пшённый

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Zoschenko's "Операция", and the main character is said to have a "пшённая болезнь". I'm guessing it's an obsolete colloquial idiom/slang for some type of tumor or cyst, but none of my dictionaries explain what пшённый means in this context, so I really don't know.

Comments

[shellesie.livejournal.com]

"пшённая болезнь" ("ячменная болезнь") there means "a sty on the eye". Today "ячмень" is used more often. A sty looks like a grain of barley.

[nemica.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea that it's just the same. :O

[shellesie.livejournal.com]

if you have already read Операция just till its middle, you know that i was right :)

[nemica.livejournal.com]

Oh, I believe you no problem, it's just that I heard only ячмень and never ячменная болезнь nor пшенная болезнь. It sounds so weird.

[shellesie.livejournal.com]

you know... it sounds quite weird for me too ) Just remember, that it was almost a century (oh, indeed..!) ago.

[verushka.livejournal.com]

It's when a person have allergy for millet porridge (joke) =))

[nataxxa.livejournal.com]

As it was written here - ячмень
But I never heard of пшенная болезнь exept for that story. (I am native speaker)
Veryveryvery oldfashioned.