I encountered a description of a person as "математик в законе". Does it mean he is a criminal?
4
-
6Will you provide some context, or can you quote the sentence or the paragraph, where you encountered that? The phrase can mean he is a criminal, or authoritative, or influential, or establised, but only the context can help choose the exact meaning.– Yellow SkyCommented May 13, 2013 at 8:17
-
3Please, provide some additional information. Гадания на гуще - дело неблагодарное.– shabunc ♦Commented May 13, 2013 at 12:19
-
Read about "Вор в законе" --- Thief in law. This is a well-known expression. There is no other well-known expression of this kind. In particular, there is nothing like the English "mother-in-law".– osaCommented Oct 12, 2013 at 22:36
-
2nope, it's just a (quite stupid, as to me) word joke. PS - it is always better to provide some context.– shabunc ♦Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 0:49
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
If this is analogy with "вор в законе", then it means respected, authoritative.
-
1Yes, "вор в законе" is called by journalists as "криминальный авторитет". So, "математик в законе" will be "математический авторитет".– ArtemixCommented Oct 17, 2014 at 8:28
First of all, that is almost certainly a joke. It means something like "a villainous mathematician" or "a mathematician gang boss". It depends on context, but usually something like that is a good-natured joke and doesn't mean disrespect.
