Russian Language Blog

There is a wonderful Russian saying всякому овощу своё время (there’s time for everything). But as it turns out, всякому овощу, фрукту и ягоде – своё красное словцо (to each vegetable, fruit or berry its own witticism).

Картофель (potato) is a relative newcomer to Russia, appearing only in Peter the Great’s reign. Much like in other European countries, it took potato a while to overcome initial fear and accusations of being дьявольский фрукт (devil’s fruit). Yet less than 300 years later potatoes are firmly associated with Russia and have become a staple воспеваемый (rhapsodized) in songs and poems and remembered in many пословицы (proverbs) and поговорки (sayings), including

Любовь не картошка, не выкинешь в окошко – literally, love is not a potato, can’t be thrown out of the window
Картошку копать, не руками махать – literally, to dig potatoes is not the same as to wave arms – this is said when something is easier said, than done.

Let me just say that картошка – это просто, вкусно и архетипно (potato is a simple, delicious and archetypal food). If you are invited to a simple жареная картошка (fried potatoes), you know you’ve reached a new level of friendship, where conversation will be especially open and задушевный (heart-felt, intimate).

Капуста (cabbage) – ah, so many delicious Russian dishes use this simple vegetable, from голубцы (stuffed cabbage leaves) to капустный пирог (cabbage pie). The later is not to be confused with капустник (an informal performance of, typically, amateur actors) that is such a great Russian tradition. Капуста is also slang for “money”.

В чужом огороде капусту садит (lit. planting cabbage in someone else’s garden) was said about a nosy person who liked minding others’ business.
Back when I was in school, teachers would sometimes shame нерадивый ученик (neglectful pupil) by saying that their answers sounded as if they had не голова, а кочан капусты на плечах (not a head, but a head of cabbage on the shoulders).

Репа (turnip) – if картошка is straightforward and earthy, репа is elusive and mysterious. Consider this, все поголовно (all without exception) Russian children know, с младых ногтей (from the youngest age) that репа exists. Репка (Turnip), the classic fairy tale, is drilled so deep into our heads, that even as adults we can recite it to our children дословно (word for word) and without any need to refresh our memory. Yet it is fairly hard to find an adult (or a child) who actually saw репа, much less tasted one. This means a lot of confusion in such a seemingly проще пареной репы (a no brainer) task as identifying this veg at an American grocery store.

Редис (radish) – also known as редиска and редька (winter radish such as daikon) - is not exactly a vegetable that we can’t live without (it’s used mostly in salads), but has some of the most widely used catch phrases of all the veggies.

The first one is the expression хрен редьки не слаще (lit. horseradish is no sweeter than garden radish) meaning “six of one and half a dozen of the other”.

Now, if you are talking about someone or something mind-numbingly dull, you can say that it is хуже горькой редьки (lit. worse than a bitter radish).

Finally, thanks to a wonderful comedy Джентельмены удачи (Gentlemen of Fortune), нехороший ты человек, редиска (you are not a nice person, but a radish) became a popular way of gently rebuking someone.

Свёкла (beetroot) – its вклад (contribution) to the Russian language is a lot more modest than its contribution to the Russian cuisine (i.e. борщ (borsch) or свёкольник (cold beet soup) or салат Винегрет (Russian beet salad), to name a few). It is used a lot as a measure of how red can one’s face get, i.e. на морозе щёки раскраснелись, будто их свёклой натёрли (cheeks got so red in the frosty air, as if they were rubbed with beets).

Хрен (horseradish) – just the opposite of свёкла, as far as its contributions go. While its culinary applications are mostly as приправа (condiment) and something used in pickling, this fast-spreading vegetable is present in so many key phrases (all mildly ненормативные (obscene)) , such as

хрен с тобой! (to the devil with you!)
ни хрена (a nothing) as in тут бесплатно наливали, но пока моя очередь дошла, ни хрена не осталось (they were giving away free drinks here, but by the time it was my turn, there was nothing left)
хреновина (thingamaging, watchamacallit) – подай-ка вон ту хреновину (pass me that watchamacallit)

To be continued…

What’s your favorite or most puzzling Russian expression with fruits or vegetables in it?

While I was watching “They Fought for Their Land”, it occurred to me that there was something missing from the movie. Unlike most other war movies, this one did not have a feature song. Sure, the main character occasionally breaks into a tune, but it’s a popular pre-war song called Люблю (I Love), but most well-known by the first line of the chorus, Я возвращаю Ваш портрет (I am returning your portrait).

As you can guess, this will be a post about a war song. But I bet you’ll never guess which song it will be. Ok, let me give you some подсказки (hints) so you will also learn the trivia.

Hint #1 – This song became популярная (popular) not only in Russia, but also in the UK and in the US. In fact, it became so popular that you might still recognize its мотив (the tune) when you hear it, especially in Russia where it was recently remixed. The title of this post is also a line from the song.

Hint #2 – Russia’s beloved singer, Леонид Утёсов (Leonid Utesov) performed this song in both Russian and English (well, those were the heady pre-Iron Curtain days).

Hint #3 – The first line of the chorus became крылатая фраза (a catch phrase) in both English and Russian languages and still remains fairly popular in English (at least in the American English)

Hint #4 – This is the song about самолёты (airplanes) (ok, sorry, I can’t be more specific here or it will be a dead giveaway, but do look at the image at the top of the post).

Hint #5 – While the English and Russian texts of the song match closely, there is one telling difference. Since Soviet Union was officially an atheist state, the word молитва (prayer) in the English version was replaced with честное слово (word of honor) in the Russian version.

If you haven’t guessed by now, then you can Google it using the Russian words from the above hints – честное слово Утёсов самолёт песня. If you are searching in English, use the same word – word of honor Utesov airplane song, but add “World War II” to the query. Either way, it will be in the top 3 results.

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Ok, so now you’ve found out the song was Бомбардировщики (Bombers), better known in the West as “Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer”. Since this song was originally written in English (in 1943) and only later translated into Russian (in 1945), here’s the English version as sang by Anne Shelton:

And here’s the Russian version as sang by Leonid Utesov (his daughter, Edith, opens up):

Here’s the full Russian text:

Был озабочен очень воздушный наш народ: 

К нам не вернулся ночью с бомбёжки самолет. 
Радисты скребли в эфире, волну найдя едва,
И вот без пяти четыре услышали слова:

Ну, дела! Ночь была!
Их объекты разбомбили мы до тла.
Мы ушли, ковыляя во мгле,
Мы к родной подлетаем земле.
Вся команда цела и машина пришла 
На честном слове и на одном крыле.

And some language notes:

Воздушный народ – lit. air people – this is not really how we describe airmen, air traffic controllers, etc. But for the sake of the song, it works.

Бомбёжка – bombing; the planes that carry out бомбёжка are бомбардировщики (bombers) is the Russian title of the song.

Скрести – it means “to scrape”, but in this case it’s more like “to scan” with a connotation that радисты (radio operators) had a difficult time catching the transmission.

Эфир – comes from the word “ether”, but, depending on context, it can mean either “air waves”  and “air” as when a TV show host says мы в прямом эфире (we are live on air) or, in this case it would mean “radio frequencies”.

Волну найдя едва – just barely finding the frequency (lit. the air wave)

Ковылять – to hobble, to limp

Вражьи стаи – as in English, in Russian airplanes are frequently likened to birds. So it makes sense to use the word стая (flock) to describe enemy squadrons. The German мессершмитты (Messerschmitt planes) are compared to орлы (eagles) while Soviet planes are птенчики (nestlings). Ordinarily, орёл (eagle) is a positive character in Russian folklore (i.e. in a once popular war song soldiers are called орлы боевые (fighting eagles)). However, when you put a bird of prey next to a nestling, you know which side you are rooting for.

Объект – in the formal military speak it’s “a facility” or “a site”.

до тла – to the ground; a common phrase is сгореть до тла (burn to the ground), but here it is changed to разбомбить до тла (bomb something to pieces).

While the song was very popular, it is worth remembering that some of those объекты (sites) were civilian targets, subjected to horrific firebombing, such as in Hamburg (in 1943) and in Dresden (in 1945). Keeping that in mind, I found the music video of this song remixed by the Russian rockers Чиж & Co (Chiz & Co) rather off-putting.

As they say in Russia, из песни слова не выкинешь (lit. can’t take a word out of a song). As we remember and commemorate героев войны (war heroes) we also need to take the time to remember and commemorate the innocent victims of the war.

Today Russia celebrates День Победы (Victory Day) celebration is right around the corner. На кануне Дня Победы по телевизору показывают много старых фильмов про войну (On the eve of the Victory Day a lot of old war movies are shown on TV). With fewer and fewer ветераны (veterans) left, much of what we know about war, aside from школьные учебники (textbooks) comes from these movies. So let’s watch one of the old Soviet movies about Великая Отечественная война (the Great Patriotic War).

The movie is called Они сражались за Родину (They Fought for Their Land). Available on Mosfilm’s YouTube channel (Part 1 and Part 2), it is digitally remastered and subtitled in English. You can watch and understand much of what’s going on in this movie even if you are just beginning to learn Russian.

The plot is quite straightforward. It’s the summer of 1942 and Soviet troops continue to retreat further and further after a seemingly endless string of defeats. The movie follows a what’s left of a полк (regiment) of infantry soldiers as they are ordered to take the defensive positions near a small village on the Don river. Their impossible mission is to defend the river crossing against overwhelming Nazi forces, including tanks and carpet bombing.

While much of the dialogue is not exactly how people talk nowadays, some words and phrases are still widely used and you might come across them in general conversation.

Мы люди не гордые – we aren’t so proud (not to do or accept something)

Мамаша – mother; this can be a generic, if very informal way of addressing an older (usually much older) woman. You might come across such informal addresses, including тётя, дядя, дочка, сынок, бабуля, браток. This doesn’t imply blood relations as in Бабуля, не подскажешь, как до рынка дойти (Little grandma, could you tell me how to get to the market)

Подпустить поближе – let (it) come closer

Умыть кого-либо – lit. to wash someone’s face – to teach someone a lesson (usually in a humiliating way)

Пустой человек – lit. an empty person; this is usually said about someone who is all flash and no substance, also поверхностный человек

Дай бог всякому – lit. may god give same to everyone – this is usually added to emphasize how good things are, as in работа у меня прекрасная, дай бог всякому (I have a wonderful job, may God give the same to everyone).

Долетался – lit. he’s done flying – this is said when something unpleasant happened to whoever was flying (in the movie the Nazi plane gets shot down). This construct – prefix «до» + reflexive form of an action verb – are used often to say that something bad happened to someone as a result of his own опрометчивые (ill-advised) actions. Other examples would be допрыгался, доигрался, доискался, довыступался, etc. However, it’s not a strict rule since, for example, a verb договорился means that someone has reached an agreement.

Смотри в оба – lit. Look with both eyes – be on guard

Фартить, подфартить – this sounds funny in English, but it simply means to have things going your way or having all the luck.

Отвяжись от меня – leave me alone

Смышлёный – clever, bright as in дочка у меня такая смышлёная, лучшая ученица в классе (my daughter is so bright, the best student in class). This adjective is usually applied to children or young adults.

Пришёл, увидел, победил – I came, I saw, I conquered

Чёрствое слово – unkind word; lit. stale word.

Победа будет за нами – Victory will be ours.

As the movie ends, the unit is ready to move on, this time to Stalingrad… Have you seen other Soviet movies about WWII? What is your favorite?