theamericans | Question of the week #14

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treonb posting in

The writers of this show seem to have a love for full formal names when it comes to the KGB side of the Cold War. Philip is always Philip, never Phil, and Elizabeth is never Liz or Beth either--and this despite the fact that Russian names all inherently have multiple alternate forms that everyone simply uses as a matter of course. The same goes for Robert, the other Directorate S illegal who we've met, and for that matter, for Gregory (who's not Russian, but whose own culture isn't exactly known for its lack of informal names).

Given this, the question of the week is a two-parter: one, what do you think the writers are up to with this? And two, any thoughts on an explanation for this that works within the world of the show?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

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From:

sistermagpie

I remember once somebody--maybe it was Nabokov?--saying something about emphasis in Russian being hard for English speakers? Like Americans always put emphasis on syllables of his name where it should be all the same. So he pronounced his name "Vlad-i-mir-Nab-o-kov" and Americans always said "VLAD-imir NAB-okov" or "Vlad-I-mir Nav-OK-ov" or Vlad-i-MIR Nav-a-KOV."

It was funny listening to him explain it so I always remembered it and now I wonder if that makes it hard to hear it on the tape!

I've known couples where everyone refers to the man by a nickname except his wife and I always imagine Elizabeth easily comes across that way to others. When that happens it seems like sometimes it comes across like an affectations of the wife's and sometimes a case of the husband really thinking of himself as his full name. With Elizabeth and Phil it would probably come across as being about her.

I can imagine Philip trying out a few American dad nicknames with the kids and Elizabeth just giving him a withering look. Nicknames in English can be just about anything.