two fashion terms

Wed Apr 2 18:21:53 UTC 2008

Apropos of the "toilet" P.S. below - and apologies if this one already came up in prior discussion - but a phrase that I always liked that I have heard among military colleagues (and which at least one civilian colleague met with a wince) is "idu tuda, kuda tsar' idyot peshkom." (иду туда, куда царь идёт пешком) 

John Pendergast
Assistant Professor of Russian
United States Military Academy
745 Brewerton Road
West Point, NY 10996
845-938-0310

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Saunders
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 12:29 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] two fashion terms

I think what we have here are two nations separated by a "common language."  You'd have a similar problem translating car terminology, as fashion -- gearbox, stick-shift, automatic, wing, fender, hood, bonnet, windshield, windscreen and this isn't even going into the different interpretations of the word "pavement"...  How you translate ochki-babochki will necessarily be determined by the intended primary audience.  Pumps in my American English can be nothing but women's dress shoes -- or where one buys gas (aka petrol?)

Regards,

Emily Saunders

P.S. Listening in on all of the toilet humor has reminded me of two phrases I picked up from friends while studying in Vladivostok.  My guess is that these were rather localized expressions as I have not happened across them elsewhere.  One way of indicating your intention of heading to a certain place was to say:  Idu na zasedanie or Idu  
zasedat' (Иду на заседание or Иду заседать).   
Тhose feeling the negative aftereffects of over-imbibing they sometimes had to Kormit' unitazavra.  (Кормить
унитазавра) -- a version of praying to the porcelain god or calling for Ralph?  I apologize for any negative mental images, but thought the language play was worth sharing.

On Apr 2, 2008, at 9:11 AM, John Dunn wrote:

> Far be it from me to add a further layer of confusion, but where I 
> come from, pumps were what we wore on our feet for PE lessons in 
> school (i.e. what were known elsewhere as plimsolls).  I suspect that 
> both terms have been replaced by 'trainers', though, living as I do at 
> the top of an ivory tower, I cannot speak with certainty.
>
> John Dunn.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kristen Harkness <kmhst16 at PITT.EDU>
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:17:44 -0400
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] two fashion terms
>
> Another two cents: We recently had a discussion about tufli-lodochkoi 
> in my department (for Russian and the Czech variant).  We concluded 
> that if you are translating for a US audience, not many people know 
> what "court shoes" are these days so pumps is the better option.  In 
> the US, "pumps" means a dressy woman's shoe with a heel.  They may 
> have a sling back rather than a closed back, but a closed back is the 
> "classic" variant.
>
> Also, in the US ochki-babochki are more properly "cat eye glasses" 
> (sometimes written "cat-eye glasses" or "cat's eye glasses"), not "cat 
> eyeglasses."
>
> Kristen Harkness
>
>
> Kristen Harkness
> PhD Candidate
> University of Pittsburgh
> History of Art and Architecture
> 104 Frick Fine Arts Building
> Pittsburgh, PA 15260
> kmhst16 at pitt.edu
>
> John Dunn
> Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies) University of 
> Glasgow, Scotland
>
> Address:
> Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
> 40137 Bologna
> Italy
> Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
> e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it
>
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