Рoetic “Charm” of Bureaucratic Cliché: Nenuzhnoe Zacherknut’

The paper deals with stylistic transition of a bureaucratic imperative cliché nenuzhnoe zacherknut΄ [‘strike out whichever is not applicable’] (nuzh noe podcherknut΄ [‘underline whichever is applicable’]) from the offi - cial style to fi ction and journalism. The author asserts that this kantselyarizm (bureaucratic cliché) was initially borrowed from German paperwork practice and examines the features of its functioning in the system of offi cial phraseology of the Russian language. The history of introduction of this formula into the Russian literary texts is followed from the fi rst third of the 20th to the 21st century, its textual functions, both poetic and pragmatic, are analyzed in various genres of fi ction and journalistic texts. Based on the example of the history of this cliché-kantselyarizm, an attempt is made to view interpenetration of styles as a natural process during the examined era. The imperative semantics, laconicism and clarity of the offi cial clichés nenuzhnoe zacherknut΄ (nuzhnoe podcherknut΄) have turned out to be relevant for fi ction texts as socially signifi cant speech facts, which at the 71 same time create a dialogue-based type of literary narration. The poetic potential of Russian bureaucratic phraseology has not yet been systematically investigated, although the pattern of its penetration into the language of fi ction is obvious and both stylistically and pragmatically motivated. The terms “cliché”, “bureaucratic formula”, “kantselyarizm” are used in the ar ticle as synonyms since the status of stable combinations of the offi cial style has not been conclusively determined within the framework of theoretical phraseology.