In my recent Sex in ПГТ post I suggested some questions for independent research. If you haven’t done it yet, but plan on doing it this weekend, then you should probably not read this post right now. As they say in movie reviews, Spoiler Alert.

So let’s start with the last question first:

Practice with some Russian names – what are the names of the guys that were fighting outside the club. The first one, Федька is Фёдор (Fed’ka – Fyodor). Can you figure out the other two? Also, what are the (so important in Russian) diminutives of their names?

Some time ago we talked about уменьшительно-ласкательных именах (diminutives of names) and their importance in Russian language. But what if you don’t want to be lovey-dovey towards someone? What if this someone достал тебя (got on your last nerve) or maybe you just know this person really well, say a childhood friend (kids use this form a whole lot for their peers)? Russian language allows you to be unceremonious with someone while still calling them by their first name:

Ух, Машка, противная такая, съела всю мою кашу и сломала мой стульчик! (Oh, disgusting Masha, she ate all my porridge and broke my little chair!)

Сашка с друзьями пошёл на реку рыбу ловить (Sasha went to the river to fish with his friends).

Я как узнала, что Юрка курит, так его отходила по одному месту! (As soon as I found out that Yuri was smoking, I whooped his behind!)

So, Федька is an unceremonious for Фёдор. The diminutive of the name is Федечка.

Колька’s proper name is Николай or for those who love him Коленька.

Васька’s name on all his papers is Василий. To his girlfriend he is probably Васечка or Васенька.

Why is Fyodor, Miranda’s former boyfriend, first introduced as Vasya in “припёрся, вася, стоит” comment (when girls enter the club).

Speaking of Вася… This name can serve as имя нарицательное (appellative) in many cases:

Муж всегда фотографируется у памятных мест, типа здесь был Вася. (My husband always has pictures of himself taken at various landmarks, sort of “I was here”) – this doesn’t mean that the husband’s name is Vasya.

Я тебе не дядя Вася, чтобы за пивом в такую даль идти (I’m not some Uncle Vasya to walk all this way for beer) – this doesn’t refer to an actual Uncle Vasya either.

What’s the other meaning of the word тёлка (heifer)

That’s easy – it means девушка (a girl) or молодая женщина (young woman). It is a disrespectful way of talking about women, but в мужской компании (in guys-only circle) it is used a lot:

Я на днях с такой тёлкой познакомился, просто пять баллов! (I met this hot looking chick the other day; lit: I met a girl the other day and she is so hot, she gets an “A”)

For grammar geeks – why in the phrase “главный козырь это стройные ноги, поэтому она никогда не выходит…” I wrote поэтому instead of по этому?

JohnS answered this question well in his comment, so I’m going to use his answer:

поэтому is an adverb meaning “therefore, for that reason, that’s why”, and по этому a preposition.

Do you know the classic Russian tongue-twister Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку (Sasha strolled along the road and sucked on a pretzel)? Well, here are two examples:

От ходьбы по шоссе Саша проголодалась и поэтому сосала сушку. (Sasha worked up an appetite strolling along the road and that’s why she sucked on a pretzel)

По этому шоссе шла Саша, когда она сосала сушку (This was the road Sasha strolled along while sucking on a pretzel).

What does the phrase Саманта бля*ь mean (it appears on the fence as Samantha is first introduced and also in the night sky as she’s making out with a policeman)?

Ok, do you really need my help with this one?

Why as Carry says “sex lives of my girlfriends” the camera pans to a goat?

I think we had this discussion a while ago in the comments to an old post. The original comment was:

applied to women “коза” (female goat) does not have the same sense of rudeness as козёл (male goat) when applied to men. I think it’d be more like saying that a woman is foolish or, perhaps, restless (often with sexual connotation).

(If you haven’t read this particular post or the comments to it, you should now. The comments are very funny and the post is not boring either)

In the opening scene where “Carry” walks along and gets splashed by muddy water, what does she have in the paper cone?

The answer to this last question is simple – семечки (sunflower seeds). Now, here in the US I don’t see a lot of sunflower seeds lovers. And those that do like them do it all wrong. Let me get something straight once and for all here: in Russia, sunflower seeds are not health food. They are recreation!

And that’s all for the answers. Hope you’ve discovered something new or at least something funny in this post.