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The joy of grammatical mistakes, or a few of my lightbulb moments Posted by on Jan 25, 2022

Как уст румя́ных без улы́бки, Без граммати́ческой оши́бки Я ру́сской ре́чи не люблю́ These lines, from Alexander Pushkin’s famous novel in verse «Евге́ний Оне́гин» Eugene Onegin, pretty well explain what I would like to cover in today’s post. Much of learning a new language has to do with restructuring your thinking to express ideas using a construction…

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Familiar unknowns Posted by on Jan 17, 2022

a boyar

In my blog about idioms with the word ‘white’ (белый), I got a great comment about two Russian words чернила и белила (black ink and white paint). (Thank you @samonen! Have I mentioned we love to read your comments?) Белила reminded me of the phrase “белены объелся”. And before you ask, белила и белена are…

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Let’s Explore Russian Morphology with Baby Animals Posted by on Jan 14, 2022

With all the craziness going on in the world, I think we need a bit of baby animal therapy to take our mind off things. How about a lesson on Russian morphology to go along with it? Уби́ть двух за́йцев Kill two birds with one stone. (Yes, in Russian, we say “to kill two hares”)…

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Spooky Russian podcasts Posted by on Jan 6, 2022

scary door

Чего́ вы бои́тесь? (What are you afraid of?) And I don’t necessarily mean the grown up kind of fears like not getting along with your in-laws, identity theft, or small talk. I mean the deep childhood fears of the mysterious, unknown, and overall spooky. Мо́нстры под крова́тью? Леге́нды? Вампи́ры? И́ли мо́жет да́же привиде́ния? (Monsters under…

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Back to the USSR: Some products that you can find even today Posted by on Dec 29, 2021

A notable anniversary just passed us; 30 years ago, в декабре́ 1991-го (девяно́ста пе́рвого) го́да СССР официа́льно прекрати́л своё существова́ние in December 1991, the USSR officially ceased to exist, creating 15 new nations. To make a post about the legacy the Soviet system left on this giant chunk of Eurasia would be too long for…

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White roses, knees, and ravens Posted by on Dec 21, 2021

car in the snow

When you think of Russian winters, you imagine early mornings with untouched сугро́бы (snowdrifts), краси́вые узо́ры на стёклах авто́бусов (pretty frost patters on the windows of buses), and serene forests of snow-covered pines and birch trees. Вокруг белым–бело́! (It is white everywhere!) To be fair, this Russian white winter fantasy varies greatly depending on where…

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One of the Two Troubles of Russia: Roads Posted by on Dec 17, 2021

Roads have always played an important part of life in Russia. If you remember my last post about types of transportation in Russian cities, let’s explore what all those machines actually run on: roads. Radishchev stylized his cutting 1790 critique of Catherine’s Russia (which ultimately landed him in exile in Siberia) on a travelogue that…

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