concept
"Гражданский брак" (civil marriage) pun
civil marriage pun
also: гражданский брак, civil marriage, потомственный почетный гражданин
An entry in Chekhov's "A Glossary for Young Ladies" punning \emph{гражданский брак} ("civil marriage," a scandalous church-unsanctioned cohabitation in Chekhov's Russia) against \emph{потомственный почетный гражданин}/\emph{гражданка} ("hereditary honorary citizen," a real official social rank in the Russian Empire) -- treating a moral euphemism as if it were a bureaucratic classification requiring both partners to hold "citizen" status.
Reading notes
- A Glossary for Young Ladies §11 civil marriage
\emph{Гражданский брак} ("civil marriage," i.e. a marriage-like cohabitation without church sanction -- a scandalous, quasi-legitimate arrangement in Chekhov's Russia) is punned against \emph{потомственный почетный гражданин}/\emph{гражданка} ("hereditary honorary citizen," a real official estate/rank in the Russian Empire's social hierarchy, granted to certain merchants and professionals below the nobility but above ordinary townspeople). The joke's entire mock-logic is that a "civil" marriage ought to require both parties to hold the rank of "citizen" -- treating a moral euphemism as though it were a bureaucratic classification.