<\/p>\n
Watching the evening news in Russia can be an adventure all in itself \u2013 try to imagine a 30 minute sum-up of what has happened on one sixth of our planet \u2013 and you will easily be fooled into thinking that there are mafia bosses in black Armani suits, starving orphans and bombs going off just around the block from your house. When I switch on the TV in the country where I have willingly spent the past three and a half years of my life, I tell myself: \u201cI\u2019m such a bad person; I deserve to be living in Russia.\u201d In order to protect oneself from the reality of life in an illogical country of strange and mysterious chaos any given individual will sooner or later form a deep inner sense of indifference. It\u2019s not just me \u2013 the Russian language is full of constructions from which it is obvious that there is a long tradition of not caring here, all the way from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.<\/p>\n
The most polite way of saying that you don\u2019t care is to say: \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u0432\u0441\u0451 \u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e<\/i><\/b>, which literally translates into \u201cit\u2019s all the same to me\u201d. And it is just as courteous to tell a fellow Ivan (\u0418\u0432\u0430\u043d<\/b>), or if you\u2019re already Vanya (\u0412\u0430\u043d\u044f<\/b>) with him doesn\u2019t matter, that: \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043d\u0435\u0442 \u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430 \u0434\u043e \u044d\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e<\/i><\/b>, which could roughly be interpreted into \u201cto me this is no matter\u201d, since \u0434\u0435\u043b\u043e<\/i><\/b> means \u201cmatter, affair, business, deed, act, cause, or case\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When getting a little less respectful, and a little less polite, you could use the word \u0431\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0431\u0430\u043d<\/i><\/b> [drum] and put the personal pronominal \u044f<\/i><\/b> in the dative case to create an impersonal sentence of the sort: \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e \u0431\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0431\u0430\u043d\u0443<\/i><\/b> [I don\u2019t care], literally \u2013 \u201cto me it\u2019s on the drum\u201d.<\/p>\n
When in a situation that is far from official with people who are far from official, for example when sitting on a park bench drinking beer with Vanyuha (\u0412\u0430\u043d\u044e\u0445\u0430<\/b>) [which is an even more familiar nickname for Ivan], you can express your apathy with these words: \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043d\u0430\u043f\u043b\u0435\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c [\u043f\u043b\u0435\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c] \u043d\u0430 \u044d\u0442\u043e<\/i><\/b>. <\/i>What you\u2019re saying is actually \u201cI spit on this\u201d, but the meaning is \u201cI don\u2019t give a damn about it\u201d.<\/p>\n
As the evening gets darker and the empty beer bottles at your and Vanyuha\u2019s feet multiply, you experience an inclination to articulate your feelings not only about crime and punishment on TV, but also about politics, economics and life in general like this: \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e \u0444\u0438\u0433\u0443<\/i><\/b> [I don\u2019t give a damn]. To help remember this very useful construction keep in mind that the word \u0444\u0438\u0433<\/i><\/b> very much resembles the Russian word for fig and fig tree \u2013 \u0444\u0438\u0433\u0430<\/i><\/b>. It\u2019s almost like saying \u201cto me it\u2019s on the fig\/fig tree\u201d.<\/p>\n
Once you decide that enough is enough, it is after all a working day tomorrow at the factory where you are an honorable employee; you turn to Vanyuha and ask him if he\u2019s up to walking home. He offers instead you get another beer and continue discussing whether or not Putin is staying for a third term, but you answer him: \u0445\u0440\u0435\u043d \u0441 \u044d\u0442\u0438\u043c!<\/i> <\/b>This is the rude<\/span> Russian way of telling a fellow human being that you are unconcerned with something. So what was it exactly that you said? You didn\u2019t use any swear words, all you used was the word \u0445\u0440\u0435\u043d<\/i><\/b>, making it literally \u2013 \u201chorseradish with this!\u201d And yet you weren\u2019t being polite at all, quite the opposite, which the expression on Vanya\u2019s face will assure you.<\/p>\n To take it to the next level you could be honest with Ivan and tell him bluntly – \u0445\u0440\u0435\u043d \u0441 \u0442\u043e\u0431\u043e\u0439!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Watching the evening news in Russia can be an adventure all in itself \u2013 try to imagine a 30 minute sum-up of what has happened on one sixth of our planet \u2013 and you will easily be fooled into thinking that there are mafia bosses in black Armani suits, starving orphans and bombs going…<\/p>\n