Ardith Hinton wrote to Roy Witt:   
      
    AH> Hi, Roy!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    RW>>>   Russian cosmonaunt: They're just looking for the last   
    RW>>>   drop in their Vodka bottle.   
      
    ak>>>>  What a love for astronomy!" Russian cosmonaunt: "They   
    ak>>>>  just drink straight from the bottles."   
      
      
    AH>>    Hmm.  I wonder who else can find the spelling error   
    AH>>    which Roy copied from Alexander's joke... probably   
    AH>>    without retyping... and which I didn't notice until   
    AH>>    just now?   
      
    AH>                                [...]   
      
    RW>>  A perfect example of assuming that the msger knows how   
    RW>>  to translate and spell a native term.   
      
      
    AH>           Ah, well... you know what some folks say about a$$uming!   
      
   Yeah but, that would include you and everyone else. 8^)   
      
    AH> Translation is as much an art as it is a science....  ;-)   
      
   I suppose.  I wasn't translating though.   
      
    AH>           AFAIC Alexander posts these jokes as exercises in   
    AH> translation, on the understanding that there may be a few rough   
    AH> spots, and invites suggestions from other readers as to possible   
    AH> improvements.  It's a long-standing tradition here in ENGLISH_TUTOR   
    AH> for the regulars to post their own translations & ask directly or   
    AH> indirectly for help.  I a$$ume when Alexander posts such items that   
    AH> he would like us to proofread his work, even if he neglected to say   
    AH> "F2EP"... [chuckle].   
      
   I understand the 2EP, but what does the F stand for?   
      
    RW>>  I should have used the English term of 'astronaut' instead.   
      
    AH>           As native speakers of English you & I would probably say   
    AH> "astronaut". Although some sources define "cosmonaut" simply as   
    AH> "astronaut", the majority of my usual references define it as "a   
    AH> Russian astronaut".   
      
   That's what my reference defines it as.   
      
    AH> _ _ _ O / _ _ C_U_T_ H_E_R_E_ _ _ _   
    AH>       O \   
      
    AH>              * There's a wonderful example of the power & beauty of   
    AH> the English language, IMHO.  While we cheerfully adopt new words from   
    AH> all over the place we don't abandon the old ones.  Either way   
    AH> "-naut", meaning "sailor"... which came to us & to Alexander via the   
    AH> ancient Greeks... has the same spelling.  When one has made the   
    AH> connection derivatives like "nautical" are fairly straightforward.   
      
   My reference has nothing on astro or naut. Astro- is defined as a   
   'defining form' instead and you have to use a - to make the connection.   
   astro- and -naut can't be defined as it is used without the other. But you   
   can find astronaut and astrology defined as one.   
      
    AH> _ _ _ O / _ _ C_U_T_ H_E_R_E_ _ _ _   
    AH>       O \   
      
    AH>           "Astronaut" is certainly in more common use where I come   
    AH> from. It is less specific than "cosmonaut", and thus we may have to   
    AH> qualify it sometimes...   
      
   That's where the -naut comes from in astronaut...btw, the A definition for   
   astro- is Star as in astrophysics, B defines it as a celestial body as in   
   astrometry and C defines it as outer space as in astronaut.   
      
   2nd, The aster of a cell as in astrosphere...   
      
   Which is just another defining form...   
      
    AH>  but I wouldn't go so far as to say "cosmonaut" is incorrect. I guess   
    AH> Alexander is more familiar with the Russian word.   
      
   Cosmo- is just another defining form.   
      
    AH>   Okay.  When a Russian author is poking fun at his own countrymen he   
    AH> may not make the same stylistic decisions you or I would.  It's   
    AH> important to identify the narrator as Russian so everyone else can   
    AH> relax & enjoy the story without looking for hidden razor blades   
    AH> and/or worrying about who might say "Egad, Sir!  You've besmirched   
    AH> the hono(u)r of my country!" as we've seen people do in other   
    AH> echoes... [wry grin].   
      
   Uh huh...been there, seen that.   
      
    AH>           The advantage of using "astronaut" is that there is no   
    AH> confusion over what the author meant; the disadvantage is that we may   
    AH> need to use at least one more word to indicate the country.  OTOH,   
    AH> the advantage of using "cosmonaut" is its economy; the disadvantage   
    AH> is that it may mean different things to different people.  If a   
    AH> cosmonaut = a Russian astronaut, "Russian cosmonaut" is a serious   
    AH> redundancy which I'd (basically) treat as an error. Until there's   
    AH> more general agreement as to the definition of "cosmonaut", however,   
    AH> I'll let it pass.  :-))   
      
   Since there have been only two countries who have placed people in orbit,   
   until recently, there is no problem in defining which is from where. That   
   includes monkeys and dogs, btw.   
      
    AH> BTW...   
      
    AH>           I enjoyed this discussion & I hope other folks did too.   
    AH> Thankyou for bringing the matter to my attention, at any rate....   
    AH> :-)   
      
   I did?   
      
      
            R\%/itt   
      
      
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