(no subject)

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

upd: thank you everyone for your help



what are "polite" ways of saying "prostitute/fallen woman" -- as in a sentence about the trope of a fallen woman redeeming the hero in Russian novels (i.e. Liza in the "Notes--")

any ideas are much appreciated

t.

Comments

[kattarin.livejournal.com]

блудница

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

That's a little bit too biblical, isn't it?

[kattarin.livejournal.com]

I think it's not

[viata.livejournal.com]

It is.

[staring-frog.livejournal.com]

Проститутка in Russian is more polite than in English, I guess.
Падшая женщина (literally, a fallen woman)is very old-fashioned, so I guess it would do with Classic Russian literature.
Блудница is the word from Church Slavonic, so it goes for all the prostitutes from Bible, i.e. the Prostitute of Babylon would be Вавилонская блудница.

из новорусского

[teknomad.livejournal.com]

Путана

[rednameless.livejournal.com]

женщина лёгкого поведения

[staring-frog.livejournal.com]

Путана (from French putin, which is prostitute, and that is why they spell Putin as Poutine in France) and ночная бабочка (night butterfly) are the 1980ies words for prostitutes, which are rather polite.
But it won't help with 19th century novels.

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, "la poutine" is a national dish in Québec. :)

[staring-frog.livejournal.com]

Anyway, a national dish is better than a prostitute, isn't it?

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Depends for what purpose, eh? :)

[aciel.livejournal.com]

Is that a Jayne Cobb hat?

[mricon.livejournal.com]

No, it's Ma Cobb's hat. Get it right, people. :)

[aciel.livejournal.com]

You're my hero.

Where'd you get it?

[mricon.livejournal.com]

My mom made it, duh. :)

(It was a kindly gift from a knitting friend of mine)

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Oh, by the way, "prostitute" is "putain" in French, not "putin".

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

ночная бабочка -- I love that; very amusing

[gdt.livejournal.com]

"ночная бабочка" sounds rather vulgar /not "vulgar", but I don't know how translate the word "пошло", though I have an excuse: Nabokov didn't know it as well :)/

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

I think "common" would be closer to "пошло" than "vulgar"

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

and I liked it because it is "пошло"
I'm attracted to "trash culture"

[gdt.livejournal.com]

I am afraid, that you don't understand the meaning of the word "пошло" :) something belonging to "trash culture" is not necessarily "пошлое", these concepts are not connected at all.

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

why not?
I think that they are

[gdt.livejournal.com]

ok, I can admit, that I don't understand the meaning of "trash culture" :)

for example, the vast majority of television commercials are "пошлость" as it is. do they have anything common with "trash culture"?

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

"trash culture" I think was coined by Richard K. Simon (although I don't like his writing) -- it reflects a movement in cultural studies to study "low" popular culture with the same scholarship as "high" culture -- so one can analyze say strippers, or TV ads, or anything that is lowbrow/common
the idea is not to dismiss something because it's "пошло" :) but see what it means within the society

so I think it has a lot in common with the Russian word

[yms.livejournal.com]

and that is why they spell Putin as Poutine in France

well, the main reason why they spell Poutine is because he is not Пютин (Putine) and not Путэ^н (Poutin).

[nyusha81.livejournal.com]

дама полусвета :)

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

Really?..

[nyusha81.livejournal.com]

it's actually originally translated from french, based on a novel "Demi Monde", but is also used in Russian.
Some info: http://slovari.yandex.ru/search.xml?text=%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82

it's not a widely used expression, though a "nice" one :)

[tuda-i-obratno.livejournal.com]

Распутница
Развратница

[basile.livejournal.com]

"Гулящая" - (on the street) (i.e. Liza ;) Not so polite but a professional term. Used in police doccuments (in XIX century).
"Мамзелька" - (having an appartment) From a french word "mademoiselle". (same century)

[ashalynd.livejournal.com]

Женщина легкого поведения (neutral euphemism)
Падшая женщина (literally also means "fallen woman")
"Ночная бабочка"
Интердевочка (but the last one is only applicable to the girls who specialized in foreigners)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_olaf_/]

Шалава
Шлюха
Проблядь

[karteza.livejournal.com]

It's veeeery rude... Poor Liza if it's about her)))

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

nice try

[gdt.livejournal.com]

I think, "падшая женщина" fits best for your purpose.

образ "падшей женщины" в русской литературе на примере Лизы из "Записок из подполья" Достоевского.

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

having looked at all the suggestions -- I think you are right

thank you

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

is на примере how you say "for example"?

[gdt.livejournal.com]

no.
for example: например
на примере: based on the example (I am not sure that it is proper English, but I hope you've got a point)

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

yes
thank you