Why I love Mariya

[salienne]

The only light, feeble and rarefied, emanated from many candles of varying heights that had been placed on the icons’ altars in prayer and left to stand there burning until they dwindled to lifeless stubs. And there were many old ladies, pudgy babushkas in patterned headscarves—mostly women, a few men, all elderly and wrinkled—moving solemnly between altars like penguins.

That almost pwns my demonic gopher.

Comments

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

pudgy babushkas in patterned headscarves

Hah ... a play on words in two languages. Only I can never remember which pronunciation takes which meaning.

[salienne.livejournal.com]

Wait, does "babushka" mean "headscarf" in some language?

I just know that "babushka" with the first syllable emphasized means "grandmother" in Russian. I'm pretty sure the friend who wrote this is only aware of that definition too.

*Curious*

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

One way is pronounced BA-boosh-ka, and the other way is pronounced ba-BOOSH-ka. One means "grandmother", the other means "old lady doo-rag."

I can never remember which is which.

Definition on Dictionary.com

[salienne.livejournal.com]

Probably "ba-BOOSH-ka" means "old lady doo-rag", since the first one means "grandmother" (at least in Russian; I think ba-BOOSH-ka might mean "grandmother" in Yiddish, though, so who knows).

According to that dictionary.com site, they're both pronounced "ba-BOOSH-ka" apparently...

Eh, who needs pronunciation? It's for that whole "speaking" thing, and writing on the internet is far superior. :D

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

We called my Polish great-grandmother "Bubscha," which is fairly close. Her maiden name was Cjakowski, which is allegedly the Polish version of "Tchaikovsky."

About the Babushka pronunciation thing ... maybe you could ask one of your older Russian relatives?

[salienne.livejournal.com]

I'll call my mom and ask her. If she doesn't know, my grandmother probably will.

I think it might just be an American thing, though. Still, I will ask just to be sure. :)

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

Well, I did hear it from an American. But he was my Russian Teacher at the time, and he studied in Leningrad.