On Jan 20, 2010, at 1:20 PM, Nabokv-L wrote: > > Subject: > stangs and beavers > From: > Dmitri Nabokov > Date: > Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:13:15 +0100 > To: > Vladimir Nabokov Forum > > Dear Friends, > > Amid all the admirable research and discourse dedicated to these > words and related matters, I noted the mention of "Dmitri's memory" > as a possible source of assistance. I can offer the following > tidbits. I have a very clear, even tactile recollection of the > upright metal posts for passengers to hang onto, usually located > near the doors and on the open platforms of European urban public > conveyances.The Russian term for them that, as a child, I learned > from my father was штанга [shtanga].That, of course, does not > preclude the plethora of other usages and of variants in other > languages (such as stang in English, stangue in French, stanga and > the aggressive verb stangare in Italian, or the German stange from > which, like certain other words with a technical sense, it may > have traversed to Russian. It is also true that VN also used it for > a (generally wooden) soccer goalpost. I doubt that there is any > link here between the suicide journeys in The Gift and Pale Fire. > > I can also offer an amusing sidelight for "beaver." My father once > told me about a game played at Cambridge when he was a student > there. When one among a company of friends was the first to espy a > bearded gentleman he would cry out "beaver," and thereby win a > point. A similar game, I am told, is played in present-day Russia > using sightings of cats or automobiles of an agreed-upon color. > > DN > Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" > Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options > All private editorial communications, without exception, are read > by both co-editors. > Search archive with Google: http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/