What does the expression “To walk like a gogol” mean?
Those who know Russian literature will immediately think of the great Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. But, the author of the novels ‘Dead Souls’ and ‘The Government Inspector’ actually has nothing to do with it!
The expression “Ходить гоголем” (“Hkodit gogolem” or “To walk like a gogol”) was and still is used to describe a person who holds themselves proudly and smugly, holding their head high, or who is elegantly dressed and trying to draw attention to their fashionable sense of style. And it appeared thanks to bird watching! A gogol (or, in English – a goldeneye) is a sea duck with black and white plumage. During mating season, drakes try to attract the attention of females. They stretch their necks forward and throw their heads back so that their beaks point to the sky and then use their feet to raise splashes around themselves.
Hunters knew this habit very well. In any case, writer Sergei Aksakov, author of the fairy tale ‘The Scarlet Flower’ and an avid hunter, once wrote that “every Russian person will understand when they say: ‘What a gogol’ about someone”; or: “Look at how much of a gogol he is playing at…”; or “…gogols (as well as loons) hold their long necks very straight and carry their heads high and, therefore, people who, by nature, have such a body type, habit or pretension, which, at the same time, gives the appearance of cheerfulness and even some arrogance, are compared to gogols!”
