Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0023966, Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:14:50 -0700

Subject
Re: swoony-baloony
Date
Body
Baloney of course is derived from the Italian city, Balogna. Balloon, on the
other hand, is named after the 17th century ballerino, Ballon.
Carolyn

The first balloon was flown in 1783, causing panic through the British isles.
But what are sharovars?



________________________________
From: Alexey Sklyarenko <skylark1970@MAIL.RU>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, April 19, 2013 11:38:22 AM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] swoony-baloony


He [Van] remembered with a pang of pleasure the indulgent skirt Ada had been
wearing then, so swoony-baloony as the Chose young things said, and he
regretted (smiling) that Lucette had those chaste shorts on today, and Ada,
husked-corn (laughing) trousers. (Ada, 1.39)

Ballonnye rukava (the balloon sleeves) of a long Caucasus shirt are mentioned
in Ilf and Petrov's Zolotoy telyonok ("The Little Golden Calf", Chapter Three
"Your gas - our ideas"):

Завидя какого-нибудь совслужа в длинной кавказской рубашке с баллонными
рукавами, он подъезжал к нему сзади и с горьким смехом кричал:
— Мошенники! А вот я вас сейчас под показательный подведу! Под сто девятую
статью!
Catching sight of some civil servant in a long Caucasus shirt with balloon
sleeves, he [Adam Kozlevich] would ride up from behind and yell at him,
laughing bitterly: "Scoundrels! I’m going to take you right over to the show
court!"

rukav = kurva (rukav - sleeve; kurva - whore)

At an invisible sign of Dionysian origin, they all [merry young gardeners
wearing for some reason the garb of Georgian tribesmen and servant girls in
sharovars] plunged into the violent dance called kurva or 'ribbon boule' in the
hilarious program whose howlers almost caused Veen (tingling, and light-loined,
and with Prince N.'s rose-red banknote in his pocket) to fall from his seat.
(1.2)

Alexey Sklyarenko
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