After deleting 99/100 of the NAB list messages unread for the last 3 or 4 years (I couldn't keep up) I was staggered to open this one by chance and find myself mentioned in such flattering terms. Really don't think I mentioned "nikto - b", which would have meant nothing, not nobody, to me; but I did write as follows:

Subject:	Re: [NABOKV-L] Botkin or nikto (b?)
Date:	29/10/2006

Can't resist mentioning that the "Nobody" joke has tickled others. William Hogarth produced a fairly well-known drawing of Nobody. This consisted of a man furnished only with head, arms and legs.

Good Lord ! SIX YEARS AGO ! Nobody's memory is better than mine --- and he runs faster, too.

Charles

In a message dated 08/08/2012 16:48:38 GMT Daylight Time, nabokv-l@UTK.EDU writes:

From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] on behalf of Carolyn Kunin [chaiselongue@ATT.NET] Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 9:44 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] more from the archives re nikto b'

Found this - have tried to straighten out message from CHW - he was always an interesting contributor - Charles ... can't recall further, but his knowledge of things Scandanavian was impressive. V Fet, as always, is clear as glass, or a bell, or a glass bell, or a bell curve, or ... stop me before I write a poem or something.

Carolyn

>>>>>CHW also mentioned "nikto b", which the Russian speakers
>>>>>have ruled out. I think. But I'd like to clarify this
>>>>>last detail: if someone asks "Who is Botkin?", is "Nikto
>>>>> b" an absolutely unidiomatic answer?

Yes, it is absolutely unidiomatic combination and has to be ruled out.

If to "Who is Botkin?" one wants to say "nobody", the answer is "Nikto"; full answer is "Botkin is nobody", or "Botkin - nikto" [the verb is omitted].

Russian "b" is just an abbreviated particle "by" (like in "Nikto b[y] ne podumal", "nobody would have thought") but "nikto b" does not have any independent meaning.

I brought it up but only as a possible palindrome with first name "Nikto" = "Nikto Botkin" or "Nikto B." (B also being, naturally, Cyrillic "V" for Vseslav or Vladimir).

There is also a traditional K/Ch interplay between down-to-earth pair "Nikto" (nobody)/"Nichto" (nothing), versus more elevated poetic "Nekto" (someone)/"Nechto" (something).

Victor Fet