Interpretation of "Понеслась душа в рай!"

Question

I recently read a piece of text that was translated into Russian by a very reputable translator. In it, a couple was at a party when someone asked the husband what he thought of a new legislature. The wife, knowing that this would send the husband into an endless political tangent, said (in the English version) Oh boy! Here we go... The Russian translation was: Ну вот... понеслась душа в рай! To me, this would seem like "I've died and gone to heaven!", which would the opposite of what the wife meant according to the context.

Thanks in advance for your help :)

Answer 1

The idiom in this context means something like

He's now gotten into his element

but in negative sense.

Answer 2

The root word of that translation is the word понеслась.
There are number of similar phrases based on this word having the same meaning, for instance:

• Понеслась душа в рай.
• Понеслась моча по трубам.
• Понеслась пизда по кочкам (this is obscene, I'm sorry).
• ...
• And just Понеслась.

The word Понеслась could be translated as:

• Here we go.
• Let's start the party.

Answer 3

It's not opposite. The meaning is metaphorical, implying that the speaker (or an acting person) is as much attracted to the topic - or an acting person to an object of an action or to an action as such - as a soul is attracted to a paradise.

Therefore, the meaning cannot be entirely negative. It could be ironical, disrespectful and/or patronizing - as it is the case with the usage of 'Amen' in a sense of 'say no more' - but never entirely negative.