IronMike's 2023 log: Fewer means better, right? (EO & RUS)

[vonPeterhof]

First off, my cognate problem reared its ugly head when it took me a minute to realize when they said Вайнштайн they were talking about Harvey Weinstein.

FWIW the default Russian pronunciation of this surname is "Вайнштейн", likely reflecting the Yiddish pronunciation. The only people who would pronounce both diphthongs as "ай" would probably be serious sticklers for standard German pronunciation, where the Middle High German ī and ei have merged into ei (/aɪ̯/). But yeah, pronouncing it as "Уайнстин" will probably get you blank stares from most Russians.

[IronMike]

They probably even pronounced it that way. Wouldn't have helped me either way with my cognate issue.

[IronMike]

No class this week as I was out sick yday and Friday is a holiday. But that didn't stop my teacher from giving me homework. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but my homework is to watch this короткометражку "5 минут" on youtube. Anyone seen it?

My reading is progressing in my Таня Гроттер book. It is so much like HP (plagiarism, much?). SPOILERS FOLLOW:

The whole first chapter follows the head of the wizarding school (old male witch) talking with a female professor from the school about what to do with the daughter of a magical couple who were killed by...wait for it...Та-Кого-Нет. The school headmaster is not afraid to call her by her name (Чума-дел-Торт). They decide to give the girl to a distant cousin of the murdered couple, and he appears to be an idiot.

But the funniest part, and most Russian part of this first chapter so far, is when the female professor chides the headmaster several times to zip up his coat or else he's going to catch a cold. (A very Russian-babushka-esque thing to do.) And then when the headmaster gets up from the park bench to walk away and sneezes, the professors yells at him: "Я же говорила: вы простудитесь!" укоризненно сказала Медузия.

That is so freaking Russian it killed me. One of these days I'm gonna find the Russian book we got our daughters when they started years ago. In it are a bunch of illustrations; it's a book for Russian elementary school kids learning proper Russian. In one series of two pictures there's Boris (or some other generic Russian boy name) walking around outside where the wind is blowing with his jacket not zipped up. In the next picture he's lying in bed with a cold!

If none of this makes sense to you, I have to tell you that "catching your death" from various different things is common here. And if the babushka or dedushka tells you to zip up, you damn well better do it. Some examples:

We had our daughters with us walking around Moscow in the not-too-cold winter (mid-30's F). They had coats on, but neither had hats or their hoods up. They were walking in front of us maybe 5 meters or so. A young couple of Russian ladies (mid 20's?) walked past me and my wife and ask they approached our daughters, each lady took a hood of our girls and flipped it up on their heads. They did this w/o interrupting their own conversation or even talking to us. It was just matter of fact.

On another occasion, my son and I were walking to school. He must have been 11 at the time. I noticed his shoe was untied. I told him he should tie it. "The lace is short dad, I won't trip and I don't want to take my gloves off." I noticed a grandpa coming up the road towards us. "Son, I bet that dedushka is gonna say smthg." Sure enough, by the time grandpa got close to us, he started yelling and me and my son for him walking around with untied shoelaces. And he sure as hell stood there until my son tied his shoes.

This is one of the reasons I love Russians. This and their old wives' tales. (Don't sit on cold concrete ladies, or your uterus will fall out. Don't sit at a table in front of a crack are on the corner. Bad things happen!)

[Willow]

This is one of the reasons I love Russians. This and their old wives' tales. (Don't sit on cold concrete ladies, or your uterus will fall out. Don't sit at a table in front of a crack are on the corner. Bad things happen!)

I've never heard the first one, actually, but the second one is so true!
And never spill the salt! Though, in case you did, you just have to throw a handful of it behind your left shoulder

[LinguaPony]

(Don't sit on cold concrete ladies, or your uterus will fall out. Don't sit at a table in front of a crack are on the corner. Bad things happen!)

From what I've heard you shouldn't sit on the corner because if you do, you'll never get married. But if you are already married, it's okay.

[IronMike]

(Don't sit on cold concrete ladies, or your uterus will fall out. Don't sit at a table in front of a crack are on the corner. Bad things happen!)

From what I've heard you shouldn't sit on the corner because if you do, you'll never get married. But if you are already married, it's okay.

Yep, and I think the crack means you won't get pregnant.

[NIKOLIĆ]

This is one of the reasons I love Russians. This and their old wives' tales. (Don't sit on cold concrete ladies, or your uterus will fall out.)

[reineke]

"Čizma glavu čuva..."

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most- ... thing-ever

[IronMike]

"Čizma glavu čuva..."

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most- ... thing-ever

Yep, the Slavic squat. So very Slavic. I've seen it passed on to other cultures, as well, and was surprised one day driving around Kyrgyzstan when I saw a whole Kyrgyz family (6 strong) and mom was out there by the side of the car squatting with her husband and sons...

[IronMike]

In Germany this week and listening to German...damn I miss this language! No, I'm not gonna start studying, but I'd love an excuse to. Maybe sometime in the future a job here will happen.