bridge in the SSSR

[Robert Orr]

 kozyri - trumps 

Anyone any idea how the Russian title of  "Flash for Freedom" turns out as
"Flesh bez kozyrej"?

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of ameliede at EARTHLINK.NET
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 1:07 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] bridge in the SSSR

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robert Orr <colkitto at ROGERS.COM>
>Sent: May 15, 2011 8:44 PM
>To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] bridge in the SSSR
>
>But was bridge not originally a Russian game in any case?
>
>http://www.pagat.com/boston/biritch.html
>
>
> Well, since anecdotes are welcome, about 50 years ago I played bridge at
UCLA with Kirill Taranovsky's son Ted who was also a grad student.  For some
reason we played bridge in Russian, that is, we bid and played in russian,
and suddenly all the terms are coming back:  bubni, trefi, chervi, piki, bez
kozyrya, odin raz, dva raza, etc.  To trump is bit' kozyrem.  Double is
udvoeno.  Apologize for any mistakes; can't check spelling where I am. 
Anyway, if I remember correctly, Kirill T. was a serious bridge player in
Yugoslavia, whatever Stalin thought about it.  The story re bridge in the
Kremlin in 1941 is that someone, I think maybe Molotov, was bidding a slam
when he was told about the Germans invading.  Of course he played the hand
before leaving the table.  Has all the earmarks of apocrypha, but who knows?
Jules Levin
Los Angeles 

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