Russian Language Blog

What cities or towns would you like to visit when travelling to Russia? If you have been to Russia, what cities have you visited?

While I am awaiting for your answers (feel free to post them in the comments), I’m going to venture a guess. I’d say that the vast majority of иностранные туристы (foreign tourists) to Russia split their visits between just two cities – Москва (Moscow) and Санкт-Петербург (St. Petersburg). Some might tour города Золотого Кольца (the towns of the Golden Ring) or sights near St. Petersburg.

Only a handful make it as far as Волгоград (Volgograd), Екатеринбург (Yekaterinburg), or Пермь (Perm’) even though these are all large cities and important административные центры (administrative centers). Still, they are провинция (the provinces). And провинция is frequently dismissed as backwater, boondocks.

People who live в провинции (in the provinces) are known as провинциалы (provincials). That’s strictly according to the dictionary. The way the terms провинциал (for men) and провинциалка (for women) are used much of the time, their closest English-language translation would be “a hick” or “a hillbilly”.

There are quite a few stereotypes about провинциалы in Russia. For example, these жители глубинки (residents of the backcountry) are usually viewed as недалёкие, но добрые (simple-minded, but kind), слегка наивные (slightly naive), but с хитрецой (with a measure of cunning), старомодные (quaint) when it comes to both мода (fashion) and нравы (mores), and, as long as they stay in their глухомань (middle-of-nowhere), безинициативные (lacking initiative or drive to succeed). Yet they are also considered самобытные люди (true originals), соль земли (salt of the earth), as opposed to the residents of corrupt, crime-ridden, dissolute big cities.

Yet many провинциалы don’t stay in their hometowns, but instead leave for огни большого города (lights of the big city). And don’t let the words большой город (big city) confuse you. The only two ultimate big cities in Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg. Only these two are not considered глухая провинция by anyone.

Мы, провинциалы, устремляемся в Петербург как-то инстинктивно. (We, provincials, intuitively rush to St. Petersburg.) wrote Mikhail Saltikov-Shedrin in his “Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg” back in 1872.

Парадоксально (ironically), провинциалы, попавшие в большой город (provincials who moved to a large city), are viewed as энергичные (energetic), целеустремлённые (purposeful), амбициозные (ambitious). They might even be described as напористые как танки (lit. pushy like tanks).
The stories about провинциалки (female provincials) tend to be either about беспринципная авантюристка (unscrupulous gold digger) ready to do just about anything to stay in the city. Or they are about провинциальная золушка (a provincial cinderella), отзывчивая (compassionate), добрая (kind), и любящая (loving), trying to make it on her own in the cruel city. Третьего не дано (there is no middle ground).

So here’s my question to you – what town is considered the capital of Russian provinces, where is it located and what’s it claim to fame?

Remember this movie (Armageddon)? Conspicuously absent of bad Russian guys or beautiful, but deadly Russian femme fatale, it had this guy instead.  American components, Russian components, all made in Taiwan! 

As promised, it’s time to talk fruits and berries. Of course, since this is not a gardening blog, but a blog about Russian language and culture, instead of growing advice there will be lots of useful phrases and expressions. Ready?

First, the word фрукт itself is interesting. Its main meaning is “fruit”, but when applied to a person, it means “a piece of work” as in

Её бывший оказался ещё тот фрукт – ей сказал, что поехал в командировку, а сам – к любовнице. (Turns out, her ex was some piece of work like when he said he was going on a business trip, but instead went to his lover.)

Клубника (strawberry) – the diminutive клубничка also means pretty much anything X-rated or erotic. As one woman complained about her husband who spent much of his retirement flipping through lingerie ads:

Старый чёрт, а туда же, на клубничку потянуло (The old devil is heading straight for the tasty morsels).

Малина (raspberry) – if you have all you want, if the toast пусть наши мечты обалдеют от наших возможностей (may our dreams be in awe from our (financial) capabilities) describes your life, then for you жизнь – малина (life is sweet). On the other hand, if someone “moved your cheese” or “took a jelly out of your doughnut”, you can complain that they испортили всю малину.

Яблоко (apple) – the phrase яблоко от яблони не далеко падает means exactly the same as “an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. Remember one of the meanings of редиска from an earlier post? There is also a saying - яблоко румяное, да внутри – червоточина (lit: a pretty apple, but with a worm inside; appearance can be deceiving).

Груша (pear) – all Russian children know the answer to this загадка (riddle) – висит груша, нельзя скушать (a pear is hanging, but you can’t eat it). Do you know what it is?

Не растут на вербе груши (lit. pears do not grow on willows) – this is an expression used to say that two things just don’t go together or their combination is nonsensical as in

Работа у меня любимая, но малооплачиваемая, в общем, не растут на вербе груши. (I love my job even though it pays very little; the two just don’t go together).

Клюква (cranberry) – the most famous expression is развесистая клюква (a tall tale). The origin of this expression is quite interesting, but unfortunately the relevant Wiki page is only available in Russian. In short, the expression was used in a 1910 play that poked fun at Western stereotypical portrayal of Russian culture. Sadly, not much has changed in over 100 years. Most times I watch a Hollywood movie or a show on Fox that has some (usually evil) Russians in the plot, I keep thinking нда, это просто развесистая клюква (well, what a bunch of nonsense).

Бузина (elderberry) – admittedly, this is not a very well-known berry, but the expression в огороде бузина, а в Киеве дядька is. Literally it means “elderberry is in the garden and the uncle is in Kiev”. Figuratively, the meaning is “mixing apples and oranges”.

Have I missed anything? What other Russian sayings with fruits and vegetables in them do you know? And don’t forget, post your answers to the “pear” riddle in the comments.

Ok, so the entire phrase reads “Eat carrots, onion and horseradish and you’ll look like Sophia Loren!”  I really believe it too! Now I know why this phrase was made into a demotivator.

Continuing with our exploration of огородная лингвистика (vegetable garden linguistics), let’s take a look at other vegetables that made their way into Russian proverbs, sayings and literature.

Лук (onion) – everyone knows that лук – от семи недуг (onion helps fight seven illnesses) and in fact so many Russian folk remedies use onion to fight just about any illness. In fact, given onion’s many кулинарные, медицинские и хозяйственные применения (culinary, medicinal and household uses), the phrase горе луковое (lit: onion grief!) seems out of place. Yet it is used a lot, especially when talking to or about незадачливый (unlucky, hapless) person as in

Что случилось, горе моё луковое, опять споткнулся и упал что-ли? (What happened, my hapless one, did you trip and fall again?)

Помидор (tomato) – another relative newcomer to Russian cuisine. The word that is so frequently associated with помидор is, strangely, синьор (signor). Why синьор помидор (signor tomato), you wonder? It is a character briefly mentioned in a popular children’s story by Gianni Rodari about a little walking and talking onion, Чиполино (Cipollino). Both Cipollino and Signor Tomato were popular and easily recognizable characters and even had a stamp issued in their honor.

Other than the Cipollino story, помидор is a star of the phrase прошла любовь, завяли помидоры (love’s gone and tomatoes have wilted). This is a light-hearted way of talking about a not-too-serious romantic involvement, but also about any sudden and unpleasant change in relationships. For example, в первые месяцы после выборов, президент был в зените популярности. Но прошла любовь, завяли помидоры и эйфория электората сошла на нет (in the first months after his election, the president was in the zenith of popularity. Yet love is gone, tomatoes have wilted and voters’ euphoria died down).

Огурец (cucumber) – have you ever tried a simple tomato and cucumber salad that is a mainstay of the Russian table in summer? Oh, that brings back not just memories, but аппетит (appetite). What’s the most important quality of a good огурец? Its свежесть (freshness), of course! No wonder that the most frequently used cucumber phrase is свежий, как огурчик (lit: fresh as a little cucumber; although in English we say “fresh as a daisy”).

Горох (peas) and бобы (beans) – first, some important grammar note. The singular горошина (a pea) is used much the same as in English – принцесса на горошине (princess and a pea), размером с горошину (the size of a pea), etc. The plural горошины (peas) is used only if there is an exact number of peas, such as королеве так не понравилась эта принцесса, что королева подложила ей не одну, а пять горошин (the queen disliked this princess so much, that the queen put not one, but five peas under her bed). Innumerable горох is used whenever we speak of more than one горошина, but the exact number is unknown or doesn’t matter, as in в этом магазине горох очень дорогой (peas are very expensive at this store).

The most popular phrase that uses either of these two vegetables in it is probably остаться на бобах, meaning to be left high and dry and back to square one. The other two, about peas, are шут гороховый (motley fool) and the phrase при царе Горохе (in the days of yore) which is a way to say that something happened a long time ago.

Им повезло, квартиру в центре купили по дешёвке ещё при царе Горохе, лет двадцать назад (They were lucky, bought an apartment in the city center cheaply way back when, about twenty years ago)

And that’s that for the огород (vegetable garden). Speaking of which, the phrase пугало огородное (a scarecrow) is used to describe someone who doesn’t look all that hot for whatever reason, such as in this phrase from a novel by one of my favorite writers, Иоанна Хмелевская (Ioanna Khmelevskaya):

К остановке я неслась сломя голову и чувствовала, как парик съехал набок, а на лоб выбилась идиотская чёлка, макияж размазался, и вообще я напоминала пугало огородное.

(I was running for dear life to the bus stop and felt that my wig slipped sideways, stupid bangs got from under it on my forehead, makeup ran and overall I looked like a scarecrow).

Next post, it’s time to talk about fruits and berries (can’t leave them out, can we?). By the way, who else loves or likes or is familiar with Ioanna Khmelevskaya?