Proper Names of People and Places in Russian

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joasia
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Re: Proper Names of People and Places in Russian

Post by joasia »

Maria wrote:
Alexander Kuzmin wrote:

In English "Lisa" pronounced as [l'aiza]?
Лиса is pronounced [lis'a]

The word fox in Russian has a second meaning "a sly person", so this name is not for people.

The proper name "Lisa" is pronounced as /'li-sa/ or lee-sah with the accent on the first syllable.
Лиса is pronounced [lis'a] where the accent falls on the final syllable.

And yes, in English, we can call a person a "sly fox." The German African Commandant Erwin Rommel was called the "Desert Fox." However, "foxy" has a sexual connotation, it could be a girl who flirts or one who presents herself in a very inappropriate manner. On the other hand, a "foxy lady" could also be an innocent lady who does nothing to attract attention to herself.

Doesn't the term, "foxy lady" come from the African American circle? I remember hearing it from the show The Jeffersons.

Also, I thought the name Lisa comes from the name Elizabeth. Then there is also the name Liza which I remember from The Sound of Music.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps. 50)

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Barbara
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Re: Proper Names of People and Places in Russian

Post by Barbara »

Joasia, three years ago, your remark about Liza in The Sound of Music must have referred to Liesl.

Somewhere, I have the autobiography of Maria Von Trapp "The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers" [ 1954 ]. I never got around to reading it, but did see an article which broke the bad news that Liesl was a creation of Hollywood.

Remember the famous "I am 16, going on 17, innocent as a rose" song ? Liesl sang that in a scene in a gazebo with Rolfe, the telegram delivery boy, I seem to recall. Instead the oldest Von Trapp child was a boy, and not nearly as romantic a figure as the fictional Liesl. Incidentally, the actress who played her had no more major roles after that. After writing 2 books "Forever Liesl" and "Letters to Liesl", Charmain Carr reposed September, 2016 from a rare type of dementia.

Quite a telling of an alteration to the true life story by the American arts scene was the elimination of a highly important figure in the Von Trapp family lives : a Catholic priest. I see that as underhanded. This was only 1965 ! What about today ?

But it was another important figure in their life, the priest, Father Franz Wasner, who was instrumental in their musical success, touring with them in Europe and America. He was left out of both the film and the Broadway musical.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31658799

Then, too, the only reason this film was even made always seemed to me to have been because of its anti-Nazi propaganda value. How many young American and European girls saw themselves as Liesl, after all ? People of all ages uncritically absorbed the message of the movie because of its plot line of an endearing family's vicissitudes under threat from the Nazis.

But where were the GP-Family Audience films made to educate a largely ignorant American populace against the horrors of the Soviet Union under Lenin or Stalin ???
How many interesting families must escaped Russia and Eastern Europe in similarly or even more dramatic circumstances ? Strange that only this one was selected for Broadway and Hollywood.

Last edited by Maria on Sat 10 June 2017 2:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited to remove the bolld and colored font. I also added quote tags for the quoted material.
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