47
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Why do Russians call some women a dynamo (динамо)?
The source of that meaning comes from a rather old slang verb динáмить meaning
водить за нос; продолжительное время обманывать, вводить в заблуждение, не делать по отношению к кому-либо обещанного ...
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47
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How can I understand this puzzling dialogue with "ну я имею в виду вообще"?
You have a very good teacher, Mitsuko, and I'm sure one day you will appreciate what he's doing for you. :)
The dialogue seems to be grossly ungrammatical and to make little sense
It makes perfect ...
- 3,012
42
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How should I understand and translate "закатить истерику"?
I think your translation, a bout of hysteria, is more about an uncontrollable physiological process, whereas the verb закатить speaks to the girl’s motives. So maybe ‘throw a tantrum’ would be better ...
- 639
37
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If a Russian girl calls herself a thawing pike (тающая щука), what could it mean?
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 ...
- 56k
35
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What's the meaning of "у нас" in phrases like "он у нас умный"?
There are a few different meanings in your examples. Let's try and unpick them. У меня, у нас can be used to express:
Possession: у меня = мой, у нас = наш:
У меня рука болит = Моя рука болит.
У нас ...
- 16.6k
34
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Is there a Russian equivalent of "red flag"?
The closest match I can think of is "тревожный звонок" / "тревожный звоночек" (more popular form), like in:
Если твой парень никогда не приводит тебя в свой дом - это тревожный ...
- 38k
34
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If a Russian girl calls herself a thawing pike (тающая щука), what could it mean?
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 ...
- 461
33
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Why do Russians almost not use verbs of possession akin to "have"?
First of all, a shameless plug of my earlier answer on why у does not quite mean "near" (but something more akin to the French chez, i.e. a place/household/domain notion used in the abstract.)
...
- 19.2k
33
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"Член клуба" - how to use "член" in feminine here?
In Russian, член is only male, and adjectives referring to that noun should agree with it in masculine, too:
Великобритания — постоянный член Совета Безопасности ООН.
or
Великобритания — член ...
- 26.1k
23
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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 ...
- 26.1k
22
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What is the Russian name closest to "Sideosha"?
Most probably, the name is Seryozha (Серёжа), which is the diminutive of Sergey (Сергей).
- 1,705
21
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Good for you! in Russian
хорошо для тебя in this context is not idiomatic.
I guess in Russian it can be expressed with Поздравляю! or Молодец/Молодчина!
(Тебе) везёт / Везёт (тебе) is suitable in situations where luck is ...
- 19.6k
20
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Do "надо" constructions tend to pair with perfective verbs and if so, why?
You use perfective verbs when you are talking about a task that you have to complete once:
Мне надо помыть четырёх кошек (и потом я могу отдыхать).
And you use imperfective verbs when you are ...
- 4,309
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Do Russians really use "Расход!" to say, "Let's go!"?
The character is saying расход! indeed, which is supposed to mean "scatter!", as a command.
This is not a mainstream word, but its meaning is obvious to a Russian speaker.
Russian sports and ...
- 56k
20
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Does "четверть" have a meaning in school topics equivalent to term, rather than quarter
If an academic year is divided into three parts, each of them is called a "триместр". But historically "четверть" is also acceptable.
- 8,456
19
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How can I finally understand the confusing modal verb "мочь"?
For a person (and in Russian everything is a person), the Russian thought model makes no distinction between:
the person's moral right to do something;
the person's ability to do something (like, ...
- 299
19
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Why do Russians almost not use verbs of possession akin to "have"?
First of all, I agree with Nikolay Ershov and others who point out that your understanding of "у" is incorrect: it really mostly means belonging (even stronger than chez) and only secondarily and ...
- 291
18
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Russian equivalents of 能骗就骗 (if you can cheat, then cheat)
Не наебёшь — не проживёшь
This literally means "if you don't fuck people over, you don't survive".
The meaning of this proverb is slightly different from the Chinese one, as it's more about moral ...
- 56k
18
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How can I say in Russian "I am not afraid to write anything"?
To eliminate the awkwardness of such double negations a safer approach is to (steer away from English patterns and) use сложноподчиненное предложение, e.g.:
Нет ничего, о чём я побоялась бы написать.
...
- 3,012
18
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"Член клуба" - how to use "член" in feminine here?
Please don't. Many feminitives sound like mockery (директорша, врачиха), unless they are well-established (учительница, официантка, вахтёрша). Even when fairly acceptable feminine versions exist, ...
- 16.6k
17
votes
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Different expressions for "ten" in Russian: десять, десятка, десяток
Десятка - Typically, an informal reference to something numbered 10 (like a bus following route 10) or about a 10 ruble banknote (in the past, when it mattered more). Now, it can sometimes informally ...
- 11.9k
17
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Good for you! in Russian
The sarcastic version of «good for you» is «флаг тебе в руки». Example:
- Если тебя все устраивает, то флаг тебе в руки. Но я увольняюсь.
- Good for you if you're ok with it, but I'm quitting this job....
- 271
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Why are German soldiers of WWII commonly referred to in the Russian language as fascists (фашисты)?
First of all, people call those they don't like "bastard" and "son of a bitch", even if they were not actually born out of wedlock and their mother was a woman rather than a female dog.
"Fascist" is ...
- 56k
17
votes
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What is the difference between "число" and "количество"?
количество means quantity, and число means number.
In the examples you cited they are synonymous, but not in all cases. For example you can say количество масла for amount of butter. Here, of course ...
- 1,323
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Difference between "девушка", "девочка" and "подруга"
Подруга is the feminine form of "friend", друг and can mean, depending on the context, both: either just a friend or a girlfriend (though this is figurative and obsolete).
Девушка is a girl ...
- 38k
16
votes
What is the meaning of: "Войну ждали. Но она пришла неожиданно."?
It's a paradox rather than absurdity. Such things happen. You might eagerly be expecting a phone call, and still be shocked when the phone rings suddenly. Or even more paradoxically, you might know a ...
- 3,098
16
votes
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What's the difference between "последний" and "прошлый"?
They aren't interchangeable in most cases, as they correspond to different meanings of "last".
"Прошлый" is a simple word. Its primary (probably sole?) meaning is "the one ...
- 1,562
16
votes
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What's the purpose of своё in this sentence?
The word «время» is omitted, but implied: «отжить свое время» = «to live past one's time». So in this case, it means that the fern (папоротник) is very old or maybe even dead.
The phrase «отжить свое» ...
- 1,615
15
votes
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How early is the word "животноводство" attested?
Well, these kinds of terms — I mean terms for describing some branch of economical activity as a whole — usually came into active usage when economical statistics became a thing.
In Russia (more or ...
- 38k
15
votes
Does the famous Russian translation of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll imply using drugs?
Absolutely not.
It absolutely does not imply drug usage and this is a classic example of overthinking without prior thorough research.
There is canonical explanation
Dina Orlovskaya, the translator ...
- 38k
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