The Google and Yandex English translations don't make sense to me.
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1It's means "you are an idiot " (or slowpoke)– user6424Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 22:39
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2 Answers
All together it means "You idiot don't get it."
не доходит
means that person doesn't get it. Literally it means "doesn't reach", probably originating from "idea not reaching one's mind". This is used often. My personal impression is that nowadays it's not so frequent as in 1990s. It can be both neutral and rude, depending on the tone and way of saying: one can say angrily "ну чё, до тебя не доходит что ли?!", or politely wonder: "не дошло?".
A joke based on this is: An animal in the zoo complains: oh God, during the day, the monkey tells jokes, and then the giraffe laughs all the night.
как до осла
like a donkey. Calling one a donkey is equal to calling one an idiot. I can't recall what animal has a similar role in English. It's very rude.
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Thank you. Is this commonly said between Russians? Is it said as a joke, or is it said seriously? Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 6:21
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2It is said seriously and it's rude, there are other ways to say this jokingly. And it's used very rarely.– 2Jura5Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 7:12
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@rickhg12hs What you mean by "commonly"? Is "dumb idiot" a common phrase in English?– MattCommented Dec 15, 2015 at 7:13
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1@rickhg12hs Yeah, I mean it's just the same thing in Russian. Not really polite, yet it depends.– MattCommented Dec 15, 2015 at 8:29
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1@rickhg12hs I updated the answer to describe usage.– user1514Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 10:04
It's rather a nonce expression than a popular one (I even failed to google it). However, it is understandable: the same as to call somebody a donkey (1 - stubborn, 2- silly animal). A popular expression to say that somebody is slow minded: "до него доходит как до жирафа". This is a hint that due to its long neck it takes a while for a jiraffe to receive the sound of words, same as it takes some time for that person to understand something.
answered Dec 15, 2015 at 7:17
