Vsem sestram po ser'gam

[Elena Ostrovskaya]

Well, on the face of it it is about gifts, but the only usage I know of is
the one Robert quotes. No earrings, just telling off and criticism. The way
life is, eh?:)
The funny thing, though, is that according to Dal and Mikhelson it is a folk
saying (pogovorka), which does mean something good coming to everyone.
This is a link to Mikhelson, I believe, via Yandex.
http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/mikhelson/article/mi11/mi1-1214.htm?text=всем%20сестрам%20по%20серьгам&stpar3=1.1<http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/mikhelson/article/mi11/mi1-1214.htm?text=%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BC%20%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%20%D0%BF%D0%BE%20%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BC&stpar3=1.1>

Seems to have been at least ambivalent originally. It is my gues that it
came to be used mainly ironically in the XIXth century. Through
post-romanticists / revolutionary democrats. At least Nadezhdin's article
"Vsem sestram po sergam" is quite ironic.

My two cents,
Elena Ostrovskaya

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 9:46 AM, <greniers at georgetown.edu> wrote:

> I always thought that it means everyone gets something (as a gift).
>  Literally, every sister gets a pair of earrings.  I may have been
> mistaken...
> Svetlana Grenier
>
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