"A nu-ka, devushki!"

[Maryna Vinarska]

"Robert A. Rothstein" <rar at SLAVIC.UMASS.EDU> wrote:It's from the refrain of a song called "Idem, idem, veselye podrugi," written by Vasilii Lebedev-Kumach (words) and Isaak Dunaevskii (music) for the 1937 film _Bogataia nevesta_.

..........................I think you are absolutely right. I don't remember what the movie is about, although its name sounds familiar to me, and the first stanza doesn't say anything to me, but as to the refrain, I know it by heart. You may still hear it very often on TV and on the radio. 
It is amazing how many of those song lines and phrases from movies circulate in our language like mottos, sayings, etc., no matter that people sometimes don't remember the movies or songs they originate from. "A nu-ka devushki, a nu krasavicy" is also a kind of "krylatoe vyrazhenie" today, together with all those: "Upravdom  -  luchshii drug cheloveka", "Vragu ne sdaetsia nash gordyi Variag", "Esli moda trebuet, to i roga nosiat", "Pri khoroshei zhenshchine i muzhchina mozhet stat' chelovekom", "Esli k vam ne prizhimaiutsia v metro, to eto ne znachit, chto metro v Parizhe ne sushchestvuet", "Ptichku zhalko", "Kakaia gadost' eta vasha zalivnaia ryba", "Kto letit v Leningrad?", "Davaite vzvesimsia na brudershaft", "I mertvye s kosami stoiat", etc., etc., etc. All are from movies.
Regards,
Maryna Vinarska


		
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