I saw a comment on a vacation photograph that reads:
Чайки жирные летают просто жуть
Does this literally mean that the fat seagulls are creepy, or is there a colloquial meaning to all this? I don't get it.
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4 Answers
I'm not sure, maybe "просто жуть" ~ 'as hell', 'like hell'
"Чайки жирные просто жуть!" ~ 'Seagulls are fat as hell'
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2So it's an intensifier, and not literally "horrible." Great! Thanks :)– CocoPopCommented Oct 12, 2014 at 14:21
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In fact this is a verse from a song by Oleg Gazmanov:
На пляжу лежу и в небо я гляжу,
Чайки жирные летают, просто жуть,
А я худенький такой - унесет меня прибой,
Лучше я в песок зароюсь с головой.
I don't think it has some "deep meaning" except for the seagull and the sea (and the fact that the author of the photo remembers this song).
As for the meaning of "просто жуть" - the verse itself can be rephrased without any losses in meaning as "летают ужасно жирные чайки": the awfully fat seagulls are flying around.
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I was curious because I saw a conversation (Speaking about Iggy Pop) A: Поехавший парень. Б: Просто жуть! And I didn't know how to translate (B) comment: He's awful! -or- And how!– CocoPopCommented Oct 13, 2014 at 12:00
I wouldn't say Просто жуть means very much (очень). It's more an evaluation of what is said in the phrase before. Seagulls are fat! That's awful, disgusting.
in your second example
Поехавший парень! Просто жуть.
It's same, not that he is "very crazy", but that his madness is beyond any limits, it's awful.
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So it's like "you can say that again!" in the second example?– CocoPopCommented Oct 15, 2014 at 19:55
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If Просто жуть is an answer - yes, can be in this meaning (I agree with you), but literally means That's horrible or Simply disgusting. In general, let's say often people with poor culture use same expressions and phrases to express whatever, so there is really no right answer. Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 17:50
In this context просто жуть is an equivalent for ну очень (very, extremely):
Чайки жирные летают, ну очень жирные.
That means:
Fat seagulls are flying and they are extremely fat.
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1As I mentioned in the answer, the translation in this context is:
very,extremely. Notcreepy.– Dmitry ♦Commented Oct 12, 2014 at 13:48 -
@CocoPop, I've updated the answer. We have a different understandings of
caption. :)– Dmitry ♦Commented Oct 12, 2014 at 14:06 -
@Dmitry: I was referring to a comment that accompanies a photograph - that's the only caption I know of :)– CocoPopCommented Oct 12, 2014 at 14:11
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@CocoPop For some windows programmers the
captionis a synonym for thetitle, therefore I decided we are talking about the question's title, sorry.– Dmitry ♦Commented Oct 12, 2014 at 14:15