**********Five Russian Swear Words**********
1. Blyad - literally, "whore". This word is usually encountered in its contracted from "blya", a practicle used mainly for emphasis, adding a touch of lurid color at the end of absolutely any phrase. "Ty cho, blya?" (What the fuck are you doing/saying?) could be an act of friendly raillery or the verbal prelude to a headbutt. the B-word is also a common cri-de-coeur: you stub your toe - "Blya!" Some people are so addicted that they use the word to season even the most banal utterance. Eg. "A on, blya, mne skazal, blya, chto ya, blya..." This is the meat in the dumpling of Russian mat - it's impossible to imagine a conversation with a taxi driver without it.
2. Khui - literally "cock." The first thing after "hello" that people learn how to say in a foreign language is "fuck off," and some manage to get by thereafter on these two phrases alone. "Idi na khui!" is the Russian equivalent, literrally meaning "Go to the penis!" Yes, I know it sounds silly in translation. But what makes the system of Russian mat so interesting are the derivatives. "Okhuet" is to be extremely surprised, like when you seeyour friend Vasya puking in the gutter. He would then report to be feeling "khuyovo." Also worth remembering are "Ni khuya sebe!" - "No fucking way!" and the derivative "khuinya' - bollocks, bullshit.
3. Pizda - literally "cunt." If you're tired of sending people to the penis, you can send them "v pizdu" for the sake of variety. Derivatives abound from this particularly crude item: your new mobile you might describe as "pizdaty," or if you doubt the truth of a statement, you could say "Chyo ty pizdish?" - "Why are you talking through your...?" Well, you know what. Perhaps the most useful incarnation of this word is "pizdets", meaning a "total fuck up." The phrase "Eto prosto pizdets!" expresses the sublime degree of misery, a predicament where things can get no worse. Anyone been to Kaluga? Perversely enough, a cheery "pizdets!" could mean just "wow!"
4. Mudak - literally, "testicle.' this word is never used in its original meaning, but has come into common currency to mean an "asshole" or "dickhead," i.e. a man you find disagreeable. This word is at the softcore end of the mat spectrum, but a phrase like "on polny mudak," is still a dire condemnation of anyone it is used to denote. When a shapka-wearing Volga driver cuts you off on the Garden Ring, "mudak!" is what you shout out of your window at him. A younger "mudak" could be tenderly reffered to as a "mudachok," while an adult male could also be termed a "mudilo" - a particularly unpleasant subspecies of the "mudak."
5. Yebat - literally, "to fuck." This verb has all the primary meanings you'd expect it to have, with a couple of juicy extras unknown to English. "Zaebat" means to exhaust, to make sick of. "On menya zeabal!" means "I'm seak to fucking death of him." For the virtuoso mat-user, "vyebyvatsya" means to show off in some crass or reprehensible way, and for me always conjures up the image of elitny hairdresser Sergey Zverev. To fuck someone up is "otyebat," and the reflexive form "otyebis!" means "get the fuck away from me!" Also, "zayebis!" is a nice mat variant of "khorosho" or "kruto." For example, "Vsyo zayebis!" - "everything is fucking great!"
***********The Moscow Times*****************
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rakurs_o on 2009.12.15 at 23:58
