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My tandem-partner says короче. I asked her to tell me the meaning, but she refused to teach me 'bad Russian' (I don't know if she was kidding, though).

I've seen короче in Lingvo but that source doesn't provide the expected meaning.

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  • 2
    "In short......"
    – Anixx
    Jun 5, 2014 at 21:59
  • 1
    @Anixx sometimes it means something like shut up
    – el Dude
    Jun 14, 2015 at 20:59
  • My Russian Skype partner uses на минуточку all the time and she won't tell me what it means for the same reason. hahaha
    – CocoPop
    Jun 20, 2015 at 13:30
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    @CocoPop ugh, again - different meaning, even if it's misused by the speaker. "Kороче" is either "make it quick/brief" or "making it brief" - a request or promise to avoid idle chatting or delays. Maybe it makes sense to post this as a question if you want to explore it further.
    – DK.
    Jan 1, 2022 at 2:07
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    @DK. Thank you. The person here was not trying to be succinct — they were telling me a story and leaving out no details. Every time they got to a different "paragraph" in the story, they'd use короче as if saying так вот. That's why I was curious.
    – CocoPop
    Jan 1, 2022 at 19:48

5 Answers 5

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It's just a filler word associated with being cool and kind of rednecky/hickish these days. A colloquial contraction of an already colloquial "короче говоря" (in a nutshell, to make a long story short).

Some people are just too used to inserting it at the beginning of a sentence, which is grammatically correct, but still looks like a verbal tic if overused.

  • Короче, я вот что хочу сказать = 'Kay, here's what I want to say.
  • Короче, она пришла ко мне и расплакалась. = Long story short, she came over and burst into tears.
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  • 5
    That must be like that annoying "so..." at the beginning of a story that's so popular now in the US. I don't know where the hell it came from, but now I even hear adults using it. They sound like valley girls!
    – CocoPop
    Jun 3, 2014 at 22:05
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    It also means 'shorter'
    – Ivan Black
    Jun 4, 2014 at 1:54
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    I would also add "anyway".
    – Artemix
    Jun 4, 2014 at 6:34
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It means something like "without going into detail," usually after an attempt was made to give the longer version or, literally, "in short". For many, it's a parasite word that makes its way into every other sentence that comes out of their mouth. It's not as bad as "так сказать", but similar.

I have a Canadian friend who injects "так сказать" into almost every sentence. I witnessed him talking to his Canadian friends and putting it into English sentences. Your friend is right, treat it as if it wasn't used at all.

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3

короче может также использоваться для быкования.

That is, pressuring you to accept an ultimatum.

It works best when combined with the past tense:

"Короче, собрал вещи и вышел отсюда" would mean "gather your stuff and leave now — end of discussion!"

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It means in short. "I'll tell you in short". "In short, we should do it"

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-3

"Короче" means long story short in Russian, but it's slang and therefore not grammatically correct. When your friend said "I don't want to teach you bad Russian," she didn't mean curse words, or vulgar language; she just knows that it's neither correct Russian nor traditional.

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1
  • It's grammatical and correct. Casual vocabulary is still a valid vocabulary.
    – shabunc ♦
    May 4, 2017 at 7:26

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