{"id":7368,"date":"2015-02-02T07:26:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T07:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=7368"},"modified":"2018-08-15T19:17:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T19:17:26","slug":"pet-peeves-in-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/pet-peeves-in-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Peeves in Russian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of us have turns of phrase in our language\u00a0that give us rage. In English, some examples would be “irregardless<\/a>,” “I could care less,” and other things people consider redundant, incorrect, or plain inane. Russian has such phrases, too, so let’s look at what many Russians find infuriating<\/a>. I’ll use examples from the spoken subcorpus of my favorite National Corpus of Russian<\/a>. The punctuation will be odd because of the way spoken entries are transcribed. Feel free to add to the list!<\/p>\n

1. \u043f\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0301\u0434\u0443\/\u043f\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0301\u0434\u0443<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u041f\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0301\u0434\u0443 (spelled as\u00a0two separate words) means “in the course of something,” for instance, “\u043f\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0434\u0443 \u0431\u0435\u0441\u0435\u0301\u0434\u044b” — in the course of the conversation. \u041f\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0434\u0443 \u043f\u044c\u0435\u0301\u0441\u044b is an idiom meaning “as we go along” — “\u0440\u0430\u0437\u0431\u0435\u0440\u0451\u043c\u0441\u044f \u043f\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0434\u0443 \u043f\u044c\u0435\u0441\u044b”. \u041f\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0301\u0436\u0435 is an introductory word meaning “it looks like.” The two expressions must have got(ten) mixed up in vernacular Russian, and some people started saying “\u043f\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0443” to say “\u043f\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0436\u0435.”<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u041f\u0440\u0435\u0301\u043f\u043e\u0434<\/span> \u0441\u0435\u0433\u043e\u0301\u0434\u043d\u044f<\/span> \/ \u043f\u043e<\/span> \u0445\u043e\u0301\u0434\u0443<\/span> \/ \u0441<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0445\u043c\u0435\u0301\u043b\u044c\u044f<\/span> \/ \u0434\u0430<\/span> \u0438<\/span> \u044f<\/span> \u043f\u0435\u0301\u0440\u0432\u0443\u044e<\/span> \u043f\u0430\u0301\u0440\u0443<\/span> \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u043f\u0430\u0301\u043b<\/span>! [The professor seems to be hungover today, and I slept through my first class, anyway!]<\/p>\n

2. \u0438\u043c\u0435\u0301\u0435\u0442 \u043c\u0435\u0301\u0441\u0442\u043e \u0431\u044b\u0442\u044c<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

According to gramota.ru<\/a>, there are two different expressions in Russian. \u0418\u043c\u0435\u0301\u0442\u044c \u043c\u0435\u0301\u0441\u0442\u043e is a literal translation from French and means “to be present.” This is a bookish\/formal expression. \u0418\u043c\u0435\u0301\u0435\u0442 \u0431\u044b\u0442\u044c means “is scheduled.” The two got blended — initially as a mock “officialese” expression. Now many people use it to say something is present, to the annoyance of countless others.<\/p>\n

\u041f\u043e\u043d\u044f\u0301\u0442\u043d\u043e<\/span> \/ \u0447\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u044d\u0442\u0430<\/span> \u0442\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0435\u0301\u043d\u0446\u0438\u044f<\/span>\u00a0\u0432<\/span> \u0411\u0435\u043b\u043e\u0440\u0443\u0301\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0438<\/span> \u0438\u043c\u0435\u0301\u0435\u0442<\/span> \u043c\u0435\u0301\u0441\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u0431\u044b\u0442\u044c<\/span>. [It’s clear that this trend is present in Belarus.]<\/p>\n

3. \u0414\u043e\u0301\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u0301\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438 \u0441\u0443\u0301\u0442\u043e\u043a!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Conventional Russian greetings for each time of the day are “\u0434\u043e\u0301\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0435 \u0443\u0301\u0442\u0440\u043e,” “\u0434\u043e\u0301\u0431\u0440\u044b\u0439 \u0434\u0435\u043d\u044c,” and “\u0434\u043e\u0301\u0431\u0440\u044b\u0439 \u0432\u0435\u0301\u0447\u0435\u0440.” However, with the rise of electronic communications, people are not sure when their message will be read by people in various time zones. This could be why this new greeting literally meaning “[I wish you a] good time of the [24-hour] day.” As linguist Maksim Krongauz (\u041c\u0430\u043a\u0441\u0438\u043c \u041a\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0433\u0430\u0443\u0437) pointed out<\/a>, existing greetings are usually in the nominative case, whereas goodbyes and wishes are in the genitive case (for example, “\u0441\u043f\u043e\u043a\u043e\u0301\u0439\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u043d\u043e\u0301\u0447\u0438!”). Consequently, saying “\u0414\u043e\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0435 \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f \u0441\u0443\u0442\u043e\u043a” would be more consistent with the existing norm, but “\u0414\u043e\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438 \u0441\u0443\u0442\u043e\u043a” is much more common.<\/p>\n

\u0414\u043e\u0301\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0433\u043e<\/span> \u0432\u0440\u0435\u0301\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u0441\u0443\u0301\u0442\u043e\u043a<\/span>, \u044d\u0301\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435\u0301\u0439<\/span> \u0438\u0437<\/span> \u0421\u0430\u043c\u0430\u0301\u0440\u044b<\/span>! [Hello, this is Andrey from Samara!]<\/p>\n

4. \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0431\u044b<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The primary meaning of \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0431\u044b is “as if” —\u00a0\u041d\u043e<\/span> \u0434\u0435\u0434<\/span> \u043d\u0435<\/span> \u0441\u043b\u044b\u0301\u0448\u0430\u043b<\/span> \u0438\u0445<\/span> \u0442\u0438\u0301\u0445\u043e\u0433\u043e<\/span> \u043f\u043b\u0430\u0301\u0447\u0430<\/span>, \u043e\u043d<\/span> \u043a\u0430\u043a<\/span> \u0431\u044b<\/span> \u043e\u0433\u043b\u043e\u0301\u0445<\/span>\u00a0(\u041b\u044e\u0434\u043c\u0438\u043b\u0430 \u041f\u0435\u0442\u0440\u0443\u0448\u0435\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f. \u041c\u0430\u043b\u0435\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430\u044f \u0432\u043e\u043b\u0448\u0435\u0431\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430) [But the old man couldn’t hear their soft crying as if he had lost hearing]. It is often used in spoken Russian as a filler word, an approximate equivalent of the English “like,” especially by younger people. Many people get annoyed at this usage, but Maksim Krongauz noted that it may aim to soften the message and convey respect for the listener.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041d\u0443<\/span> \/ \u044d\u0301\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u0443\u0436\u0435\u0301<\/span> \u043a\u0430\u043a<\/span> \u0431\u044b<\/span> \u0432\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0301\u0441<\/span> \u043d\u0435<\/span> \u043a<\/span> \u043d\u0430\u043c<\/span> \/ \u0430<\/span> \u043a<\/span> \u043d\u0438\u043c<\/span>. [This \/like\/ isn’t a question for us, but for them].<\/p>\n

Any other phrases you find annoying? Any\u00a0expressions you actually find ingenious?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of us have turns of phrase in our language\u00a0that give us rage. In English, some examples would be “irregardless,” “I could care less,” and other things people consider redundant, incorrect, or plain inane. Russian has such phrases, too, so let’s look at what many Russians find infuriating. I’ll use examples from the spoken subcorpus…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1278],"class_list":["post-7368","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-language","tag-russian-slang"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7368"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11084,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7368\/revisions\/11084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}