the word for howler is blooper.
Blooper is an American word.
Charles Harrison Wallace
Dear Charles,
I guess that's why I didn't recognize this meaning of bloomer - - it is derived from the word "blooming" as a euphemism for "bloody" which in turn has its own history - - that is so specifically British (more specifically Cockney?) a series of usages that it would be surprising to find Nabokov using bloomer with that meaning - - not bloody likely, anyway.
Carolyn