Davka
Eric asks what 'davka' means. In Eric's comments box, Gene suggests 'paradoxically' or 'out of sheer orneriness'. It can carry these meanings, but I believe it's core sense is 'in spite of...' or 'despite...', with an '... everything' lurking in the vicinity of either one. 'For spite' maybe. It's like: 'Davka, I'm doing it', when you've been supplied with a hundred reasons not to. Or it could be 'Davka' in response to 'Why on earth?' - bearing the connotation 'Just so' and 'Anyway'. Again: 'for all that'; 'precisely'. That's my best shot, on the basis of consulting with my advisers. Davka.
