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September 8

Dialog from Anna Karenina (2012 film)

Countess: I'm distressed that you haven't taken your usual house this year.
Alexie: Anna wanted a change.
Countess: Nearer to Princess Betsy at Tsarskoe Selo.

What does "taken your usual house" mean? Rizosome (talk) 06:57, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Most likely referring to a habitual rental. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:03, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, see dacha, a Russian second home in the country, owned or rented, where the wealthy would spend the summer months. The Russian Royal Family would decamp from St Petersburg every year to spend the summer at the Alexander Palace in the countryside near Tsarskoe Selo and Russian high society would follow suit. Alansplodge (talk) 12:04, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Clarityfiend I am asking what does take one's house mean? I actually understood the part usual house.Rizosome (talk) 00:15, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[Answering on behalf of the no-doubt weary Clarityfiend] In this context, to "take" means to "rent" and "your usual house" suggests that Alexie (and Anna) have always rented a particular house in previous years, so the Countess regards it as associated with them and therefore thinks of it as "theirs" in a limited sense.

The Countess could have said "I'm distressed that you haven't rented the same house this year that you have always rented in previous years." but that would be long-winded and unnatural. I presume the wording used in this English-language dramatisation accurately represents the style of the Countess's speech in Tolstoy's original Russian. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.193.129.71 (talk) 01:41, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

See also at Wiktionary, ~~talk~~ take sense 12: "To obtain for use by payment or lease", with, as an example of usage: She took a condo at the beach for the summer. --Lambiam 11:18, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

User:Lambiam, I think you meant take rather than "talk", but well done on pinning down a reference. Alansplodge (talk) 22:04, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, typo, now fixed. --Lambiam 22:21, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]