Comments:

1. 

    

   Delia:

   Sorry for the typo, I meant КТО? КТО?

2. 

    

   David Roberts:

   Brilliant of you to get so fast to 100 posts – and all soo… good. I can’t think of any proverbs that haven’t already appeared in the comments, but here are some quotes that I like:

   Пролетарии всех стран соединяйтесь. This needs no translation, I’m sure. Whatever your politics, I think you’ll agree that as a “mission statement” this is right up there with “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. Не так ли?

   Я считаю, что совершенно неважно, кто и как будет в партии голосовать; но вот что чрезвычайно важно, это кто и как будет считать голоса. [It doesn’t matter at all who votes and how, what matters is who counts the votes]. A lesson from Stalin that some would say was learned by George W Bush when he beat Al Gore to the presidency.

   То, что ты не умеешь объяснять бабушке, ты совсем не понял. This is my attempt to translate into Russian one of my favourite quotations from Einstein “If you can’t explain it to your grandmother you haven’t understood it properly”.

3. 

    

   TLTranslations:

   Баба с возу – кобыле легче =)

4. 

    

   Trevor:

   I like this one:

   По одёжке встреча́ют, по уму́ провожа́ют.
   (The clothes matter when you meet; the mind matters when you keep company.)

   A simple phrase, but packed with some good life advice!

   Congratulations on the big 100! Поздравляю!

5. 

    

   Minority:

   Richard, you’re welcome.

   You asked a very interesting question, so I read about this word a little. “Пошлый” is a very old word, it is adjective from “пойти”. The original meaning was “исконный” [original, native], “исстари ведущийся” [from olden time, old custom], “прежний” [former], “обычный” [customary]. And there’s one more meaning “налог” [tax] – from the word “пошлина” [customs, due].

   But in the beginning of 18th century this word became negative (there was an reappraisal of opininons about old times). New meanings of word are “низкий качеством” [low quality], “весьма обыкновенный” [extremly ordinary], “маловажный” [insignificant, unimportant], “тривиальный” [trivial].

   To the 50th of 19th century it became more negative than earlier. At this time it had meanings “избитый” [hackneyed], “вышедший из обычая” [out of fashion/habit], “неприличный” [indecent, immoral], “грубый” [rude].

   So, it seems nothing special that to the end of 20th century this word become a very-very rude word, ruder than ever.

6. 

    

   Stephanie:

   Повторение – мать учения

7. 

    

   Rob McGee:

   @Richard: “Perhaps the overtly sexual aspect [of пошлость] that you mentioned which is fairly recent in Russia is due to the commercialization of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union?”

   Richard — AFAIK, the sexual aspect of the word is “recent” as in “20th century”, not as in “post-Soviet.”

   There is a related verb опошл’я’ть, оп’о’шлить which means “to make something пошлый.”

   [Note: Students of Russian should recall that the verb prefix о- often (but not always) has a meaning similar to the verb suffix -ify or -ize in English — as in purify (“to make pure”) or finalize (“to make final”).]

   So, anyway, we can translate опошл’я’ть, оп’о’шлить as:

   “to vulgarize (something)”
   “to make (something) tacky”
   “to drag (something) into the gutter”

   And finally, this reminds me of another wonderful expression from the Soviet period, which is based on jokes about Пор’у’чик Рж’е’вский (Lieutenant Rzhevskiy). The important thing to know about him is that he is by nature a very пошлый man, but because he is an Army lieutenant and therefore of the officer ranks, he often comes into contact with high-class society.

   So, he inspired this expression:

   Пришёл (Пор’у’чик) Рж’е’вский и всё опошл’и’л!

   Literally, this translates: Lieutenant Rzhevskiy has arrived and has vulgarized everything!

   But a lot more colloquially (in English) would be something like: Well, well, here comes “Mr. Tacky” to drag the whole thing into the gutter!

   So, whenever someone uses rude language or makes an inappropriate sexual comment or tells a racist joke, etc., you can say Пришёл Ржевский и всё опошлил!

   P.S. For Russians, NB that the original meaning of tacky was “sticky, like glue” (липкий, как клей), but in modern slang it means бульварный, пошлый, грубоватый, etc.

8. 

    

   Rob McGee:

   On one occasion, Vladimir Nabokov punningly translated пошлость as “posh-lust”, in order to describe the “glittering vulgarity” (блестящая бульварность) of someone like Donald Trump — or of the Las Vegas Strip.

   (“Posh-lust” дословно означает “жажда к всему роскошному” — вообще, posh = роскошный и lust = похоть или жадность)

   However, just as Las Vegas and Donald Trump are “vulgar” only in one sense of the word, and there are other meanings of “vulgarity”, likewise Nabokov’s pun “posh-lust” is clever, yet it does not translate all the meanings of пошлость.

9. 

    

   Rob McGee:

   “Well, well, here comes “Mr. Tacky” to drag the whole thing into the gutter!”

   Now that I think about it, maybe an even better way to “translate” the name Поручик Ржевский (lit., Lieutenant Rzhevskiy) into English would be something like “Captain McFartjokes”.

   On the model of “Captain Obvious” (Капитан Очевидность), and also reflecting the common humorous use of the Irish/Scottish patronymic prefix Mc- to create “joke surnames” (for example, calling Lady Gaga “Miss McSlutty” or President Bush “Mister Chimpy McHitler.”)

   And of course, Поручик Ржевский is exactly the type of person who would come to a fancy high-society party and then tell jokes about “breaking wind”.

   P.S. В моей фамилии, “Gee” (Гий) — это просто старый фонетический вариант мужскоко имени “Hugh” (Хью). Поэтому фамилия “McGee” первоначально означала “son of Hugh”.

10. 

     

    Rob McGee:

    I think “Любишь кататься – люби и саночки возить” could be translated in English as “After the feast comes the reckoning”.

    A more literal (but very colloquial) translation would be something like “If you love to go sledding, you’d better learn to love schlepping a big, heavy sled around.”

    [NB: “to sсhlep” (произносится “шлэп”) — из идиша, в английском сленге вообще означает типа “таскать/носить что-то тяжелое туда и сюда” или “ходить долго и далеко” ]

    I can think of three other possible equivalents:

    “If you want to dance, you must pay the piper.”
    (Если хочется танцевать, обязательно заплатить дудочнику.)

    Or, possibly, the Latin proverb:

    Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. — in English, “(He) who loves me, must (be willing) to love even my dog.”
    (Кто меня любит, тому надо (бы) любить и мою собаку.)

    Finally, an expression that was popularized by Robert Heinlein’s novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and often quoted by libertarians: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” (Бесплатного обеда не бывает.)

    However, looking on the Web I find that Heinlein’s expression from the novel has also been translated into Russian as Бесплатных завтраков не бывает and Даровой закуски не бывает — respectively, “No such thing as free breakfasts” and “No such thing as giveaway appetizers”.

    I will leave it to native Russians to decide which English expression is ближе всего к духу (closest to the spirit) of the original saying “Любишь кататься – люби и саночки возить”

11. 

     

    Kent:

    Щи да каша – пища наша.

    Shchi and porridge – our kind of food.

    I enjoy using this saying ironically; i.e., before sitting down to an extravagant meal.

12. 

     

    Richard:

    Minority, thanks for your research, it’s very interesting! It’s fascinating to trace the changing meanings of a word through the centuries.

    The 1840s and 1850s in Russia were a time of increasing Western cultural and political influence (all of the “demons” that Dostoyesky later wrote about). In the 1840s, Russian intellectuals came to view French and German social ideas as more progressive than the ideas of Tsarist Russia; I know that the influential literary critic Belinsky thought this way. Hence the more negative meaning of “пошлость” at that time. It’s just my opinion…

    По моему мнению, двадцатое столетие было очень вульгарным столетием и “пошлость” стал более вульгарным также. 😉

    Большое спасибо! 🙂

13. 

     

    Delia:

    “Пошлость” as a noun is feminine, so your sentence should be Пошлость стала более вульгарной тоже.

14. 

     

    Richard:

    Rob,

    I first came across the word “пошлость” in connection with Nabokov. In 1967, Nabokov gave an interview to “The Paris Review” and he attempts, in his own inimitable way, to define “пошлость”.

    Part of what he said about “пошлость” in that interview:

    “Corny trash, vulgar clichés, Philistinism in all its phases, imitations of imitations, bogus profundities, crude, moronic, and dishonest pseudo-literature—these are obvious examples.”

    “The list is long, and, of course, everybody has his bête noire, his black pet, in the series. Mine is that airline ad: the snack served by an obsequious wench to a young couple—she eyeing ecstatically the cucumber canapé, he admiring wistfully the hostess.”

    Here’s the link to the interview: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4310/the-art-of-fiction-no-40-vladimir-nabokov

    Thanks for the joke, I’ve known a few “Lieutenant Rzhevskiys”, the world often seems full of them! LOL Perhaps, along with Donald Trump, Paris Hilton is a very good example of a “пошляка”?

    Richard

15. 

     

    Richard:

    Thanks for the correction Delia! I sometimes forget to check the gender of Russian words, a bad habit of mine.

16. 

     

    Delia:

    On poshlyak, ona poshlyachka. Sorry, no Russian keyboard now.

17. 

     

    Rob McGee:

    Эрик Картман из мультика South Park — “американский Поручик Ржевский”?

18. 

     

    Rob McGee:

    Между прочим, Лена — у меня уже есть три матрёшки, и поэтому я прошу, чтобы ты исключила меня из конкурса!

19. 

     

    jacki:

    Favorite saying is “ещё бы!!” as I used it a lot when poeple woud look at me strangely for speaking Russian in Russia (CCCP when I was there).
    Translation varies but ” what elso would you think!!” rather relates the concept.

20. 

     

    Emily Whitby:

    “первый блин комом” is a favorite at our house. It means, basically, that the first pancake always turns out crummy. I guess a similar idiom in English would be, “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” Whenever our oldest child gets in trouble, my husband and I look at each other and say,”первый блин комом!”

21. 

     

    Sarahjane:

    I love your blog. You’re as good as your (wonderful) predecessor. 🙂

    My favourite proverb will always be “терпи, казак, атаманом будешь.” (Endure, Cossack, and you will be an Ataman!) “Slow and steady wins the race” is sometimes given as its English approximation, but nothing beats the romanticism of the original. 🙂

22. 

     

    demetris:

    И на нашей улице будет праздник
    (the wheel is turning-we will get lucky too
    Literal-there will be a party in our street too)

23. 

     

    demetris:

    Не гони лошадей
    (take it easy-do not hurry-literal translation-don’t push the horse.

24. 

     

    Elena:

    I am not going to participate either, I am a native Russian speaker. However, i wanted to post a few sayings my husband enjoys the most:
    1. Медвежья услуга. Lit: Bear favor. Used to describe an act performed by someone with best intentions in mind but with an unfortunate outcome.
    2. Бесплатный только сыр в мышеловке. Lit: The only thing that is free in this life is cheese in a mousetrap. Meaning nothing is really ever free, when you think about it 😉
    3. My husband’s absolute favorite: “И не говори-ка!” Lit: And you don’t say. Used when you absolutely and fully agree with a statement made by someone else.
    Ex:
    – Терпеть не могу Перис Хилтон, она такая дура! (I can’t stand Paris Hilton, she is such an idiot)
    – И не говори-ка! (Indeed)

25. 

     

    Lorna:

    сумасшедшая обезьяна (crazy monkey)

    Our church sponsored an orphanage in Kurlovo, Russia, and this was a very catchy phrase. This quickly became a nickname given to several of the orphanage kids and American team members. Five years later, it was still a classic icebreaker!

26. 

     

    olia:

    словами сыт не будешь

    I love this phrase, it has a sort of power that “actions speak louder than words” doesn’t.
    You can’t get full with words. Words are air.

27. 

     

    Rob McGee:

    Oh, I just remembered another expression that I love:

    Россия — родина слонов.

    Literally, it’s “Russia is the motherland of elephants,” but in Chekov-speak, one could translate it as Keptin Kirk, elephants are a Roo-shan in-wen-shun, chust like nuclear wessels!

    Of course, the reason I love this (будучи родным гражданином Пиндостана!) is that Americans often get sniffy criticism from snobby Europeans for being excessively patriotic — so it’s a refreshing relief for me, as a Yankee, to see Russians making a self-deprecating joke about their own patriotism.

    And Россия — родина слонов usually IS the punchline to a joke. There are many versions of the joke, but it goes something like this:

    An international group of grad students at Московский государственный университет (МГУ) are given the assignment to write dissertations on the theme of elephants.

    The French student’s paper is titled: The Erotic Private Lives of Elephants

    The American’s: A Business Manager’s Guide to Marketing Elephants

    The Chinese student’s: Stir-Fried Elephant Rectums — Nature’s Perfect Food?

    The Saudi’s: Elephants and the Zionist Entity: A Koranic Analysis

    [etc.]

    Finally, the Russian student’s triumphant dissertation:
    СССР/Россия — Родина Слонов!

28. 

     

    Peter:

    “На сани чужие не садись”
    Mind your own business?
    Surely this proverb is typically Russian.
    I learnt it in the 1940’s, but it seems to have fallen into disuse.

29. 

     

    delia:

    The saying actually is Не в свои сани не садись “Do not sit on sledge that is not yours” which means “do not attempt to do something that you can’t do”

30. 

     

    Heather Clausen:

    Если вы живете на кладбище, вы не можете оплакивать каждого.

    This is the best translation I could do of this beautiful but sorrowful line from Solzhenistsyn: “If you live in a graveyard, you can’t weep for everyone.”

    This line comes from his book “Gulag Archipelago,” and it is a nice summary of how the zeks like him felt. It also applies in a broader sense to much of Russian history, in a beautifully poetic yet very sad way.

    Heather

31. 

     

    Kate:

    My favorite from long ago by way of Tiutchev:

    Мысль изреченная есть ложь.

32. 

     

    Kate:

    A more recent favorite,

    Успех – это успеть.

    (Марина Цветаева)

33. 

     

    Richard:

    Kate,

    What’s the best colloquial definition for “Успех – это успеть”? My version is: “Success, this will come”.

    Спасибо!

34. 

     

    Dilora:

    No, Emili Tandri,this phrase exists in uzbek language. In uzbek one it is “quloqqa lag’mon osmoq” :)))

35. 

     

    Dilora:

    no, Emili Tandri, this phrase exists in uzbek language. in uzbk one it is “quloqqa lag’mon osmoq” :)))

36. 

     

    Rob McGee:

    What’s the best colloquial definition for “Успех – это успеть”? My version is: “Success, this will come”.

    Richard — I would understand this to mean something like:

    “If you’re able to finish something on time, count that as a success.”

    or

    “Success is managing to get the job done.”

    Remember that the basic meaning of успевать / успеть is “to have enough time (or enough skill, or enough money, or enough of some other finite resource) to do something”. And “to manage to do so-and-so” is often a good translation for this verb:

    Рецепт был очень сложен, и у меня довольно мало опыта по выпечки, но всё-таки я успел приготовить шоколадно-мидальный торт на праздник.

    The recipe was very complicated, and I have rather little experience at baking, but just the same I managed to cook a chocolate-almond cake for the holiday (party).

    (As always, I welcome corrections from native speakers!)

37. 

     

    Richard:

    Rob,

    Thanks for your help with this, it’s a very intriguing word.

    I’ve had a look at успевать/успеть in three dictionaries and it almost seems like it acts as an auxiliary verb in some meanings.

    However, Langenscheidt’s states that the imperfective can also mean to “get on, to make progress, to learn”. So I could say “Русский язык? Я успеваю!” Right???

    I like the meaning of “to have time for” or to have some other finite resource or “to manage to do so-and-so”, it’s a very flexible little word!

    As for this proverb, it seems that you have to kind of fill in the blanks to get a meaning in English. Does that make sense?

    Perhaps a translation for “Успех – это успеть” could be “Success means to get along well”. I mean this in the sense of doing well in life; choose your own definition of “success” 😉

    Hopefully I haven’t just muddied the waters even more! LOL

38. 

     

    delia:

    УСПЕХ – УСПЕТЬ

    Rob: you’re absolutely right. This is exactly how I would explain its meaning.

    Richard: This is not a proverb, not even a saying. It’s a citation from Марина Цветаева which means not many people know it and not many people use it.

    I wouldn’t say УСПЕТЬ is an auxiliary verb, it’s a verb that needs a direct object expressed by an Infinitive. See Rob’s examples or: Я успел прочитать книгу/ Она успеет приехать. It can also be used without object/complement, but it should be in a very clear context: you almost missed your train, you rushed inside and the doors closed behind you, you can say, “Уфф, успел”.

    УСПЕТЬ in addition to all those meanings that Rob so well described in his post, also means “to succeed” Он многое успел в своей жизни He has succeeded in many things. But ПРЕУСПЕТЬ is used more often in this meaning. Она преуспела в математике (prepositional). Он преуспевающий (причастие/Present Participle) бизнесмен.

39. 

     

    Minority:

    Richard, delia and Rob explained this phrase quite good. So I just wanna give an answer for this question:

    >However, Langenscheidt’s states that the imperfective can also mean to “get on, to make progress, to learn”. So I could say “Русский язык? Я успеваю!” Right???

    You can’t say like that. We usually use participle “успевающий” in this case.
    Example: “У Нади по русскому языку одни пятерки, она успевающая ученица.” [Nadya has excellent marks on Russian language, she’s achiever.]

40. 

     

    delia:

    Thank you, Minority!
    I forgot to comment on that sentence.

    Richard: You can say “Я успеваю по русскому языку/ по математике” (Dative) meaning “I am doing good in Russian/Math”. Or “Я не успеваю по биологии” “I am failing (not catching up) biology”

41. 

     

    Richard:

    Minority, delia and Rob, thank you all for helping me to understand this word. Your explanations and examples have given me one more bit of insight into everyday Russian. This one little word is a perfect example of why I love Russian: it’s a wonderfully adaptive language, with a depth of meaning and a flexibility far beyond what the dictionary hints at.

42. 

     

    Hobert Mcconnico:

    ur blog is great! i like it, great info.