Subject
Re: Pale Fire's cow, crow, cow
From
Date
Body
I thought some list members might appreciate a translation of the
Russian passage relating the crown-crow-cow incident that Don submitted
(below).
"Legendary misprints"
Some misprints were so good that they would have been worth inventing.
Vikenty Veresaev relates one such: "In an Odessa newspaper, in the
description of a coronation, the text read: 'The Metropolitan placed
the crow [vorona] upon His Imperial Majesty's head.' The paper's next
issue printed the following notice: 'In our paper's last issue, a
regrettable misprint crept into the account of the sacred coronation of
Their Imperial Majesties. As printed: 'The Metropolitan placed the crow
upon His Imperial Majesty's head.' [in place of crow] read 'cow'.
[korova]
This reminded me of an anecdote, possibly apocryphal, that I read years
(and years!) ago about a misprint in a small town American newspaper.
In a news item, a police officer was referred to, and identified as
"Sgt. Whoosis, a defective on the city police force." The correction
the next day read: We apologize for the misprint identifying Sgt.
Whoosis as a defective on the police force. The passage should of
course have read: 'Sgt. Whoosis is a detective on the city police
farce'."
On 29Dec2006, at 11:16 PM, D. Barton Johnson wrote:
> From Don Johnson:
>
> I ran across this on a Russian web site that gave no attribution.
> Without thinking about it, I had always assumed VN invented it. Does
> anyone know whether the word play korona, korova, vorona has
> pre-Nabokov ian roots?
>
>
> Легендарные опечатки
> Некоторые опечатки были так хороши, что их стоило придумать. Об одной
> такой рассказывает Викентий Вересаев: "В одной одесской газете при
> описании коронации было напечатано: "Митрополит возложил на голову Его
> Императорского Величества ворону". В следующем выпуске газеты
> появилась заметка: "В предыдущем номере нашей газеты, в отчете о
> священном короновании Их Императорских Величеств, вкралась досадная
> опечатка. Напечатано: "Митрополит возложил на голову Его
> Императорского Величества ворону" -- читай: "корову".
>
> Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
>
> Contact the Editors
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
> both co-editors.
>
> Visit Zembla
>
> View Nabokv-L Policies
>
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ... the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Russian passage relating the crown-crow-cow incident that Don submitted
(below).
"Legendary misprints"
Some misprints were so good that they would have been worth inventing.
Vikenty Veresaev relates one such: "In an Odessa newspaper, in the
description of a coronation, the text read: 'The Metropolitan placed
the crow [vorona] upon His Imperial Majesty's head.' The paper's next
issue printed the following notice: 'In our paper's last issue, a
regrettable misprint crept into the account of the sacred coronation of
Their Imperial Majesties. As printed: 'The Metropolitan placed the crow
upon His Imperial Majesty's head.' [in place of crow] read 'cow'.
[korova]
This reminded me of an anecdote, possibly apocryphal, that I read years
(and years!) ago about a misprint in a small town American newspaper.
In a news item, a police officer was referred to, and identified as
"Sgt. Whoosis, a defective on the city police force." The correction
the next day read: We apologize for the misprint identifying Sgt.
Whoosis as a defective on the police force. The passage should of
course have read: 'Sgt. Whoosis is a detective on the city police
farce'."
On 29Dec2006, at 11:16 PM, D. Barton Johnson wrote:
> From Don Johnson:
>
> I ran across this on a Russian web site that gave no attribution.
> Without thinking about it, I had always assumed VN invented it. Does
> anyone know whether the word play korona, korova, vorona has
> pre-Nabokov ian roots?
>
>
> Легендарные опечатки
> Некоторые опечатки были так хороши, что их стоило придумать. Об одной
> такой рассказывает Викентий Вересаев: "В одной одесской газете при
> описании коронации было напечатано: "Митрополит возложил на голову Его
> Императорского Величества ворону". В следующем выпуске газеты
> появилась заметка: "В предыдущем номере нашей газеты, в отчете о
> священном короновании Их Императорских Величеств, вкралась досадная
> опечатка. Напечатано: "Митрополит возложил на голову Его
> Императорского Величества ворону" -- читай: "корову".
>
> Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
>
> Contact the Editors
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
> both co-editors.
>
> Visit Zembla
>
> View Nabokv-L Policies
>
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ... the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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