As you know, Valentine’s Day (День Святого Валентина) is approaching. There will finally be an occasion to call those we love (любить) but rarely talk to. While some are looking forward to this holiday, others do not celebrate it for their personal reasons or principles. No matter what group of people you belong to, I hope you will have a fantastic February 14th.

Since today I am in a cheerful mood, I have collected some funny popular phrases on love topic. Undoubtedly, humor differs from country to country, and sometimes it is not easy to understand it. However, Jenya gives a great explanation of the peculiarities of Russian humor.

In Russia, in general, there are a lot of expressions related to crop production. Here are three examples of love and vegetables.

Image by Robinson Thomas from Flickr

Love has passed, tomatoes have withered – Прошла любовь, завяли помидоры.

As you might guess, it is a literal translation. This actually means, “The love was a crush, but it passed quickly.” The proverb is more about teens when they have a passion (увлечение/страсть) and quickly move on from liking one person to another.

We can associate the withering of love (любовь) and the withering of plants. Nonetheless, it is believed to be related to French decorative tomatoes (помидоры). The young ladies in love were very fond of attaching a twig with a flower of this plant to the bodice. But when a lady stopped wearing it, it became clear that something had changed. This expression became popular after Oleg Savostyanov wrote a poem with this phrase.

Image by Social Coop Media from Flickr

Love is not a potato, you cannot throw it out the window – Любовь не картошка, не выбросишь в окошко.

Precious love and a simple potato (картовель/картошка) are definitely different things. This is so obvious that such a comparison is even surprising. In fact, this phrase means exactly what it says – love, unlike potatoes, is something you cannot quickly get rid of.

Although there is another Russian proverb that says exactly the opposite:

“С глаз долой — из сердца вон” (“Far from eye, far from heart,” “Long absent, soon forgotten” )

It means that love easily fades away if you do not see the object of love.

Love-carrot – Любовь-морковь.

Love is not a potato but a carrot (морковь). Truly, it means absolutely nothing. It is just a sounding rhyme between the words “любовь”, and “морковь”. It is often used to speak ironically about romance (романтика).

If you are in a romantic mood (романтическое настроение), you should definitely check out these other posts:

“Three Iconic Russian Love Stories,”

“День всех влюблённых” [Valentine’s Day] in Russia”

 “Valentine’s Day in Russia – Love It or Really Love It”

If you are влюблены по уши (head over heels in love; literally “fall in love up to your ears”) and want to tell your crush (любимый/любимая) you like ([тебе] нравится) them in Russian, then this post is certainly for you.

Love and be loved! Happy Valentine’s Day!