> That was 45 years ago. Perhaps time to catch up. There has been the > collapse > of the USSR since then. Miss it?
As one who has been to Russia 3 times (and lived there for a year during one of those trips), married a Russian, and speaks the language fluently, I know a few things about the connotations of words based on how Russians use them. For example, when Gorbachev told Reagan, "Ti boltaesh," during one of their summit meetings, it was actually a dig calling him a blubber mouth, though it was translated far more benignly by the Western press as "you speak so eloquently" or something to that effect. Russians back home got the joke. It's actually very Russian to deliver digs under the guise of compliments. I'm sure Medvedev calling Obama his "new Comrade" was a tongue-in-cheek insult, actually, probably mocking Obama's utopian socialist delusions. Your theory that the word "comrade" instantly returned to its old, pre-communist meaning years before the Berlin wall fell is, well, naïve to put it diplomatically. I don't think even communist/linguist Noam Chomsky would argue that! You must be smarter than him. - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
