Chapter 15 of 27 · 3'34"
The Kirbys show up a night early, and the Sycamores scramble to feed them frankfurters and canned salmon. At the table, Kolenkhov turns Kirby's indigestion into a talk about stomach ulcers, insisting that Russians always look on the dark side.
The Ulcer Argument
The Kirbys arrive a day early, so the Sycamores improvise dinner with frankfurters, beer and canned salmon. Conversation goes badly: Kolenkhov insists that Kirby's indigestion is really stomach ulcers, and the evening becomes a comedy of mismatched families.
The chapter is the dinner from hell, and it is funny because nobody is trying to be cruel. The Kirbys are embarrassed, the Sycamores are generous, and Kolenkhov simply says what he thinks, which is the worst possible thing at a polite table. His remark that "the Russians are inclined to look on the dark side" is meant as an explanation, not an insult, and it makes everything worse. Grandpa then follows Alice's advice and asks about business, which turns into a philosophical answer about the fence you are standing on. The scene is the two families failing to speak the same language, and the failure is the whole point.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Well, that depends on what side of the fence you're on.”
It refuses to take a side while making clear that the answer is all about where you stand.
Informal
“He's Russian and the Russians are inclined to look on the dark side.”
A joke about national character doubles as a polite way to wave off Kolenkhov's gloom.
Neutral
“There are two schools of thought on that subject, and I have no ulcers.”
It opens like a careful business answer, then lands a joke about his own stomach.
Formal
“All right, I'm Russian, but a friend of mine, a Russian, died from stomach ulcers.”
It concedes the label, then lands a personal counterexample like a punch.
Informal
Up next · 16put on an actThe scene: Tony Brings His Parents a Night EarlyThey have the wrong night. Alice had planned the dinner for the next evening, so the Sycamores have to improvise a meal on the spot.
Frankfurters, with beer, canned salmon, corn and sauerkraut sent out for at the last minute from the delicatessen next door.
He hears that Kirby has indigestion and insists it may be something worse. He then says a Russian friend of his died of stomach ulcers, which does not help the mood.
Kirby answers that it depends on which side of the fence you are on, and adds that there are two schools of thought, while noting that he has no ulcers.
