Archive for 'language'
To Each Vegetable Its Own… Phrase Posted by yelena on May 14, 2012
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…
TGIF Posted by yelena on May 4, 2012
TGIF! Are you ready for выходные (weekend)? But first, if you are curious, Thanks God It’s Friday translates into Russian as слава богу, уже пятница. (The poster above explains that nighttime is not the reason to stop work) How was your work week? Are you устал, как собака (dog-tired)? It’s probably because you пахал…
Лениниана Posted by yelena on Apr 24, 2012
Guess whose birthday is celebrated on April 22? Well, lots of famous and important people were born on this day, for example, Alexander Kerensky and Vladimir Nabokov. And, of course, Владимир Ильич Ульянов (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov) was born on this day back in 1870. He is usually better known by his alias, Ленин (Lenin). So let’s talk about Lenin’s influence…
Tax Time Posted by yelena on Apr 9, 2012
What’s on your mind, уважаемые читатели (dear readers)? If you live in the US, then you probably have two problems to tackle this week. One is what to do with all the empty plastic eggs from the Easter egg hunts. The other one is, of course, налоги (taxes). Have you heard this Russian expression –…
Particle -ка and How to Use It Posted by yelena on Apr 4, 2012
As you’ve realized by now, my previous post about the letter Ё being removed from the alphabet was just первоапрельская утка (April Fool’s spoof). What шутки (jokes) did you play on your friends this year? What kind of розыгрыши (pranks) did they try to pull on you? This year, one of the spoofs prepared by…
Breaking News – One Fewer Letter Posted by yelena on Apr 1, 2012
I don’t post on this blog on weekends, unless something happens that is из ряда вон выходящее (out of the ordinary). Today is just such a day. As you know, the Russian alphabet has 33 letters. Or rather, it had 33 letters until today when the number was reduced by 1 letter. Can you guess…
Answers to Sex in PGT Research Questions Posted by yelena on Mar 30, 2012
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…