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I recently had a video call with a Russian girl, and in the middle of the conversation she called herself тающая щука. That made no sense in the context, so I used a mirror to try to understand what she meant:

Russian girl: Так что я тающая щука.

I: Тающая щука?

Russian girl: Да. Я тающая щука.

She didn't elaborate further, so I thought it was a Russian idiomatic expression I didn't know, and decided to look it up on the Internet after the call. To my surprise, Google returned no results whatsoever, so I got baffled and thought it might be a figurative use of some cultural reference. Dying of curiosity, I'm typing my question here in the hope that native speakers can shed some light.

What could тающая щука mean?


UPDATE: What a shame on me. I reddened at your answers. I see I must have totally misheard the phrase. I'll now explain the context in response to a comment below. The Russian girl is a gomokunarabe player whom I met on a game server. I started chatting with her in Russian in a text chat, and she got confused and thought someone was trying to prank her, because she found it difficult to believe that a Japanese player would chat in Russian. I explained her that I'm an undergraduate student learning Russian, but my explanation didn't really help, so I offered her a video call. And we had a very nice video call. I said her playing style is pretty aggressive. She then explained how she enjoys setting up traps like a hard-to-see fukumi, especially when it comes to a mutual time trouble. It's right after this that she said what I interpreted as тающая щука.

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    " she enjoys setting up traps like a hard-to-see fukumi, especially .." - i don't know if she said "щука" or "сука" (and it doesn't change the meaning really), but of course she meant that she are wile agressive predator in the game. "та еще щука", the big pike, the transparent animalistic metaphor. the funny question :) Oct 13, 2020 at 16:50
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    @Пилум сука also can be seen as an animalistic metaphor as it is a female dog. But it also implies being unprincipled, cunning, cynical, e.g. a bitch.
    – Anixx
    Oct 13, 2020 at 19:11
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    of course, and what ? "it doesn't change the meaning..." /\ the real pike of course is "unprincipled, cunning, cynical" etc - too :> One different thing only is here - this "сука" here (in this case and context) would a мат, very rude. Oct 14, 2020 at 15:22
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    Don't be embarrassed about mishearing. One of the reasons reading is easier than listening is that the gaps between words are totally obvious. And did you notice? - in fact the Russian girl made exactly the same mistake (but in reverse) after your reply. You said тающая, she thought you said та ещё.
    – David
    Oct 15, 2020 at 22:13
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    Anixx the context. it isn't a "mat" only about dog's-etc case. "as rude as bitch" - it's other word, as what u translate it ?. Cукa is a "mat". шлюхa - it is other meaning, at all. Not a mat. сaмкa - it is rude only in the specific context. Not a mat. This is scientific word, in general. Dec 6, 2020 at 20:31

4 Answers 4

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It seems she said я та ещё щука.

Тот ещё means "quite, some, hell of", as in "That's some vacation you spent with me", "That's quite a wife you have", etc:

  • Скорее я могу быть генералом де Голлем, чем он ― секретарем райкома. Между прочим, он тот еще трус
  • Твой Стрельников тот еще жук, и сам денег нагреб, и нам еще осталось.
  • Понятно, нынешняя деревня многолика, неоднородна, это тот еще слоеный пирог.

She is saying "I'm something of a pike", comparing herself to the predatory fish which would stay unseen and motionless in the water until it's the right time for it to dart out and catch its prey.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – Quassnoi
    Oct 12, 2020 at 20:44
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    This looks extremely... unbelievably extravagant wording outside of maybe some intimate or overly frisky context. Googling for "та ещё щука" gives some fun, but really seldom results.
    – DK.
    Oct 16, 2020 at 2:25
  • @DK. that's what I assumed in my initial answer too. However, upon reading the clarification from the op, I felt that щука was the most plausible candidate. She is describing her playing behavior as setting up traps and lurking around waiting for the opponent to walk into those traps. This is what щука does, more so than сука or anything else
    – Quassnoi
    Oct 16, 2020 at 16:52
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    incorrect answer, correct one posted by @ArtemChirkov with я та еще сука
    – Barmaley
    Dec 8, 2020 at 6:53
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I'm native russian speaker. If you had video/audio call, then you most likely misheard her.
It is not "Так что я тающая щука"
It is "Так что я та ещё сука".
It's not an idiom it's more like just an emotional expression, which can be translated like: "Well, I am a bitch" or "Well, I am bitchy"
In regular context it means like "I have a bad/nasty/mean temper"

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I'll base the answer on the variants @Quassnoi has provided as all of them are viable. I'll elaborate a bit further. I think the phrase was either 'та ещё щука' or 'та ещё сука', it depends on the cultural background and the manners of the girl. The variant 'та ещё штука' is less likely as it is usually said in a diminutive way: 'та ещё штучка'.

I'll add that "та ещё щука" would mean a cunning, grasping person. This is a comparison to a strong vicious fish. Though I don't hear this specific phrase often in a modern Russian it's a nice picturesque description which goes in a line with a Russian tradition of comparing a person's character to other living creatures.

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    I doubt it has any relevance to "vicious fish". To me it's 100% misspelled on purpose "bitch" (сука -> щука), to hide swear word. It's common, e.g. "holy shift", "son of switch", "fork you", etc. Why she did that? Because OP gave her a compliment just before that, admiring her unfair, tricky, cheaty tactic. "I am that bitchy, indeed" -> Я еще та шутка/щука/штанина/... many words will do, the more unusual word = the more funny.
    – Sinatr
    Oct 12, 2020 at 13:47
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    @Sinatr from the context it looks like it was a video chat, not textual conversation.
    – Anixx
    Oct 12, 2020 at 19:07
  • @Sinatr I'll support your comment as your interpretion make sence. I've totally forgot about this option. It's even more probable than mine, as it is indeed quit popular nowardays in the youth and middle age persons. Though I don't dismiss my variant as well as it's in use at least in my region of origin (Western Siberia, Altai krai). More popular in persons in years, I beleive. Not sure how much widespread it is in the youth.
    – Arks
    Oct 14, 2020 at 0:39
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Straight from the topic I thought that the original phrase was "я та ещё шлюха" - a cheeky way to say that I am sexually-unfettered.

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    out of curiosity, what exactly made you think this was what that girl said? "I'm a slut" is quite a bold way to describe one's gomoku playing style!
    – Quassnoi
    Oct 13, 2020 at 21:57

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