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Some months ago I saw a Russian gomokunarabe player saying in an online chat to his compatriot,

А я подсел на мак.

I cannot recall the context. I can only recall that their chat looked highly colloquial and was hard to understand. They did not appear to talk about the game; the conversation seemed to be about real-life matters. The expression "подсел на мак" looked especially mysterious.

Could you explain me this mysterious expression?

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3 Answers 3

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Мак here could have two obvious meanings, the poppy and Macintosh computer. But they also may be using their own slang in which this word means something else.

Подсесть is slang for to get addicted, to develop a habit for something.

So if my guess about the meaning of мак is correct, they are saying that either they do drugs or they use Mac a lot.

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    @Mitsuko opium is the most widely known, but in Russia poppy based drugs were prepared by addicts at home, i don't know how popular it is as a drug nowadays
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Jun 14, 2019 at 13:20
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    As far as I know, opium was popular a very long time ago. Nowadays, people usually use opium derivatives, like heroin and others. It is a quite heavy drug, it acts directly on dopamine receptors, so heroin-addicted man will not play online games at all, especially on a high level, as @Mitsuko said. Light drugs ("weed") are usually called "травка", not "мак".
    – Dmitriy
    Jun 14, 2019 at 13:51
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    @БаянКупи-ка : The player responded by sending me a selfie as an explanation. The selfie shows him consuming food at McDonalds...
    – Mitsuko
    Jun 14, 2019 at 16:39
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    @Mitsuko It is quite strange. The most used colloquial name for McDonalds is "Макдак". I have never seen anything else.
    – Dmitriy
    Jun 14, 2019 at 20:58
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    "... either they do drugs or they use Mac a lot" isn't that the same thing? ;)
    – ajax333221
    Jun 16, 2019 at 1:12
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As @БаянКупи-ка suggested, I asked the player by sending him a message via the game server in order to find out which of the two versions suggested in answers is correct.

It turned out none is. The player responded by sending me a selfie as an explanation. The selfie shows him consuming food at McDonalds.

I am happy he is just a fast food lover, not a Macintosh computer nerd or a drug addict.

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  • Please, know, that this wording is very-very individual. That means, that when you use this wording, a lot of people will not understand what you mean, just because this wording is too individual. For example, in city where I live (Yekaterinburg) people would say in this case [Я подсел на макдака], but that might cause misunderstanding, because a lot of people in Russia think that [МакДак] means Scroodge McDuck en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooge_McDuck. Summary: cute wording is great, but few people will understand it.
    – Tchibi-kun
    Jun 14, 2019 at 17:02
  • now you can accept your own answer, because it is correct
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Jun 14, 2019 at 17:35
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    @БаянКупи-ка : my answer is only correct in that it shows what was actually meant by the player :) Your and Quassnoi's answers show what are the first interpretations that come to mind of native speakers, especially when the context is unknown. And in general, I cannot accept my own answers, because it is just inappropriate :) I cannot judge my own answers.
    – Mitsuko
    Jun 14, 2019 at 17:45
  • @Mitsuko well thank you for appreciating my answer but Quassnoi's answer is just as worthy, i would accept yours )))
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Jun 14, 2019 at 17:55
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    asking the author of the phrase what he meant is exactly the prior research supposed to be done before asking here.
    – shabunc ♦
    Jun 15, 2019 at 7:57
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Most probably this means "Mac (the Apple's brand of computers) has really started to grow on me", or, more literally, "I've become addicted to Macs".

Мак also means "poppy", so technically this could also mean "I've become addicted to opium poppy", but this is less likely.

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