The crass style of folklore: correction

[Olga Meerson]

Oops! I messes up with the Pushkin quote. In fact, he says that Russian has some Biblical crassness but that usually, it gets bowdlerized, and perhaps shouldn't:

Пушкин:
«Я желал бы оставить русскому языку некоторую библейскую похабность. Я не люблю видеть в первобытном нашем языке следы европейского жеманства и французской утончённости. Грубость и простота более ему пристали».

This quote is often used by the proponents of foul language in Russia. The only thing they don't notice is the strange and seemingly incongruous epithet "Biblical". What Pushkin means is that, in the Bible, what "foul" words refer to is in fact sex etc., rather than that they are used as common swearwords. Some--such as watering a horse at a woman's well--are not foul at all but quite the contrary: they are euphemisms, albeit transparent. What Pushkin probably means is the same as Batiushkov does elsewhere (on the influence of light poetry on language): erotic themes seem to promote the development of metaphorical language, and therefore, are very conducive to developing a national poetic. In any case, thanks to Robert's stumbling over a real stumbling block, fruitful as always, we all have found out about a potential that has once fascinated Pushkin, and that he put to great use in his own poetics! 
o.m.

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