influence of russian on AE

[A. Vine]

I find the association of nudity with "nudnik" strange since "nude" and "nudnik"
aren't even the same sound.  Perhaps it stems from the written word.  I've never
heard it used that way - maybe it's regional.

There is a Russian word "nudnyi" (HYDHbIU approximated in ASCII text) which
means "tedious, humdrum".  The -nik ending is used in Russian as well.

Victoria Neufeldt wrote:
>
> Whatever its origin in Yiddish, the word 'nudnik' also definitely exists as
> a facetious ref to someone who is naked -- could even just be a child who's
> running around without clothes ("he's a little nudnik").  Probably
> originates as a misinterpretation of the word as heard or seen in English.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> > Of Stephanie Hysmith
> >
> > I think this is based on Yiddish and maybe blended with the Russian suffix
> > -nik for effect. Perhaps it came out around the same era as
> > 'beatnik,' too.
> > I doubt it has to do with nudism. Rather I would guess it refers to a
> > 'nudge.' /nUj/ This is someone who's pesters you, keeps after you for
> > details or whatever. If someone has a Yiddish dictionary handy, please
> > correct me.
> >
> > Isn't there also a word "nudnik" which I would understand as nude
> > person or
> > >someone involved with nudism?  If so, this would probably be
> > Yiddish rather
> > >than Russian. I don't see anything about the suffix "-nik" in DARE.  It
> > >became popular with "Sputnik."
> >