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Re: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]]
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In ADA Nabokov plays with the word "bloomers" in its double sense ( goofers,lapsus linguae and the underwear) . The idea of the suggested double "oo" and the "s" sound ( "shorts" "shop") invites a neologism in my opinion.
I always had the impression that girlish bloomers were not in the least sexy. But then, I'm not an American. I remember finding the word in the sixties for rounded and flowery big pants that protected a young girls actual panties when she was wearing short skirts. Am I wrong?
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Blackwell.
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 11:19 AM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]]
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:40:15 -0700
From: Aris Fioretos <aris.fioretos@T-ONLINE.DE>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Thanks for all comments -- much appreciated.
Some translations, including the first German and VN's own Russian, translate "swooners" as a
sweater of some sort. Although Lolita lost hers in the woods, perhaps it would be excessive of
Humbert to buy her several new ones? Excess may be the name of his particular game. But aren't the
double o's, reminiscent of those in "bloomers," indication enough of something flimsier, something
that would make his head turn dizzy more effectively? Or should they -- the o's so seemingly safely
embedded in VN's neologism -- rather be read as that double frontal feature of a woman that any
sweater would expose, be it in the winter or in the summer? If, indeed, the word is a neologism, it
seems to me it ought to receive an equivalent creation in another tongue. The Swedish "swimmare,"
perhaps? The word replaces the double o's with double m's, but then, ours is a language that does
not allow for double o's. The relative drawback: the word turns the buyer-cum-narrator into more of
a pensive connaisseur ("Mm . . .") than a straightforward admirer or swooner ("Oo . . .") . . .
AFio
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Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
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I always had the impression that girlish bloomers were not in the least sexy. But then, I'm not an American. I remember finding the word in the sixties for rounded and flowery big pants that protected a young girls actual panties when she was wearing short skirts. Am I wrong?
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Blackwell.
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 11:19 AM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]]
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:40:15 -0700
From: Aris Fioretos <aris.fioretos@T-ONLINE.DE>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Thanks for all comments -- much appreciated.
Some translations, including the first German and VN's own Russian, translate "swooners" as a
sweater of some sort. Although Lolita lost hers in the woods, perhaps it would be excessive of
Humbert to buy her several new ones? Excess may be the name of his particular game. But aren't the
double o's, reminiscent of those in "bloomers," indication enough of something flimsier, something
that would make his head turn dizzy more effectively? Or should they -- the o's so seemingly safely
embedded in VN's neologism -- rather be read as that double frontal feature of a woman that any
sweater would expose, be it in the winter or in the summer? If, indeed, the word is a neologism, it
seems to me it ought to receive an equivalent creation in another tongue. The Swedish "swimmare,"
perhaps? The word replaces the double o's with double m's, but then, ours is a language that does
not allow for double o's. The relative drawback: the word turns the buyer-cum-narrator into more of
a pensive connaisseur ("Mm . . .") than a straightforward admirer or swooner ("Oo . . .") . . .
AFio
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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--
Stephen H. Blackwell
Associate Professor of Russian
Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
701 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
865/ 974-4536
fax: 974-7096
sblackwe@utk.eduSearch the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
Contact the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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