Russian Word of the Day: Форточка...doesn't quite translate, read below

Форточка-fOrtochka

A small window above the main window.

Alright, you're thinking, "why would I ever need to know this word?"  Once you've lived in Russia during the winter you'll understand.

THIS IS A ФОРТОЧКА, YOU IGNORANT FOOLS!

Wikipedia describes the форточка as a 'предназначенная для вентиляции' ('part of the window designated for ventillation) and that it's 'характернa для стран с холодным климатом, где есть необходимость проветривать помещение, не охлаждая его чрезмерно' (characteristic of countries with a cold climate where it is necessary to air out the place without cooling down the room too much).

As you might know, Russians are very wary of drafts and cold air (which is why even when it's 100 degrees outside people refuse to open windows on the steamy, stinky and crowded buses).  Thus, the форточка is up high so that cold air doesn't flow directly on you.  Furthermore, in apartment buildings with a boiler system you don't have control over how hot your apartment gets and it can get really warm.  So these little форточки are very handy.

One time my friend Pasha, whom I've mentioned in many posts on this blog, was trying to tell me some story.  But I don't really remember why he was telling me that story or even what the story entailed because we got so caught up on the impossible translation of the word форточка.

If I remember right it was something about a bird flying in through the форточка. But Pasha didn't know how to translate форточка and kept saying, "you know, that little window at the top that you open". We don't have these in America where I live so I didn't know what he was talking about.  He got increasingly more irritated when I insisted that we don't have those in America.  He kept saying, "Well what do you do in the winter when it gets hot inside?" Umm, you just turn down the heat. He was not satisfied with this answer and just got so irritated that we couldn't see eye to eye on this matter that he just dropped the subject altogether. To this day I don't know the end of his story about the bird that flew in through the 'little window at the top', but I do know the moral of it: Be culturally sensitive--know what a форточка is.

Russian Word of the Day: Блин-pancake, crap

Блин- bleen - a pancake or 'crap' as in an exclamation

Русские блины Russian crepe-like pancakes. They definitely don't taste like crap.

When I first lived in Russia I taught English at a school where wrestlers were training.  After my classes I would hang out with these wrestlers and just shoot the breeze and try and learn Russian. Well one word that I heard these wrestlers saying all the time was (one of many) Russian f-words  and it begins with БЛ... Well, I heard them saying it CONSTANTLY, felt like it was obviously a very important part of Russian speech and so I asked what it meant.  One of the wrestlers tried to explain (they didn't speak English at all) by picking up a book and dropping it on the floor and then casually saying "БЛ***".  So I thought to myself, "Oh, it's like what you say when you drop something or something not good happens. Easy enough".  So I went around saying that when even the tiniest misfortune befell me.

It wasn't until many months later when I was back home in America with a new set of sportsman that I was acting as a chauffeur and host for, that I took a wrong turn and casually said, "БЛ***". These boys exclaimed/giggled. They explained, "не надо сказать такое слово, лучше сказать БЛИН" (Don't say that word, it's better to say 'crap').  So just like 'fudge' is a euphemism for "f***" simply because the first part of it sounds the same as the bad word, Блин is a euphemism for a much more offensive, similar-sounding word.  So that's how I came to learn the word блин as a much more appropriate word to say when you drop something, take a wrong turn, or when something not good happens.

Russian Word of the Day: Наесться-to be full, to eat ones fill

Наесться- nayest'sya

Я наелся (for males)/наелась(for females)- ya nayelsya/ naelas'

When you see the prefix "HA" plus the reflexive ending "ся" it has the meaning of to have one's fill of something.  Add it to the word есть which means to eat and you get the very genius and useful word наесться. It's typically said in the past tense or if you, for some reason, have an insatiable appetite you might say, "Я просто не могу наесться" (I just can't get enough food). Some of my most favorite Russian verbs use this construction.  I'll post them some day.

Babushka Zhana. The sweet little babushka that I lived with in Moscow for a few months.

Oh the many tummy aches I've had at a Russian table in my life because I had not yet learned the key to refusing food.  When I first lived in Russia, I lived with a little babushka that I was paying rent to.  She would feed me every night.  I didn't speak Russian hardly at all at the time.  Our communication consisted of me looking up a word in the dictionary, me trying to pronounce it and her trying to guess what I was saying. Because I was new to the whole language learning thing I made the mistake of thinking I could just look up a word in English and its translation would convey the meaning I wanted perfectly.

So it was a major epiphany when I learned how to say "Нет, спасибо. Я наелась" (No thank you, I'm full).  Up until I learned that genius word, babushka would try to give me more and more food and I would say, "Нет, я полная". Полный does mean full but not in the sense of being full of food.  I was actually saying to babushka "No, I'm plump." Which was also true but was not conveying to her that I wanted her to stop giving me food so that I could hopefully become less plump.