{"id":328,"date":"2009-05-31T10:09:03","date_gmt":"2009-05-31T14:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=328"},"modified":"2009-05-31T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2009-05-31T14:09:03","slug":"examples-of-strange-russian-expressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/examples-of-strange-russian-expressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Examples of Strange Russian Expressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes Russians may say something that sounds so strange that you cannot – even though you know the meaning of all the words in the sentence they just uttered – for the life of you understand what they mean. An example is the famous expression \u00ab\u0434\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [\u2018yes no’] which I up until a couple of days ago always thought was closer to \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> than \u00ab\u043d\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> but I was wrong. When Russians say \u00ab\u0434\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> what they really mean is \u00ab\u043d\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/strong>. For example: \u00ab\u0422\u044b \u043f\u043e\u0439\u0434\u0451<\/span>\u0448\u044c \u0437\u0430<\/span>\u0432\u0442\u0440\u0430 \u0432 \u043a\u0438\u043d\u043e<\/span>?\u00bb <\/strong>[\u2018Are you going to the movies tomorrow?] \u00ab\u0414\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0442, \u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0439\u0434\u0443<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [No, I’m not going].<\/p>\n

But an even worse situation could occur when you’re a beginner at Russian or just a regular newbie in Russia and someone says to you: \u00ab\u0414\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439 \u0432\u043e\u0437\u044c\u043c\u0438<\/span>!\u00bb<\/strong> What on Earth do they mean? Let’s try to understand by taking a closer look at these two words: \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> is the imperative form in singular from the imperfect verb \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [to give] and \u00ab\u0432\u043e\u0437\u044c\u043c\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> is the imperative form in singular from the perfect verb \u00ab\u0432\u0437\u044f\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [to take]. Logically, the sentence \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439 \u0432\u043e\u0437\u044c\u043c\u0438<\/span>!\u00bb<\/strong> should be translated as \u2018give take!’<\/em>, but let’s remind ourselves of the fact that the imperative form \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> can also mean \u2018let’s’<\/em> or \u2018come on’<\/em> in Russian. Thus, when a Russian says this to you they are in fact not asking you to give them anything, but wanting you to take something from them. For example: \u00ab\u0414\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439 \u0432\u043e\u0437\u044c\u043c\u0438<\/span> \u0435\u0449\u0451<\/span> \u043a\u0443\u0441\u043e<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u043a \u0442\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430!\u00bb<\/strong> [Come on (go on) <\/em>and take another piece of cake!]<\/p>\n

Have you noticed that Russians say \u00ab\u043c\u044b \u0441 \u0442\u043e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [\u2018we with you’] when what they really mean are \u00ab\u044f \u0441 \u0442\u043e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [\u2018I with you’]? Once you get a hang of it and understand that the \u00ab\u043c\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> in the expression \u00ab\u043c\u044b \u0441 \u0442\u043e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> doesn’t mean \u2018we’<\/em> as in \u2018the person speaking plus other people not present at the current moment’ <\/em>but actually only two people – \u00ab\u044f \u0438 \u0442\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> [I and you], things will move very smoothly in Russian daily life. What can be tough on the beginner is the first time you meet someone with whom you are \u00ab\u043d\u0430 \u0412\u044b\u00bb <\/strong>and they say – with only the two of you present at the time – \u00ab\u043c\u044b \u0441 \u0412\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [\u2018we with You’]. You might begin to wonder “Who are all these other people?!”<\/em>, but do not worry, they’re only talking about you and themselves – in plural. The first time this happened to me I started to look around me for these \u2018other people’<\/em> but it, of course, turned out to be a fruitless search.<\/p>\n

But there is another expression that truly \u2018takes the cake’ as Strangest Russian Expression: \u00ab\u041b\u0430\u043f\u0448\u0443<\/span> \u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0443\u0448\u0438 \u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0448\u0430\u0442\u044c \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0443<\/span>-\u043d\u0438\u0431\u0443<\/span>\u0434\u044c\u00bb<\/strong>. Yes, what does that expression mean? Let’s break it down word by word. \u00ab\u041b\u0430\u043f\u0448\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/a><\/strong> means \u2018noodles; noodle soup’ <\/em>[in the expression this word is in accusative: \u00ab\u043b\u0430\u043f\u0448\u0443<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong>]; \u00ab\u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0443\u0448\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> (note that the stress falls on the preposition here!) means \u2018on the ears’<\/em> since \u00ab\u0443<\/span>\u0448\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> is the plural form of the word \u00ab\u0443<\/span>\u0445\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [ear]. The verb \u00ab\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0448\u0430\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> means \u2018to hang; hang up’<\/em> and is imperfect \u2018partner’ of the \u2018verb couple’ that has the perfect verb \u00ab\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u0438\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong>. The expression’s last word, \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043c\u0443<\/span>-\u043d\u0438\u0431\u0443<\/span>\u0434\u044c\u00bb<\/strong>, is dative and means that the \u2018somebody’ <\/em>in this context is an indirect object. So, what do we get? “To hang noodle soup on the ears of someone”<\/em>? Yes, as a matter of fact that is the complete translation of this expression. But does that make any sense? No, I’m afraid not. That’s because what it means has clearly very little to do with noodles, maybe it has something to do with ears, though, since it means \u2018to fool somebody’<\/em> and \u2018to lie to somebody’<\/em>. The \u2018fooling of someone’<\/em> and \u2018lies told to someone’<\/em> in this expression is not first and foremost just untruthful, but more of a tricky and humorous character. I can’t seem to think of a proper English variant, maybe someone else has any idea?<\/p>\n

I’ve asked many Russians about the origin of this expression and received different answers. The most probable – perhaps because it is both culturally and historically interesting – is that the word \u00ab\u043b\u0430\u043f\u0448\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> in itself is an ‘exotic new thing’<\/em> since it arrived in Russia only in the early 1990’s and was for a long time something ‘foreign to Russian culture’<\/em>. Hence it was (maybe still is?) something that one can hang on people’s ears – figuratively speaking – when telling lies to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes Russians may say something that sounds so strange that you cannot – even though you know the meaning of all the words in the sentence they just uttered – for the life of you understand what they mean. An example is the famous expression \u00ab\u0434\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0442\u00bb [\u2018yes no’] which I up until a couple…<\/p>\n

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