a possibly minority position

[Jerry Katsell]

Geoff,

 

 

 

 

 

Geoff, "Hajzl" probably does come from the German. It's vulgar in Czech, and
sometimes applied to naughty children by rough and ready parents: "Ty jseš
hajzl!" "Záchod" is standard; "toaleta" perhaps for a hotel lavatory;
"záchodek" for a country outhouse; and perhaps "koupelna" for a bathroom
with toilet and bidet included-the bathtub being the "koupel". Are there
others, in Brno specifically?

 

Will, The next time I'm in a London pub I'll be sure not to ask for "the
little boy's room." On "nuzhnik"-didn't the great Derzhavin when visiting
Tsarskoe Selo ask someone, Pushkin or another litseist, "Gde, bratets,
nuzhnik?" Probably an apocryphal event, but piquant in its own way.

 

Jerry Katsell 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Chew G
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 11:15 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a possibly minority position

 

If we're talking about Reger, the secondary source is Slonimsky's Dictionary
of Musical Invective, quoting Reger as follows: "Ich sitze in dem kleinsten
Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe Ihre Kritik vor mir. Im naechsten
Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein."  (On the web at
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/1945/WSB/reger.html)

 

By the way, is there any equivalent in Russian to Czech "hajzl" (which as a
non-expert I have always assumed comes from Austrian German "haeusl") for
the lavatory?  Not exactly a euphemism though, and it's used pretty widely
as a personal insult as well.

 

Geoff

 

 Geoffrey Chew

 Institute of Musicology, Masaryk University, Brno

 chewg at seznam.cz

 

 Department of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London

 g.chew at rhul.ac.uk

 

________________________________

 

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on
behalf of William Ryan

Sent: Tue 1.4.08 01:42

To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU

Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a possibly minority position

 

 

 

It doesn't sound at all like Johnson to me. A quick look at Google shows

attributions to several anons, Max Reger, Winston Churchill, Noel

Coward, George Bernard Shaw, G. K. Chesterton and Voltaire, none with a

verifiable reference. One Reger citation does give the recipient and

date (Rudolph Louis, 1906) - but I would have been more convinced if it

had been quoted in German. Sounds like one of those general purpose

witticisms.

Will Ryan

 

 

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