IVIV (11) 168

[Michael Bailey]

Clément Lévy  wrote:

>
> - Xandra, a variant of Alexandra. Could this be an allusion to Alexander the
> Great: emperor who ruled, for a very short time, on Greece, Egypt, Persia
> and the biggest part of Central Asia? He gathered a treasure that was long
> thought as forever lost, and pictured as an enormous golden ball in an
> Italian comic book by Hugo Pratt, Corto Maltese, La casa dorata di
> Samarcanda (The Golden House of Samarkand).
> It was found in 1978 and secured for 25 years in Kabul, according to the
> Guardian:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/19/afghanistan.arts
>

neat story.  One I totally missed.  Wonder what use Karzai et al have
made of that?  Thanks!


>
> -Dr. Blatnoyd. His name suggests something unpleasant about him (blatant),
> endings in -noy are present in Russian names, but the -noyd may suggest
> something like nerd.
>

think I remember somebody on the list hinting they looked it up
and found something interesting.
Best I could do is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_(Russia)
Blat (Russian: блат, blat) is a term which appeared in the Soviet Union
to denote the use of informal agreements, exchangements of services,
 connections, Party contacts, or black market deals to achieve results
or get ahead. Accordingly, blatnoy means a man who obtains a job
or gets into a university using connections, or sometimes bribes.
The system of blat led to formation of social networks similar to
Good ol' boy network, Old boy network, or Guanxi. In the Soviet republics,
 blatnoys were very much in demand as it was difficult to gain a post
or enroll in some prestigious majors in universities without proper connections.