Timeline for An idiom similar to 'сам чёрт ногу сломит'
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 16, 2012 at 13:58 | comment | added | brilliant | @dasblinkenlight - "I find it ironic that the expression "Китайская грамота" is used by speakers of Russian, as if their own language is free from all the bizarre rules that make grammars..." - Why do you find it ironic? The expression is "Китайская грамота", not "Китайская грамматика"! It doesn't mean Chinese grammar at all (which is in fact very simple), but rather it refers to Chinese writing system, which is way more complicated than the Russian one. This expression describes an official Chinese document, which, of course, looks very complicated due to Chinese characters. | |
| Dec 7, 2012 at 22:05 | comment | added | farfareast | @dasblinkenlight: Yes, obviously, I was joking. | |
| Dec 7, 2012 at 21:57 | comment | added | Sergey Kalinichenko | @farfareast Russian grammar "clicked" with me automatically, so I did not notice its complexity until it was time for me to teach my kids Russian. Trust me, there's simply no way to explain the reason for "одна курица/две курицы/пять куриц" in a logical way. I mean, there are many ways to explain it, but none of them strikes me as a particularly logical one. I am starting to feel for the poor fellow from the famous "это нельзя понять, это надо запомнить" joke. | |
| Dec 7, 2012 at 21:41 | comment | added | farfareast | @dasblinkenlight: Китайская грамота is not used to express that something is in complete disorder (like сам черт ногу сломит). It is just used to say that something is difficult to understand for example because of lack of education. It usually goes like that: Это для меня китайская грамота. And what do you have against Russian language rules!? To me they are perfectly logical :-)). | |
| Dec 5, 2012 at 0:07 | comment | added | las | Chinese language at first glance looks like impossible to know. | |
| Dec 3, 2012 at 16:46 | comment | added | Sergey Kalinichenko | I find it ironic that the expression "Китайская грамота" is used by speakers of Russian, as if their own language is free from all the bizarre rules that make grammars complicated :) | |
| Dec 3, 2012 at 8:45 | history | answered | las | CC BY-SA 3.0 |