Subject
Re: DN re "Right old mess"
From
Date
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On 09/05/2008 02:43, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
>
> [Dmitri Nabokov sends this reply to Jerry Friedman's request for clarity about
> the source of the phrase "right old mess" that has been ascribed to him. --
> SES]
>
> The unpleasantly quaint Anglicism "right old mess" has been slithering in my
> wake ever since the Australian Broadcasting Corp "book talk" of Feb. 15 cited
> a letter of mine, in which I half (but only half) jocularly referred to a
> vision of my father authorizing me to conserve, and publish, *The Original of
> Laura*. I employed a different locution.
>
> DN
> -----
> The ironic idiom "right old mess" is widely attested and needs neither
> apologies nor prescriptive scorn. The three words entered English very early
> (pre-Chaucer) and their collocation hardly strikes Brit ears as "unpleasantly
> quaint." We simply adore "Anglicisms," the quainter the merrier!
>
> The Stan Laurel (Anglo-American) version is more familiar, perhaps: "Another
> fine [or nice] mess you've gotten me into." Strangely, unversed Brits rate
> "gotten" as a quaint, even ugly, Americanism in spite of its Anglo-Saxon
> pedigree.
>
> It's time for all good Nabokovians to come to Dmitri's aid. The tough decision
> has been made. I rejoice that we'll get to see whatever survived of Laura!
> Idly pondering and browsing, I thought of
> Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost," labours which have now been "Wonne!"
> Adding to the allusional lustre, we find an encounter with "a Mess of
> Russians." The Princess and Rosalind differ: were the Russians "gallants, full
> of courtship and of state," or surly and sad?
>
> ** PRINCESS Not so, my lord; it is not so, I swear;
> We have had pastimes here and pleasant game:
> A mess of Russians left us but of late. 380
> FERDINAND How, madam! Russians!
> PRINCESS Ay, in truth, my lord;
> Trim gallants, full of courtship and of state.
> ROSALINE Madam, speak true. It is not so, my lord:
> My lady, to the manner of the days, 385
> In courtesy gives undeserving praise.
> We four indeed confronted were with four
> In Russian habit: here they stay'd an hour,
> And talk'd apace; and in that hour, my lord,
> They did not bless us with one happy word. 390
> I dare not call them fools; but this I think,
> When they are thirsty, fools would fain have drink.
> Love's Labours Lost, Act V, Scene II
>
> Stan Kelly-Bootle
> (The Devil's DP Dictionary, McGraw-Hill)
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>
> [Dmitri Nabokov sends this reply to Jerry Friedman's request for clarity about
> the source of the phrase "right old mess" that has been ascribed to him. --
> SES]
>
> The unpleasantly quaint Anglicism "right old mess" has been slithering in my
> wake ever since the Australian Broadcasting Corp "book talk" of Feb. 15 cited
> a letter of mine, in which I half (but only half) jocularly referred to a
> vision of my father authorizing me to conserve, and publish, *The Original of
> Laura*. I employed a different locution.
>
> DN
> -----
> The ironic idiom "right old mess" is widely attested and needs neither
> apologies nor prescriptive scorn. The three words entered English very early
> (pre-Chaucer) and their collocation hardly strikes Brit ears as "unpleasantly
> quaint." We simply adore "Anglicisms," the quainter the merrier!
>
> The Stan Laurel (Anglo-American) version is more familiar, perhaps: "Another
> fine [or nice] mess you've gotten me into." Strangely, unversed Brits rate
> "gotten" as a quaint, even ugly, Americanism in spite of its Anglo-Saxon
> pedigree.
>
> It's time for all good Nabokovians to come to Dmitri's aid. The tough decision
> has been made. I rejoice that we'll get to see whatever survived of Laura!
> Idly pondering and browsing, I thought of
> Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost," labours which have now been "Wonne!"
> Adding to the allusional lustre, we find an encounter with "a Mess of
> Russians." The Princess and Rosalind differ: were the Russians "gallants, full
> of courtship and of state," or surly and sad?
>
> ** PRINCESS Not so, my lord; it is not so, I swear;
> We have had pastimes here and pleasant game:
> A mess of Russians left us but of late. 380
> FERDINAND How, madam! Russians!
> PRINCESS Ay, in truth, my lord;
> Trim gallants, full of courtship and of state.
> ROSALINE Madam, speak true. It is not so, my lord:
> My lady, to the manner of the days, 385
> In courtesy gives undeserving praise.
> We four indeed confronted were with four
> In Russian habit: here they stay'd an hour,
> And talk'd apace; and in that hour, my lord,
> They did not bless us with one happy word. 390
> I dare not call them fools; but this I think,
> When they are thirsty, fools would fain have drink.
> Love's Labours Lost, Act V, Scene II
>
> Stan Kelly-Bootle
> (The Devil's DP Dictionary, McGraw-Hill)
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/