23
votes
Accepted
What nuances does the term "тугрик" have?
It usually metaphorically means "some obscure local currency", hardly known and hardly usable outside the country of origin; "some kind of monetary surrogate of limited use and ...
- 52.2k
23
votes
Accepted
Why do Russians call a joke a stake (прикол)?
Just homonyms.There's an older word, подкол 'joke' together with the verbs подколоть (perf.), подкалывать (imp.) 'to play a joke [on smb]', but here 'the joke' is aimed at a person to make laugh of ...
- 26k
19
votes
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What does "Ой всё" mean?
"Ой, все" - it is a very informal way to stop discussion. It is mostly used by women as a final argument in a dispute.
Women always want to say the "last word" in any dispute but if they feel they ...
- 266
18
votes
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Use of "Kamchatka" to represent any poor, faraway place
I agree with Artemix in most things (but not all), just writing my own response to provide more details.
First of all, in my opinion, (as Artemix already had said) Kamchatka does not have the meaning ...
- 2,128
18
votes
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Meaning of "кагбе пыщъ"?
It's in Upyachka slang. Literally translated that would roughly evaluate into something like well, sorta kaboom. Provided your context I guess that would mean he had sent you something, or something ...
- 2,262
18
votes
Accepted
"Working on a knee"
Could that be 'сделано на коленке'='made on the knee'? This is said when some result was made paying less time to the process and having lower quality potential. Like if you could not (or felt lazy to)...
- 559
17
votes
What does "Ой всё" mean?
This expression means something along the lines of "I'm done", meaning that someone is not willing to continue an argument. Quite often it implies that a person saying "Oй все" lost an argument. The ...
- 1,542
17
votes
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What is the meaning of "по хулиганке"?
(Haven't heard or read the song, so it's a guess).
Most probably, it's a criminal jargon, where "хулиганка" stands for
"УК РФ Статья 213. Хулиганство".
See also Хулиганство in Wiki....
- 3,012
15
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"Working on a knee"
It's на коленке - 'to make something crudely, without using any fancy tools', a botch job. Сделано на коленке literally means 'made on the lap'.
It's not specific to aviation.
- 16.1k
13
votes
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"Норм чувак" meaning
Is it a Норм чувак (1) or Норм, чувак (2) (the latter has comma, which means addressing to чувак)?
In a first variant Норм is a short form of нормальный (acceptable, satisfactory, good), the second ...
- 316
12
votes
Is "с днём рождения, старый пердун" acceptable?
Depends on the terms you're on with this person, because this is quite offensive, i mean it could be taken as a friendly banter by a good friend and as an insult by a stranger.
I think it's as strong ...
- 19.6k
12
votes
Use of "Kamchatka" to represent any poor, faraway place
Kamchatka since early years of 18 century was used as a place for sending politically disloyal people to exile. So, in the classroom a teacher sent bad pupils to the "exile" - to the rear seats of the ...
- 11.3k
11
votes
Use of "Kamchatka" to represent any poor, faraway place
I will provide my answers for some of your questions.
Why Kamchatka and not Kad'iak nor Ross, which are farther away?
Kamchatka is a well known region of Russia. I am sure it will be very hard to ...
- 281
11
votes
Accepted
Что значит "Че ты паришься"?
It means something like "Why are you worried?" or even "Why are you giving a sh*t?" due to informality of the phrase.
Figurative meaning of "париться" comes from sweating while steam bathing like ...
- 126
11
votes
"Horseradish, why are you fucking?"
'Хрен' is just one of the euphemisms for penis. So "хрен тебе" is essentially the same as "хуй тебе". It doesn't have anything to do with horseradish or its taste or its value. Just like 'freak' has ...
- 1,750
10
votes
Accepted
К какой части речи относится слово "го" из молодёжного сленга?
Го ничем по формальным признакам не отличается от айда. Которое считается междометием.
- 19.3k
10
votes
Is there a Russian expression used when both sides know they are lying?
The BBC did this a while ago, after which it can officially be considered the Russian language's mythmaker-in-chief. They took a colourless and generic Russian term for camouflage, маскировка, and ...
- 19.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Origin of "не фартануло"
"Фартану́ть" comes from "фарт", which originally means a luck in a card game. Later, the word became common among criminals and finally it's common slang (though using it still somehow refers to ...
- 1,758
10
votes
Accepted
Сорьян = sorry?
It's way more frequently "сорян" rather than "сорьян". There's no double entendre, pun or word play of any kind here - there's zero references to "сор" - it's just a ...
- 37.9k
9
votes
What does "Ой всё" mean?
'Ohh, that's all.' literally.
It means like you don't wanna chat, you wanna change a topic of the speech or dialogue. Sometimes it means that opponent don't wanna think about this problem/task right ...
- 91
9
votes
Is "с днём рождения, старый пердун" acceptable?
Don't! You will definitely spoil the celebration. Or at least remind that person of his age. Do you know the meaning of the last word? I bet you don't. Look it up in your dictionary.
We don't ...
- 21.4k
9
votes
What nuances does the term "тугрик" have?
The term as a reference to exotic currency was widepread during times of Soviet international contracts. Since nineties, the meaning became broader.
Phonosemantically and similar to cockney rhyming ...
- 4,502
9
votes
Accepted
What is ништяк?
Ништяк is a nominalization of ништо, which is a colloquial pronunciation of ничего.
Ничего, in its turn, means "not bad, good enough".
- 52.2k
9
votes
Why do Russians call a joke a stake (прикол)?
Those words are definitely related. The thing is that the relation is not direct.
Let's start with колоть. It has two major meanings – to chop (when talking about wood), and to prick. The word кол ...
- 2,809
9
votes
Accepted
Is there a shorter or more colloquial word for "pet"?
There is the word питомец (etymologically, "the one being fed"), but
it has other meanings, it's less popular than домашнее животное, and, if anything, it's more bookish.
In compound words, ...
- 52.2k
8
votes
Is "с днём рождения, старый пердун" acceptable?
Depends on the person's sensitivity and sense of humour really. If in doubt, don't.
Anyway, you might find this useful: старый пердун has a Soviet-era slang form, старпёр (parodying the Communist ...
- 19.3k
7
votes
Accepted
What do ")" or multiple ")))" mean in an internet conversation?
Here are some links on this topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/russian/comments/2p55os/why_do_a_lot_of_russian_people_use_smiley_faces/
https://www.reddit.com/r/russian/comments/1ppdyf/russians_and/
...
- 4,964
7
votes
What do ")" or multiple ")))" mean in an internet conversation?
It's a smiley :-) Lots of people are too lazy to type it. Multiple "))))" don't represent laughter — it's just a friendlier smile. :))
- 4,319
7
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Can you use the word "муть" in a conversation, or is it a profane word?
This word does not have a negative connotation. The usage of some of its meanings is less popular nowadays (like the one in your example), while the most popular meaning (something that does not make ...
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