Russian Language Blog

I’m not sure if «банки» [cupping] are still used to treat chest-colds, but this used to be a popular treatment in Russia. Although I was told that the application didn’t hurt at all and was even kind of pleasant, I never wanted to give it a try. Fortunately, there were many other folk remedies to choose from.

The approaching winter brings not only «холод» [cold weather], but unavoidable «простуда» [cold].

Everyone around you is sick. «Как дела? Что новенького?» [How’s life? What’s new?] you ask and a friend replies «Всё по старенькому, вот только я, кажется, заболеваю» [Things are as usual, but I think I’m coming down with something].

A passerby, rushing past you, «кашляет, прикрывая рот рукой» [coughs, covering his mouth with his hand]. Another one «громко сморкается в носовой платок» [blows his nose loudly into a handkerchief]. «У него насморк» [He’s got runny nose].

Then a friend calls to cancel a long-planned «девичник» [girls’ night] and you don’t recognize her «хриплый» [hoarse] voice. «У меня самой горло болит» [I have a sore throat myself] say you and jokingly remark that it’s safe for the two of you to hang out since «зараза к заразе не липнет» [lit: contagion doesn’t stick to contagion]. But you’re only half-earnest since you «неважно себя чувствовать» [don’t feel so good] – «болит голова» [head hurts] and you’ve got «температура» [temperature, implication -mild fever]. You just hope it doesn’t turn into «жар» [fever].

Russian terms for seasonal illnesses can be very confusing. In addition to «простуда» [cold], one might have «грипп» [flu]. If your main symptom is sore throat, then you’re likely to have «ангина» which is not angina, but tonsillitis. However, if you have a bad chest-cold, you’re most likely to be diagnosed with «ОРЗ» that stands for «острое респираторное заболевание» [acute respiratory ailment].

Of course, the exact diagnosis is something best left to «врач» [doctor] or rather «участковый врач», a doctor at a local «поликлиника» [policlinic, outpatient clinic] responsible for a particular district.  

But if the symptoms are mild, who needs a doctor. «Самолечение» [self-treatment] is pretty popular in Russia (as it is in the US, but probably for different reasons). Here we have two choices – stop by «аптека» [pharmacy] to pick up some «безрецептурные лекарства» [over-the-counter drugs] or to rely on «народные средства» [folk remedies] and «нетрадиционная медицина» [alternative medicine].

The OTC drugs are the same the world over, I suppose. Aspirin is available in Russia and is called «аспирин».  And you probably won’t need a dictionary to understand what «анальгин» is for – a generic name for analgesics.

Folk remedies are much more interesting and unheard-of outside of Russia. You start with «тёплое молоко» [warm milk], but add «сода» [baking soda] and «мёд» [honey] to it. Next, if your throat still bothers you, start gargling with warm «соляной раствор» [brine, salty water] or with «настой ромашки» [chamomile infusion]. To clear up stuffed nose, don’t forget «ингаляция» [inhalations] over a basin of hot water with garlic, sage and more chamomile. Now, this actually feels good, kind of like a day at a spa.

The next part is a lot less pleasant – «закапать нос» [putting drops in your nose]. If you are sticking to the home remedies, the drops would be home-made, using juice of «алое» [aloe plant], «лук» [onion] or «свёкла» [beetroot].

Here in the US we reach for orange juice at the first signs of a possible cold. However, Russia, with its cold climate is not the land of «апельсины» [oranges]. But «лук и чеснок» [onion and garlic] grow well. So forget orange juice and reach for a big onion instead. Grate it, mix with honey and sugar, cook for a few minutes on low heat just ‘til the smell gets really intense. Now make sure to swallow 1 teaspoon of this mixture every hour on the hour until you feel better.

Whether you’re chilly or hot, don’t forget to put on warm socks. After all, as every Russian knows «держи голову в холоде, живот в голоде, а ноги – в тепле» [keep your head cold, your stomach empty, but your feet warm]. Besides, socks are where you sprinkle some dry «горчичный порошок» [ground mustard] into your socks for added warming effect.

It’s time to make tea with even more honey, «мята» [mint], «шалфей» [sage], «анис» [aniseed] and «гвоздика» [whole cloves]. Spread a thick layer of «малиновое варенье» [raspberry jam] on dark Russian bread. That is, if you don’t feel like having some «горячий куриный бульон» [hot chicken broth].

Then put a slightly wet «горчичник» [mustard plaster] on your back and calves, rub your chest with «согревающая мазь» [heat rub], and try to get as much rest as possible since «сон – лучшее лекарство» [sleep is the best cure].

If such as aggressive regiment fails to restore you to good health in the morning or if you feel exhausted by following it or if you smell too strongly of onion and garlic, in short if you need a day off, stop by your «участковый врач» [district doctor] for «больничный лист» [a sick-list].

I’ve only been with this blog for a few weeks and I’m already breaking «расписание» [schedule] that Josefina and I planned for this month. I was supposed to tell you how to make a particularly tasty Russian salad. But I feel that, given the time of the year and the fact that many of «наши читатели» [our readers] plan to travel to Russia at some point, there are «более важные» [more important] things to talk about.

Specifically, I want to talk about how to dress for a Russian winter in order to avoid stern talking-to’s from the ever-present «бабушки» [old ladies; lit. grandmothers]. But let me back up and say that there are two ways of dealing with «бабушки». First is «игнорировать их замечания» [to ignore their comments]. Second is to bundle up.

In reality, since «бабушки» can’t be outnumbered and have nothing better to do but spend their days «судача» [tattling] about you, the only way to avoid their dirty looks and «колкие замечания» [barbs] is to bundle up.

Technically, you can try defending your under-dressed self with the following proverb:

«Держи голову в холоде, живот – в голоде, а ноги – в тепле»

[Keep your head in the cold, belly - starving, but feet - warm]

But I doubt it would help (never helps me when I am being lectured by my own Mom on this subject).

And if you don’t think this is a serious issue, then read a comment from one of this blog’s readers, Kari, who was asking a while back for advice to “fight off the babushkas that invade my private space with their concern over my daughter’s warmth! I tell my husband that just ONE more comment that I am (a bad mom) not dressing my child more enough from Russians in the city and I just may explode!”

So, here’s a quick primer on how to dress yourself and your child for Russian winters.

«Колготки» [tights] – admittedly, is not the item to be visually inspected by «бабушки» [the old ladies], but better be safe than sorry. Warm tights are a must for women and children (of both sexes). Men will have to wear «подштанники» [warm ankle-length undergarments that go underneath the pants, hence the name].

«Свитер» [sweater] – layer it over a shirt, «водолазка» [a turtleneck sweater], or anything that doesn’t look thick and warm. If you are dressing a child, put a couple of sweaters on.

«Носки» [socks] – whether you wear «колготки» [tights] or not, put on a pair of very warm woolen socks. The thick and itchy white or grey hand-knitted ones, made and sold by «бабушки» are the best.

«Пальто» [coat], «шуба» [long fur coat], or «куртка» [jacket] – which one you are going to end up wearing depends largely on your gender and your personal preferences. Generally, however, men do not wear «шуба». Whatever it is you wear, it has to look very warm, very thick, and very bulky to be «одобренно» [approved] by «бабушки».

«Шапка» [hat] – you might as well stay home and wait for summer if you don’t wear a hat. And when you do put one on, make sure it covers your ears. When choosing a hat for a small child, get the one «с завязочками» [with strings that tie under the chin; lit. with the ties].

«Шарф» [scarf] – men can get away with wearing short and fairly thin (think flannel or thin felt) ones also referred to as «кашне» [neckscarf]. These are typically worn over a «свитер» [sweater], but underneath «пальто» [coat] or «куртка» [jacket].

Children must have their thick wooly scarves tied over their coats. Whether you tie the scarf in the front or in the back depends on the age of your child. Under 5 – tie in the back so that the child doesn’t get a chance to fiddle with the knot. Plus you’ll score some extra points for pulling the thus-tied scarf over the child’s mouth so he or she «не дышит холодным воздухом» [don’t breath the cold air].

«Варежки» [mittens], «перчатки» [gloves] – remember, «мужики варежек не носят!» [men don’t wear mittens]. Mittens are generally for children. Again, for some extra approval points, sew the mittens onto a length of elastic ribbon and thread it through the arms of your child’s coat.

Finally, «сапоги» [boots] – let’s just say, get the warmest boots you can find and you’ll be good to go.  When selecting boots, think of lots of snow, iced-over sidewalks and possibly long waits for «автобус» [a bus], «троллейбус» [a trolleybus] or «трамвай» [tram or streetcar] and you’ll naturally avoid all the high-heeled low-cut no-good fashion nonsense.

So, let’s say you «закутали» [bundled up] yourself and your child and are ready to go enjoy the snow – maybe build «снеговик» [a snowman] or «кататься на санках с горки» [sled down a hill]. Here’s the final check before exiting out of your apartment and into «бабушкино поле зрения» [old lady’s field of vision]:

If you can easily move your arms or legs, you are likely underdressed. If your child can, without your help, get up to standing from sitting on the floor, he or she is most definitely underdressed. Quickly, put on an extra sweater.

Follow these simple instructions and leave the old ladies if not speechless (that’s impossible), then at least admitting that you «знаешь, как одеваться по погоде» [know how to dress according to weather].

A couple of days ago – I think it was «в среду» [on Wednesday] – we received our first snow here in Yekaterinburg: «выпал первый снег» [the first snow fell (down)]. On Wednesday, however, I had the bad luck to be feeling a bit under the weather – in Russian «я захворала» [I got ill; this perfect colloquial verb «захворать» means ‘to be taken ill' or ‘(with instrumental case) to come down with (something)']. Because of this I was unable to catch «первый снег этой зимы» [this winter's first snow] on camera and when this snow melted away in just a few days I felt very sorry for myself due to this, since I badly wanted to write a post about it here and as always attach some current photographs «из современной России» [from modern Russia]. Then I thought about the fact that this is «моя шестая русская зима» [my sixth Russian winter] and that I have plenty of pictures of snow from the five previous Russian winters that I have experienced in this country. And as I went through my archive of photographs on my «съёмный диск» [external hard drive] I was reassured that it is indeed so. But there’s always something special with the first snow. Every year it falls as if for the very first time. There’s something exceptional about those first fragile white snowflakes that makes us feel and act like children again. And this ‘something’ makes us smile as we look out the window and instantly feel an urge to put on our heaviest clothing and go out and try to catch one on the tip of our tongues… In my mind and in my memories Russia will always be dressed in snow. For the most obvious of reasons, when I look back and think of Russia I always see this country as a white wonderland where the skies are clear and blue, where the sun shines over glittering «сугробы» [snowdrifts] along endless Siberian highways… I know that most people who have never ever been to Russia – I know because they have told this me many, many times – think of this country as looking exactly like that «круглый год» [all year around]. But we who have been here, we who have lived here, know that this is not the case. But we also know that winter is best in Russia, don’t we?

And here we are again! Tomorrow it is already «первый день ноября» [the first day of November] and that means that «осень» [fall] has officially ended and that it is time for «зима» [winter] – «русская зима» [Russian winter] – to take over with full force! When the first snow came down on us this week, I looked out the window and then turned to my Korean roommate and said: «Снег идёт!» [It's snowing!] Only after a while, as I watched the snowflakes tumbling around in the air outside, did it occur to me that the verb «идти» [impf., verb of motion used for movement in a particular direction: to go; to walk; to come; to come out; to follow] was no where near a correct one to use when describing the way the snow was moving.

 «Снег идёт» [It is snowing] somewhere on a Russian railroad.

Thus yesterday I asked one of my Russian friends who is a Master’s student of «русский язык» [Russian language] this important question: «Почему снег именно ИДЁТ в русском языке? Почему он не ходит?» ["Why is it that snow in Russian language walks? Why doesn't it go around (without any particular direction)?"] «Ходить» is the indetermened variant of the verb of motion «идти», it indicates a movement there AND back again and means ‘to walk, to be able to walk; to run, to operate; to be going around’. She understood my confusion, but – «увы!» [alas!] – could not give me any answer other than that it, of course, would make more sense to describe snow coming down from the sky with another verb completely. The thing is that Russian language lacks such a thing as «снеговать» or even «снегить» [I made up both of these verbs; do not make a note of them!] as apart from, for example, my native language (Swedish!), and thus must use what it’s got. What does it have then? What else can we say when we see snow outside our windows but don’t really think ‘it’s walking’ but doing something different entirely? Let’s have a look!

«падать» impfv.: to fall; to crash; to decline, go down, fall.

«Снег падает» – [Snow is falling].

And from this combination of noun and verb you can make another noun in Russian that describes this exactly: «снегопад» [snowfall].

«Выпадать» is impfv. and «выпасть» is pfv.: to fall out; (of snow, rain, etc) to fall; to turn out to be; to fall to, to befall.

«Снег выпал ночью» – [The snow fell at night (in the night, during the night)].

«вьюжить» is a verb that I have only heard from Russians but can’t find in the dictionary, though it is clear that it is made from the noun «вьюга» meaning ‘snowstorm; blizzard’. I’m not sure if this could be combined with «снег» in such a sentence as «снег вьюжит» [‘snow is storming' or ‘it's snowstorming']. Perhaps one should be content with just saying «вьюжит» [‘there's a snowstorm/blizzard going on'].

The same goes for the verb «метелить» made from the noun «метель» (fem.) [snowstorm; blizzard]. I always have a hunch here that you can’t say «снег метелит» but must go for a construction like «на улице метелит» [‘there's a blizzard outside'] instead.

But since the most common verb used «со снегом» [with snow] in Russian is after all «идти» let’s have a look at how to make use of «совершенный вид этого глагола» [the perfect aspect of this verb] – «пойти» [to begin to walk, to set out; to start moving; (of snow, rain, etc) to begin to fall]:

«Скоро пойдёт снег» – [Snow will soon begin to fall].

«Вот и снег пошёл!» – [And so snow has begun to fall!]

Yet on this photograph we have snow without any motion at all! Here «снег лежит» [snow is lying]…