Chicken Sandwich
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Netherlands
The cynic may say that commercial pornography makes the same claim; the learned may counter by asserting that “H.H.”‘s impassioned confession is a tempest in a test tube; that at least 12% of American adult males a “conservative” estimate according to Dr. Blanche Schwarzmann (verbal communication)enjoy yearly, in one way or another, the special experience “H.H.” describes with such despare; that had our demented diarist gone, in the fatal summer of 1947, to a competent psycho-pathologist, there would have been no disaster; but then, neither would there have been this book.
From Nabokov's Lolita. Is "tempest in a test tube" related to the expression "a tempest in a tea pot"? The latter makes sense here, but why does he use "test tube"? I have seen this expression online in the context of science, and it seems to be a variation on the expression with "tea pot".
Thank you in advance.