Sonja: Boris is trying to commit suicide - last week he contemplated inhaling next to an Armenian.
Hey guys, i was just wondering what does this quote actually mean. If you can help me figure out the joke i'll really appreciate it cuz im confused. Lol i myself am Armenian thats why im wondering what this means.
by the way this movie was really awesome woody allen is extremely talented:-)
If I had to guess, Allen is probably making fun of a unique ...aroma... that Armenians possess (at least at that time). Evidently this aroma is toxic enough to bring about premature death. :)
shareAnother version of this Woody Allen jokes goes..."by inhaling next to an insurance salesman."
share"... by inhaling next to an insurance salesman." A line from one of the many great short stories he wrote. I think the joke is not about smell, but annoyance, like if you inhaled next to a senator, and you don't like senators. Perhaps Russians don't like Armenians, so he reworded the joke.
shareThere is a general dislike of Armenians in Russia (actually, there is a general dislike in Russia of virtually every other ethnic group, but that's besides the point). Moreover, at the beginning of the 19th century, which is when the movie was set, Armenia was mostly rural and even its "Russian" part was very much under the sway of the Ottoman Empire. It is a mountainous country -- which, in Eurasia, means sheep galore. So gradually, you have an image emerging -- Turkified rustics clad in burkas and greasy Middle-Eastern clothing, eating lamb. Not surprisingly, any delicate Peterburgian rusophile would believe that inhaling next to someone like that would be deadly.
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