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How does
Ругаются на нее другие, а ей что по спине, что по стене [...]
become
The others cursed them, but it was water off a duck's back [...]
when Google Translate is saying
Others swear at her, but her back and the wall.
Is а ей что по спине an idiom?
(From One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Here's a PDF of it in Russian. Page 24.)
«а ей что по спине, что по стене» can be approximately translated as "hitting her on the back is like hitting a wall". A similar English idiom is indeed "it was water off a duck's back".
Yes, it is an idiom, meaning she doesn't care, and it's a good translation, meaning just the same.
Google can't help with idioms.
The expression "что по спине, что по стене" is an idiom, and a very nice and sumptuous one. The main salt of this idiom is that words "спина-стена" are pronounced sort of alike, but for the sounds "p" and "t". The meaning can be rendered as following: "The others cursed her, but it was like a change from Tweedledum to Tweedledee".
