Teffi - «не топтать травы»

[Robert Chandler]

Ah, this is very helpful.  Thank you!

Googling your phrase, I found this:
В сущности, и старый и новый глуповец руководятся одним и тем же правилом: "Травы не мять, цветов не рвать и птиц не пугать".
http://profilib.com/chtenie/69096/mikhail-saltykov-schedrin-satiry-v-proze-62.php

I was thinking of translating it as "She had taken a firm decision not to ruffle any feathers."

All the best,

Robert

On 26 Apr 2014, at 10:37, R. M. Cleminson <rmcleminson at POST.SK> wrote:

> I have a definite recollection (but unfortunately not so definite that I can quote a reference) that «Травы не мять, цветов не рвать и птиц не пугать» was a notice commonly displayed in parks in Imperial Russia, much like "Keep off the grass" in ours, and it seems to have acquired similar connotations of law-abiding good behaviour.  There is something similar in Chekhov's «Переполох» (and I think it may have been from an annotated edition of Chekhov that I got the above information), but it evidently sank into the Russian consciousness much earlier - cf. Zhukovsky's «И Феб и музы известились...», c.1820.
> 
> ----- Pôvodná správa -----
> Od: "Robert Chandler" <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
> Komu: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Odoslané: sobota, 26. apríl 2014 6:35:54
> Predmet: [SEELANGS] Teffi - «не топтать травы»
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> It is late 1918.  Teffi and her companions are approaching Kiev by train.  There is an argument about where they are going to stay.  Olyonushka intervenes in this argument:
> 
> — В крайнем случае я возьму все на себя, — кротко сказала она. — У меня в Киеве есть подруги, может быть, можно устроиться у них…
> Личико у Оленушки было озабоченное и грустное. Ясно было, что она приняла твердое решение «не топтать травы»…
> 
> I'm not sure of the last words.  Is it that she had taken a resolution not to say anything that might offend anyone?
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Robert
> 
> Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
> 
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Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD

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