Re: Your Son is coming Out of My House

[Richard Bensam <rabensam@earthlink.net>]

Adding my tuppence to the textual exegesis sweepstakes...

At 12:40 PM -0500 on 11/15/97, Renee Rosen wrote:

>> double-meanings and such (The entire song "Babooshka", for instance,
>> is a play on the double-meaning of the word).
>
>Call me dim, but what's the other meaning of the word? The only one I
>can come up with is the Russian equivalent of hausfrau (more or
>less). Maybe it's a Brit thing, or I'm just being stupid, but I can't
>think of another meaning of the term.

ba-bush-ka (be-boosh'ke) n.  A woman's head scarf, folded triangularly and
tied under the chin.  [Russian, "grandmother," diminutive of baba, old
woman.]

So, we derive three layers of meaning:

A pet name or term of affection, which the main character uses to sign her
"scented letters."

A grandmotherly type, particularly apt (or ironic?) if the main characters
are an older couple -- which seems to be the case from the context given in
the song.

A scarf or head covering that she might use to disguise her face on meeting
the man who doesn't realize she's his wife.

Heck, I'll even throw in a fourth speculation: although the spelling is
altered, I'll bet someone with the surname "Bush" might have had an
encounter with the pet name "Babushka" at some point -- take it from a guy
named "Bensam" who had to deal with variations on "Benson and Hedges" for
far too many years...


Richard Benson and Hedges
(Nonono -- that's "A" as in "Adam," "M" as in "Michael"...)

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