a possibly minority position

[Jerry Katsell]

My Russian sources tell me that Gorbachev intoned the phrase long before
the putsch of 22 August 1991. It might be worth noting that Gorbachev
tends to pronounce к and г [g] more like х [kh]and also to slur a bit.
Perhaps that's how the salacious play on words of "ху есть ху" [khu est'
khu--"khu-e" is close in sound to the Russian for "cock"] got started.
As to the mysterious, presumably Mr. Odin, Mr. Gorbachev may be the only
one who knows.

Jerry Katsell  

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of John Dunn
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:55 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a possibly minority position

I think that in fairness to Gorbachev it ought to be pointed out that
what he actually said (in his post-putsch press-conference of 22 August
1991) was:

Мы знаем что такое, как говорил один, кто есть ху [My znaem chto takoe,
kak govoril odin, kto est' khu]

This is rather different and shows that he knew exactly what he was
doing (which is why infamous is not perhaps quite the right word).  But
what I would like to know is this: who is the mysterious 'odin' whom
Gorbachev considers to be the real originator of the phrase?    Any
ideas?

John Dunn.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Katsell <jerry3 at ROADRUNNER.COM>
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 07:47:49 -0800
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a possibly minority position

God bless you, Michele and Kim,

I happened to be in Tbilisi in 1986 in our hotel bar where there was a
television broadcasting Gorbachev's speech after his meeting with Reagan
in Iceland. Gorby referred to Reagan as: "Meestir Prezeedent Ray Gun!" I
found it charming. Of course, Gorby is infamous in Russia for trotting
out his version of English "Who's who?": "Khoo--ees--khoo?"! 

Jerry Katsell


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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------