Grossman - Mama - teryat' v vese

[Nataliya Kun]

The thing is, "в домах отдыха" Soviet people were supposed to gain
weight, and not to lose it!  Weight loss is as bad as other forms of
destructive behavior.

Therefore, the phrase should be translated literally. It has nothing
to do with the figurative meaning of вес.



2010/1/1 Robert Chandler <kcf19 at dial.pipex.com>:
> Dear all,
>
> The following is from the story 'Mama'.  The story was probably written in
> 1960, but this section is set in the mid- or late-1950s.
>
>  Говорили, что в домах отдыха  некоторые  девушки позволяют  себе  лишнее,
> гуляют по ночам,  теряют в весе,  а в мужских комнатах народ пьянствует,  не
> соблюдает мертвый час, режется в карты.
>
> I am not sure how literally to understand 'teryayut v vese'.  In another
> story by Grossman а Ukrainian woman teases the heroine, who has fallen in
> love, with the following words:
>   Станюк, усмехнувшись, сказала ей:
>  - Дывысь, Горячева, как бы тут не схудла кила на два чи на три.
>
> In the second example, at least, a clear link is being made between
> falling-in-love/having sex and losing weight.  Is something similar going on
> in the first example?  Is the phrase just a euphemism?
>
> Two possible translations for the first passage, then, are:
> 1. 'staying out late at night and so losing weight'
> 2. 'staying out late at night and getting up to goodness knows what.'
>
> Will be grateful, as always, for help!
>
> And A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
>
> Robert
>
>
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-- 
Nataliya Kun
Ph.D. Candidate, Harvard University
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
12 Quincy St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
kun at fas.harvard.edu

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