help with Ukrainian saying

[Steve Marder]

> Steve Marder wrote:
>>> "v ogorode buzina, a v Kieve dyad'ka"
>> 
>> Is there not a further incongruity here? After all, v
>> ogorode kapusta, a buzina v sadu!
> 
> When such sayings came into being, ogorod was not always
> the tilled plot with orderly rows of plants we think of
> now. It was usually a large chunk of land where all kinds
> of things could be found, including buzina -- which at
> least in Ukraine would not have been planted there
> deliberately. It was regarded negatively -- "V buzyni
> Nechystyj sydyt'!" -- and its fruit was thought to be
> poisonous. So in Ukraine, buzyna would be promptly cut
> out if it started growing in a sad.
> 
> In Ukrainian there is also "buzok" (Russian = "siren'"),
> which would be welcome in a sad. Buzok is often confused
> with buzyna, even by native speakers.

Thank you, George.

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