From: nikovera@mail.ru (Nika)
Newsgroups: alt.uu.lang.russian.misc
Subject: Re: Negations
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 10:44:29 GMT
Organization: Golden Telecom
Message-ID: <3a8cf939.15836104@news.online.ru>
References: <bofh6.477$hi2.1077@nntpserver.swip.net> <8rfh6.483$hi2.975@nntpserver.swip.net><3a8a3965.161272@news.online.ru> <B6B1A8CA.3134%rmgrau@mindspring.com>
Reply-To: nikovera@NOSPAMmail.ru

On Thu, 15 Feb 2001 15:39:55 -0500, Rawley Grau
<rmgrau@mindspring.com> wrote:


>Не о любви не стоит петь...
>
>This sounds to me like a response to someone who jadedly said: "Love isn't
>worth singing about! Sing about something important!"
>
>The poet replies: "Many things are not worth singing about, but love isn't
>one of them." 
>
>I expect to hear something like: "Не стоит петь о войне" or "Не стоит петь о
>политике."
<<<<snip>>>>>
>Rawley
>

On closer examination :), I can't agree with your version. I
may be nit-picking here, but the meaning is not that one
should not sing about other things. The implication is,
rather, that if one is to sing at all, it'd better be about
love. Not "ne stoit pet' o politike", but "pet' stoit
(tol'ko) o lyubvi". My personal opinion only, of course.

If I were asked to suggest a context, I would opt for:

Someone asks a poet why he sings endlessly about love. Is it
lack of imagination or idee fixe?
The poet replies: It is not worth any true sage's while to
sing about anything else.

By the way, the phrase in question is not as implausible as
it looks when out of context. Consider this: "Honey, is
there anything about love in that song you are rehearsing?"
- "No, but let me sing it to you anyway". - "Don't bother
singing anything (if it is) not about love". 
The latter phrase in Russian would sound "Ne o lyubvi ne
stoit pet'" and would be perfectly acceptable. 

Nika