xudozhnik etymology (was: Grossman - Mama - teryat' v vese)

[Olga Meerson]

Khudozhnik ot slova "khudo" has nothing to do with any real etymology! That is how Soviet teachers reprimanded students using graffiti etc. It is a pun based not exactly on folk etymology but on a parody thereof--like many stupid and oppressive jokes of paedophobic schoolteachers. Sveta Genier, like myself, went to a Soviet school, and she was quoting THAT jargon. (We used to collect our teachers' professional "gems"). To be a good Slavist, it is not enough to know about correct etymologies. You also have to be aware of the culture's daily background. I don't know if teachers' stock-in-trade jokes at the expense of their students should be considered folk etymology, or merely exploiting a false one. In any case, this aspect of popular culture is important to know. All Russians play with words--some in good taste, some, in bad.

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