is it
>possible Chekhov does this to demonstrate the
>character's ignorance of how one would normally call a
>manservant?  Or were servants called this way as well?

Yes, "chelovek" could also mean 'manservant'. Whether one would address a
manservant as "chelovek" is a different story; it was indeed possible but
it represented a condescention of several degrees. Dal' has an example of
"Ej, chelovek, podaj trubku!" As I wrote earlier, it is somehow not a form
of address a woman would have used, but only a man, and probably not the
most civilized one.

__________________________
 Alina Israeli
 LFS, American University
 4400 Mass. Ave., NW
 Washington, DC 20016

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

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