From Earthquake to Hurricane in One Week Posted by yelena on Aug 29, 2011 in language, Russian for beginners
First things first. It is time to announce «победители» [winners] of the giveaway. Yes, it is not a typo. I do have «два победителя» [two winners]. That was the last secret of the secret giveaway.
The winners are Delia and Michael Thompson. «Поздравляю!» [Congratulations]. You will be receiving e-mails from Transparent Language with further details.
Now, as I’m writing this, it’s still «суббота» [Saturday] and Hurricane Irene is all over the news on the East Coast. This is an extraordinary week as far as weird weather goes. «Неделя началась с землетрясения, а закончилась ураганом.» [The week started with an earthquake and ended with a hurricane].
I’ve finished all the hurricane preparedness tasks and tried watching TV, but the endless hurricane warning tickers moving across the screen are annoying. So instead, why don’t we learn some new Russian words.
Have you lived through a «стихийное бедствие» [natural disaster]? I lived in Florida for a few years and got a bit familiar with «ураган» [hurricane] and «тропический шторм» [tropical storm]. Living in North Carolina taught me about «торнадо» [tornado] and «землетрясение» [earthquake]. And spending last winter in NY gave me a good practice digging out after «метель» [snow blizzard]. I also have some first-hand experience with «песчаная буря» [sandstorm].
In each case, the media stresses out «что важно быть подготовленным» [that it’s important to be prepared]. Do you have «комплект жизнеобеспечения в чрезвычайных ситуациях» [an emergency survival kit]? «К стыду своему признаюсь, что у меня его до сих пор нет» [I’m ashamed to admit that I still don’t have one].
So every time we get «предупреждение» [a warning], I run around the house trying to find «батарейки» [batteries], «фонарики» [flashlights], «свечи» [candles] and other supplies. I then drive to a store to pick up all the missing items along with «питьевая вода в бутылках» [bottled water], and «консервы» [canned food].
I also try to get some sort of old-fashioned entertainment that requires no electricity, such as «настольные игры» [board games], «кроссворды» [crosswords], «книги и журналы» [books and magazines]. «Моя сильная половина» [Russian euphemism for “husband”, lit: my stronger half] is in charge of picking up «вино» [wine], «пиво» [beer] and anything «для гриля» [for grilling] for the day after the hurricane.
Then we walk around the yard and «поднимать» [pick up] and «закреплять» [secure] all that’s loose, including «шланги для полива» [garden hoses], «садовые инструменты» [gardening tools] and «мусорные баки» [trash cans]. We also fill up our «ванна» [bath tub].
Speaking of bath tubs. There are two very similar words in Russian – «ванна» and «ванная». Careless pronunciation makes them sound almost the same. I know quite a few Russian speakers who use these words interchangeably. But that’s just not right.
You see, «ванна» means bathtub while «ванная» is a bathroom (it is actually «ванная комната» [bath room], but most people shorten it to just «ванная»):
«Наша ванная очень маленькая» [Our bathroom is very small]
«Наша ванна не держит воду» [Our bathtub does not hold water]
«Наша ванная такая маленькая, что даже ванна не помещается» [Our bathroom is so small, there is no space for a bathtub]
Finally, everything is secured, supplies are stockpiled, cookies are baked and we are ready. «Теперь осталось только ждать худшего и надеятся на лучшее»[All that’s left is to wait for the worst while hoping for the best].
How do you prepare for «чрезвычайная ситуация» [emergency]? Do you have an emergency kit? How do you spend time if there’s a power outage? And how would you translate «набившая оскомину фраза» [a way-overused phrase] “hunker down”?
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Comments:
Rob McGee:
And how would you translate … “hunker down”?
The first idea that came to my mind as an English speaker would be something like становиться черепахом (“to stand like a turtle; to take a turtle-style position”) — although I don’t know if such a phrase is actually used in Russian!
But “черепахом” seems to me like a good metaphorical description of what “hunker down” generally means: “to be in or to get into a close-to-the-ground stance, for protective purposes.”
Example: “As the two armies exchanged gunfire, the frightened civilians were hunkered down behind the burned ruins of a tank, hoping to avoid being hit by stray bullets.”
Rob McGee:
On the subject of the ванная (room where the bathtub is), it may be worth noting that в советских ванных, унитаза не было (in Soviet-era bathrooms, there was no toilet). The “white porcelain throne” (унитаз) was by itself in a very small, separate room that was called the уборная, or also called the туалет.
Somewhat inconveniently, the sink for washing your hands (раковина) was not located в уборной (in the toilet-room). Instead, раковина стояла в ванной, рядом с ванной — the sink stood in the bathroom, next to the bathtub.
It would be interesting to know whether the custom of keeping the унитаз separated from the раковина and ванна is still observed in newly-built Russian architecture, or if the American custom of the “half-bathroom” (which means a room with a toilet and a sink, but without a bathtub/shower) has been popularized there.
Rob McGee:
By the way, both уборная and “toilet” are euphemisms — the Russian word derives from the verb убирать/убрать, which generally means “to clean up; to tidy”, while “toilet” is related to “towel” and comes from a French word that meant маленькое полотенце (small towel).
So, originally, both words probably referred to the processes of washing one’s face, shaving, combing one’s hair, and other personal grooming — with no direct reference to, ahem, the “throne.”
And on the topic of etymological connections, the word раковина (a bathroom or kitchen sink) literally means “seashell”, presumably because decorative sinks in wealthy households were made to look like the shells of scallops.
And the word раковина is related to рак (“crayfish”) — although biologically speaking, crustaceans (ракообразные) such as the crayfish have no relation to scallops and other molluscs (моллюски)!
Delia:
First, thank you so much for the prize. I haven’t received it yet, but I am looking forward to it. It came as a complete surprise!!!
I think that “hunker down” can be translated as “залечь, затаиться.” Он затаился. You can also say, “Я залег/залегла тише воды, ниже травы” (I was quieter than water and lower than grass) which basically means …”I hunkered down”
Delia:
Oh, Rob, I forgot to mention. Черепаха is feminine. “Я увидела черепаху.”
Rob McGee:
Thanks for the correction about черепаха, Delia!
Maybe I was just confused by the similarity between feminine черепаха and masculine череп, “skull”.
Древнегрческий драматург Эсхел якобы погиб от сломанного черепа, когда орёл уронил черепаху на его голову. (The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus supposedly died from a fractured skull, when an eagle dropped a turtle on his head.)
Delia:
Утро вечера мудреннее… “Morning is wiser than evening” or Tomorrow is another day. What I want to say is that I shouldn’t have posted my comment last night after work when I was tired as I made a mistake! We say, “Он был тише воды, ниже травы” He was very quiet, and “Он залёг на дно” He hunkered down. Sorry about it!
Minority:
Wow, how much of natural disasters! Well, I’m used to cold-cold winters (we’ve got at least couple of weeks of -30 C or lower per year) and blizzards. And sometimes during summertime we’ve got drought, so our forests are burning. But this fire never comes close to city, so we’ve got no additional smog.
Rob, as far as I know we still have separate room with унитаз. And sink is located in a bath room. But it’s not actual info for one room flat. It’s too small to make ’em separate. As for me, I never thought this thing can be a surprise for somebody. It’s obvious…
When mom is cleaning her teeth and so on, somebody can go to w.c. without a queue. And sink is not a problem. You can always go to the bathroom or to the kitchen to wash your hands.
Kenny Zeng:
Спасибо