Post by Wayne BrownPost by Madrigal GurneyhaltPost by Wayne BrownI've wondered for years if their names were intended to bring to mind
both Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" and the characters Boris Drubetskoy
and Natasha Rostova from "War and Peace."
Why? It takes 5 seconds to look it up on Wikipedia and have it
confirmed.
Well, I don't automatically take every idle speculation, opinion,
theory and conjecture that I formed decades ago and look them up
on Wikipedia to confirm them, unless there's something important
depending on them. And then I usually look for confirmation from
a more reliable source than Wikipedia. (Wikipedia undoubtedly does
play a part in forming some of the NEW idle speculations, opinions,
theories and conjectures that I'll be holding for the next two or
three decades, if I live that long.)
I was aware of the Godunov pun, which is in Wikipedia, but where does
it mention _War and Peace_?
Badenov's name is a pun on that of the 16th-century Russian Tsar
Boris Godunov ("bad enough" vs. "good enough"). His accent and
explosive temper are an homage to Hollywood actor Akim Tamiroff,
especially Tamiroff's role in The Great McGinty, a 1940 movie
directed by Preston Sturges.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Badenov>
--
Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about
the tenth century A. D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN
abandoned the practice. --- Sun FORTRAN Reference Manual