Russian sayings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Russian sayings give an insight into many aspects of Russian history, culture, and national character. The Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица /pɑˈslovitsa/) and sayings (поговоркa /pɑgɑˈvorka/). These were already tabulated by the seventeenth century, and collected and studied in the nineteenth and twentieth, with the folk-tales being an especially fertile source. Quite a few sayings are of literary origin.

[edit] Sample sayings

в тридевятом царстве /f tridiˈvˑatɑm ˈtsarstvˑə/ "in the three-ninth kingdom", a typical beginning of a fairy tale; often used ironically in a reference to a place far away.

со времён царя Гороха /ˌsɑ vrˑəmˑˈon tsaˈrˑa gɑˈroxɑ/ "since the times of Tsar Green-pea" = "since time immemorial"

ни к селу, ни к городу /ni k sˑeˈlu, ni k ˈgorɑdu/ "neither for a village nor for a city" = "of no use or relevance whatsoever"

хоть кол на голове теши /ˌхɑtˑ ˈkol na gɑlɑˈvˑe tˑeˈʃi/ "even if you whittled a spike on his head..." (said of someone ultimately stubborn or recalcitrant)

делать из мухи слона /ˈdˑelatˑ iz ˈmuхi slɑˈna/ "to make an elephant from a fly" = "to make a mountain of a mole-hill"

палить из пушки по воробьям /paˈlitˑ is ˈpuʃki pɑ vɑrɑbˑˈjam/ "to shoot with a cannon at sparrows" = "crack a nut with a sledgehammer"

бить баклуши /ˈbitˑ bakˈluʃi/ "to split wood for making wooden spoons" = "to fool (away)"

когда рак (на горе) свистнет /kɑˌgda ˈrak (na gɑˈre) ˈsvˑisnˑet/ "when the crayfish will whistle (on the mountain[top])" = "when hell freezes over" = "never"

показать, где раки зимуют /pɑkɑˈzat', gde ˈraki ziˈmujut/ "to show where the crayfishes spend winter" = "to punish; to give a piece of one's mind"