BABOOSHKA

["Robert Martin" <robert_martin@offcampus.reed.edu>]

 BABOOSHKA                                   4/16/92       9:31 AM
Same here as far as "Babooshka" being why I started listening to KaTe in the
first place.  I was beginning my Russian studies at the time, and it amused me.

By the way, "BA-bush-ka" in Russian does most literally mean "grandmother," but
it is used almost as often to refer to any old woman (sometimes
derogatorily)--in particular the type of woman who makes it her business to
police everyone else and keep them in line, especially young people.  This is
considered a kind of public service.  Indeed, there are groups of babushki who
sweep the streets with little wicker brooms, and if they see you get out of
line--e.g. if your clothes are deemed provocative--you just might get whacked.

Someone else mentioned that "babushka" also refers to a head covering, but in
my experience this meaning is used primarily in the West, probably because we
have come to associate Russian head scarves with those women whom the Russians
call babushki.

And since we are grasping for shreds of fairly meaningless (but fun) linguistic
nonsense, I will add that if "Ya Ya" means grandmother in Greek, "ya" in
Russian means I, and since there is no present tense conjugation of the verb
"to be" in Russian, "babushka ya" means "I am the/a babushka."  Just my two
cents.

--Robert