>>>>
>>>>I don't know; I had to think a minute about who you meant; very funny <g> This selection will make a lot of very heated discussions. And mostly not on facts but on emotions <g>
>>>
>>>I give up. Who is Kolya? Must be an in-joke between you two escapees ;-)
>>
>>If I tell you I have to kill you. And I can't do that, I like you too much <g>.
>
>Ah drop that line... it's too obvious to anyone who had two lessons of Russian. Kolya is a nickname for any Nikolai - Nicolas - Nick, except the Hungarian one, who is Miklos (mik-losh) and nicknamed Miki.
>
>Along the same lines:
>
>Stepa (styopa) - Stepan - Stevan - Stephen (except the Hungarian Istvan (isht-vahn) - Pista (pish-ta))
>Volodya - Vladimir, also shortened as Vova; on a side branch is Vladislav, which may have the same nickname but also has a parallel variant Ladislav, which then has a Hungarian version Laszlo (lahs-lo), nick Laci (lah-tsy)
>Vasya - Vasiliy, Vasilije, Vassili, Basil; Serbian nick Vasa/Vaso
>Sasha - Aleksandr - Aleksandar- Alexander - Iskandar (Skender) - (Hung. Sándor (shahn-dor) nick Sanyi (sha-nyi)). Serbian version also has Sale (sah-leh).
>Petya - Pyotr (Petr) - Petar - Péter, Peter, Serbian nick Pera/Pero
>Pavka - Pavel - Pavle - Paul (hu: Pál); Serbian nick Paja (pah-yah, but you can hear it properly sung at the end of the second line in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_CZzhO2c3g )
>
>You still alive? :)


Are there any Tracy's or Haley's over there? :o)

My surname is common in Germany, Norway, Sweden and a few other countries. Interesting that my lastname (Skogen) means 'dense forest' or wood (the forest was the home of evil-spirited trolls) and my married name (Holzer) means 'woods or woodcutter or someone who sold wood' and related to Ashkenazic. Yet gå åt skogen means to fail miserably in Swedish and drå åt skogen means to go to h*ll. Well, ok, literally it means 'go to the forest' but it really means the former. Nothing like having an expletive for surname! (or one associated with evil spirits or trolls) :o)

N_CZzhO2c3g