French Language into the Upper Echelons of Russian Society

The ‘apogee’ of penetration of French into Russian noble society appears to have been reached before the defeat of Napoleon at Moscow in 1812. After this point, a knowledge of Russian became obligatory for members of the Russian aristocracy in order to ‘prove’ their patriotic credentials. The establishment of a normative literary standard in the Russian language in the 19th century also done by many intellectuals  helped to preserve the place of the Russian language in the upper echelons of society.

By the start of the 20th century, the ill-fated Russian blue blood of the early 19th century who could barely string a sentence together in Russian appears to have become a thing of the past. Nevertheless, and despite the oft remarked fact that large sections of Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace (Война и мир) were  written initially in French. Films such as David Lean’s adaptation of Pasternak’s novel Dr. Zhivago (1965), purposely elicit the use of French language and culture in ‘good’ society in pre-revolutionary days as a distinctive marker of those times. The scene where at the posh restaurant, despite being the daughter of a hard-up seamstress, Lara can order confidently from the menu in French “Jambon farci en croûte” to be pass for someone from a higher level of society.

 Although I can’t provide empirical evidence to support what I am about to say, my impression  is that the presence of, and fluency in, modern foreign languages in the Russian middle classes and upwards occurred roughly in the following order of fluency,French then German and English.

Amongst these three, French was undoubtedly the most established, and a requirement for entrance into aristocratic circles. It was the modern language that had the most influence on, and supplied the greatest number of loan-words to the Russian language. It was also the ‘default’ language with which to address non-Russian-speaking foreigners.

I think the presence of English is also definitely ‘there’ in aristocratic circles in pre-revolutionary Russia, although definitely not as well established as French, but clearly assisted by the then-prestige of the British Empire  and the gradual rise of the United States as a super  power. 

It’s honestly compelling to imagine, provided the absence of the revolutions that destroyed the old Russian aristocracy, that English might have replaced French as the foreign language ‘of choice’ at the outset stage of the 20th century in Russia.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

I think that proverb is a warning against discarding something valuable or important while disposing of something worthless, but it seems to have a literal origin. During the Middle Age, most people bathed once a year. Even when they did bathe, the entire family often used the same tubful of water. The breadwinner of the house bathed first, followed by other young males, then females, and finally the babies. We can imagine how thick and cloudy the water became by that time, so the infants' mothers had to take care not to throw them out with the bathwater when they emptied the tub.

Hackneyed Phrases

• Leave it with me
• I'll see what I can find
• Consider it done
• I'll make some calls
• I'll think about it
• Good idea
• Maybe
• It's on my list
• Might see you down there
• I'll look into it
• I'll have a word

• Certainly a possibility
• Let's come back to that


Here are some empty phrases that mean nothing will happen. Yeah right.

Exotic Delicacy?

It should have been the hors d'oeuvres autocorrected, or I think I'd suggest that someone needs to call PETA guys.

Three shades of cheatings

According to oxforddictionaries.com the latest relationship buzzword is micro-cheating. As psychologist Melanie Schilling defined it for HuffPost Australia: "Micro-cheating is a series of seemingly small actions that indicate a person is emotionally or physically focused on someone outside their relationship." In the smartphone era, these actions may especially take the form of secretly texting or direct-messaging another person, saving a contact in a phone under a codename, or privately communicating with ex-partners online. So what should we call a full-fledged affair: macro-cheating? Is nano-cheating a mere thought that is unfaithful to one's partner?

Bomb Cyclone

A powerful winter storm hit the US eastern coast last month and specifically referred to as a "bomb cyclone". This term is an extension of "weather bomb", and is more like a kind of winter hurricane resulting from a process called explosive cyclogenesis, or bombogenesis, which occurs when a mid-latitude cyclone intensifies from the collision of cold, dry air with warm, moist, ocean air. This causes a rapid, bomb-like drop in atmospheric pressure, suddenly generating violent weather, hence the "bomb". Is it the latest bit of meteorological bombast , like polar vortex, snowmageddon, and thundersnow? Or media-generated hyperbole? Maybe not. The term can be found in technical papers as early as the 1980s and "weather bomb" is even older, this phrase for a "rapidly developing severe storm" was used in 1948, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says.

Blood Brothers

I think our popular understanding of the phrase "blood is thicker than water" is that family comes before everything, but the origin may suggest exactly the precise opposite. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, blood rituals between men symbolised bonds that were far greater than those of family. The saying also has to do with "blood brothers", because warriors who symbolically shared the blood they shed in battle together were said to have stronger bonds than biological brothers.

For the good time

  

                                                    Funghi lost in translation.

Raining Cats and Dogs

No one knows the precise source of this 17th century expression, but the most probable source is the fact that dead animals and other debris were sometimes washed up in the streets after heavy rain. By the way, don't step in a poodle.

Nearly Enough

This was at the end of my road in St Heliers this morning. I wonder how a sign like this does get all the way from conception to design, procurement, manufacture, delivery and deployment without it being noticed. Yeah right.

Tongue Embarasser

                        The last word on the plural of octopus.

Bob's your uncle

A primarily British slang term. The rough translation is "It's easy as that". The etymology comes from 1887, when a British Prime Minister (first name Robert) appointed his nephew as minister for Ireland. The blatant nepotism eventually gave rise to the saying.

Extremely Practical

 It truly is a heart-felt thanks to mum for from a grateful son for serving up the right diet. Eminently realistic. Yeah right.

Apostropes Saga

                                                           DIY apostrophes.

Slight Touch Up

At my work Christmas party last year I poured myself a glass of red wine then asked the lady sitting next to me, who I'd never met, if she would like a touch up.

Saved By the Bells

 There's a grim origin for the saying "saved by the bell". When ancient European people realised people were being buried before they had fully expired, they decided to tie a string to the "dead" person's hand, and tied the other end of the string to a bell and tied that to a tree branch. If the person revived enough to ring the bell, there would be a rush to dig them up. So a few were probably saved by the bell.

Careless Wording

My workmate used to take a little old lady he knew out and about in her wheelchair from time to time. One day he didn't make it to an appointment and when I inquired about it, he said he had to visit someone in hospital. So I asked it wasn't that little old lady he used to push around. However the horrified look on our workmates' faces made it clear that I should have chosen my words better.

Mistletoe Saga

Mistletoe tends to spring from bird droppings that have fallen on trees, with the seeds having passed through the digestive tract of birds and most varieties of this plant are partial parasites, being unable to fully sustain themselves via photosynthesis, so they leach what they need from the particular tree they are growing on.

The word "mistle" or "missel" meant "dung" and 'toe" which came from the Anglo-Saxon word "tan" meaning "twig". So mistletoe is essentially a poop stick. Not only is mistletoe a poop twig but nothing like smooching under a parasitic poop twig.

Muddling Up

The other day, a colleague politely asked if she could ask a question. I muddled up "fire away" and "go ahead", telling her to "go away".

Ooops!

On one occasion when spelling out my surname over the phone I began with "K for kilogram ..." I then proceeded to spell out "kilogram".