Archive for May, 2013
“Never have I felt such [fill in emotion here]…” Posted by Rob on May 30, 2013
When Russians ask you «Как ты чувствуешь себя?» (“How are you feeling?”), the expected answer would be something like “My cough seems to be getting worse” or “The traveler’s diarrhea is finally clearing up?” — in other words, they’re asking about your physiological well-being. On the other hand, if they want to know about your…
Shave and a haircut, two bits! Posted by Rob on May 23, 2013
Even if you don’t know the words, anyone who’s ever seen an old Bugs Bunny cartoon will recognize the seven-note melody of “Shave and a haircut…” — it’s classically used as a musical accompaniment to punctuate the end of a joke. And I instinctively hummed the tune after I found this great little анекдот…
Here’s to our mothers! Posted by Rob on May 15, 2013
In the US and several other countries, второе воскресенье мая (“the second Sunday in May”) is День матери, Mother’s Day. In Russia, moms have usually been honored on Восьмое марта (“the 8th of March,” aka “International Women’s Day”), though technically there is a День матери in late November. ˇˆ^ √¬ ^~~√ˇˆ^~ ტპձ պՁԺზ ჭნწ჻ უ…
Sing-a-long with Khan and Igor! Posted by Rob on May 8, 2013
I’m not much of an opera fan — because most of them, in my opinion, have maybe 5 or 10 minutes of musically entertaining sections heavily padded with hours and hours of shouting and warbling. The typical opera is like one of those pop-music albums that contains exactly ONE hit anyone wants to hear again…