concept
Shtabs-Kapitan
staff captain
also: штабс-капитан, staff captain
A Russian army officer rank between captain and lieutenant-colonel; the narrator's brother punningly calls himself the "schnapps-captain" (шнапс-капитан) in place of shtabs-kapitan, mocking his own drunkenness.
Reading notes
- In the Rooms §27 Staff-Captain
Shtabs-kapitan, a Russian army rank between captain and lieutenant-colonel -- the landlord's point that the rowdy lodger, despite his coarse language, is actually a commissioned officer of noble birth.
- Biographies of Notable Contemporaries §3 stabs-captain
"Shtabs-kapitan" (staff captain), a Russian army officer rank between captain and lieutenant-colonel; the narrator plays on it with the pun "schnapps-captain" for his hard-drinking brother.