П-474

(ВЕЛИКАЯ) СЕРМЯЖНАЯ ПРАВДА iron or humor in contemp. usage NP sing only fixed WO

the truth (which, it was formerly believed, could be found among plain folk), (great) homespun truth.

Дружбу Нержина с дворником Спиридоном Рубин и Со-логдин благодушно называли «хождением в народ» и поисками той самой великой сермяжной правды, которую еще до Нержина тщетно искали Гоголь, Некрасов, Герцен, славянофилы, народники, Достоевский, Лев Толстой и, наконец, Васисуалий Лоханкин (Солженицын 3). Nerzhin's friendship with the janitor Spiridon was referred to by Rubin and Sologdin as "going to the people " In their view, Nerzhin was seeking that same great homespun truth which before his time had been sought in vain by Gogol, Nekrasov, Herzen, the Slavophiles, the "People's Will" revolutionaries, Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoi, and, last of all, Vasisualy Lokhankin (3a)

This phrase became popular in its ironic usage after the publication of The Golden Calf(«Золотой теленок»), by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, 1931, ch 13