In ADA Nabokov plays with the word "bloomers" in its double sense ( goofers,lapsus linguae and the underwear) . The idea of the suggested double "oo" and the "s" sound ( "shorts" "shop") invites a neologism in my opinion.

I always had the impression that girlish bloomers were not in the least sexy. But then, I'm not an American. I remember finding the word in the sixties for rounded and flowery big pants that protected a young girls actual panties when she was wearing short skirts. Am I wrong?

Subject:	Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]
Date:	Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:40:15 -0700
From:	Aris Fioretos <aris.fioretos@T-ONLINE.DE>
To:	NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

Subject:

Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]

Date:

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:40:15 -0700

From:

Aris Fioretos <aris.fioretos@T-ONLINE.DE>

To:

NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

Thanks for all comments -- much appreciated. Some translations, including the first German and VN's own Russian, translate "swooners" as a sweater of some sort. Although Lolita lost hers in the woods, perhaps it would be excessive of Humbert to buy her several new ones? Excess may be the name of his particular game. But aren't the double o's, reminiscent of those in "bloomers," indication enough of something flimsier, something that would make his head turn dizzy more effectively? Or should they -- the o's so seemingly safely embedded in VN's neologism -- rather be read as that double frontal feature of a woman that any sweater would expose, be it in the winter or in the summer? If, indeed, the word is a neologism, it seems to me it ought to receive an equivalent creation in another tongue. The Swedish "swimmare," perhaps? The word replaces the double o's with double m's, but then, ours is a language that does not allow for double o's. The relative drawback: the word turns the buyer-cum-narrator into more of a pensive connaisseur ("Mm . . .") than a straightforward admirer or swooner ("Oo . . .") . . . AFio 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

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