Gorky Park. Everyone not under a rock has heard of this famous place.
Today in ICQ I had mentioned a book I reread (Gorky park) and I was asked if it translated “Bitter park”
My friend thought Gorky ment bitter.
I realized she ment Gorko.
At a few russian weddings I have been subjected to Gorko Gorko!
(bitter bitter) With the patrons demanding the newlyweds kiss sweetly to sweeten the bitter vodka.
But, I degress.
I cannot remember how Gorky Park got it’s name.
I want to guess Maxim Gorki but, after failing on Google I turn to my fellow dopers to put this question to rest.
Well, I don’t know if this is of any interest, but just for an extra bit of random Russian geographical knowledge, one of the largest cities in Russia, Nizhny (Nizhnij, Nizhnii) Novgorod (I think it means “Lower New City”) used to be called “Gorky” during the USSR days.
The official name of the park is Tsentralny park kultury i otdykha imeni Gor’kogo - Gorky Central Park of Cutlure and Leisure.
It’s named for Maxim Gorky. Gorky does indeed mean “bitter” (the “gorko” at weddings is the adverb form), and is a pseudonym; the writer’s birth name was Alexei Maximovich Peshkov.
Was it famous before the book/movie came out? It’s a pretty tacky, run-down place these days.
Thanks DDG you make Google dance in a way that holds me in Awe.
As I had stated in the OP I had assumed Maxim Gorky, yet I wanted to verify I was right instead of blindly believing a stray thought.
Trust me I plowed thru “Life of a Useless man” so I am familiar with Gorki’s work.
Upon reading the preface of “life of a useless man” I found this footnote. (The pen name, “Gorki,” literally means “Bitter”; his real name was Alexis Peshkov.)
While, a footnote to “bedbug” by Mayakovsky lists Gorko as bitter.