abbreviation "t."

[John Isham]

But that is precisely why I am asking!  There are elements in the
letter which suggest the nephew and aunt were not particularly
close to one another.

If I did not know she were his aunt, I would assume the "t." must
stand for "tovarishch."  My copy of Ozhegov shows that word as the
only (human) referent for the abbreviation "t."; and I myself
cannot recall ever having seen it stand for "tetia," just as we
never use (or at least I never have used) "u." as an abbreviation
for "uncle" or "a." as an abbreviation for "aunt."

"Uvazhaemaia tetia Liuda" sounds like a strange mix of the formal
and the informal to me.  But so admittedly does "Uvazhaemaia
tovarishch Liuda."  I was wondering whether the native Russian
ear/eye immediately hears/sees it as one or the other.  Or is it
perhaps truly ambiguous and impossible to tell?  Would it have been
out of the question for relatives in the late seventies to address
each other as "tovarishch?"

John Isham








Also, the "uvazhaemaia" seems (to me at least) to sound too formal
for "tetia" (I would've thought "dorogaia").

Цитирую Genevra Gerhart <ggerhart at COMCAST.NET>:

> If you _know_ she's his aunt, why would you ask?
>
> Genevra Gerhart
>
> ggerhart at comcast.net
>
> www.genevragerhart.com
> www.russiancommonknowledge.com
>
>
>
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