Moscow news
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28-Oct-2009
Sorry, babushka!
Sara Buzadzhi
The Russian philosopher Gustav Shpet once complained that the other philosophers his nation had produced practiced нравоучение (moralising) instead of pure philosophy, and that they loved to «руководить, наставлять, исправлять, направлять» (to control, to admonish, to correct, to direct).
I can't say much about the state of Russian philosophy, but I can say that telling people what to do - or, more importantly, telling people what they're doing wrong - does seem to be a popular national pastime.
Several years ago my mother was on a business trip to Moscow in the winter, and was wearing a fur hat in the metro. An older woman came up to her and, gesticulating urgently, said: «Это мужская шапка, женщины таких не носят». My mother's colleague translated for her: «That's a man's hat; women don't wear hats like that!»
Now, I can imagine someone on public transport in the US insulting someone's hat (or complimenting it), but not lecturing the wearer.
If you do end up on the business end of a scolding, there are a number of different expressions to explain what happened to you. Читать лекцию or читать нотацию both mean to lecture someone. Дать нагоняй is also a nice colloquial phrase, as in «Мы проморгали ошибку в договоре, и шеф дал нам нагоняй» (We missed a mistake in the agreement, and the boss told us off). You can also say you got told off: Я получил нагоняй.
Then there is отчитывать, as in: Когда я показал просроченный пропуск, охранник начал меня отчитывать. (The guard gave me a talking to when I tried to show him an expired pass.) Interestingly, another meaning of this verb is to exorcise; with one meaning, a priest is driving out evil spirits, with another, the lecturer is attempting to drive out bad behaviour.
If you want a more neutral style, you can use делать выговор. Мне сделали выговор за то, что я подписала документ не в том месте (I got reprimanded/lectured for signing the wrong part of the document). Many have learned at their peril that documents are not to be treated lightly.
So what kinds of things do people say when you have perpetrated some sin against the social order? There are some phrases that appeal to the transgressor's conscience. Say a young man doesn't give up his seat to an elderly person in the metro (не уступил место) - some ladies around him might say, «Как вам не стыдно?» This is a passive construction, like Мне холодно (I'm cold), which looks like «How are you not feeling shame?», but is best translated as «You should be ashamed of yourself!» Or maybe there are some guys drinking and cursing (using «нецензурная лексика») near children playing on a playground (детская площадка). Someone - who are we kidding, an older woman - might approach them and say, «Вы что? Совсем совесть потеряли?» Literally, "What are you? Have you completely lost your conscience?" But best translated as, "What are you doing? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!" Another "question" that might be asked is: «Совсем обалдели? Три часа ночи!» ("Are you nuts? It's 3 o'clock in the morning!")
From talking about your conscience and mental state, it's a short leap to talking about your upbringing. «Где вас только воспитывали?» Literally: "Where were you raised?" But if the offence has to do with mess or disorder, we could substitute the phrase: "Were you raised in a barn?"
Sometimes the lecture is delivered more indirectly. If a child or pet is present, they can provide the lecturer with another way to deliver the message. When a friend of mine took his 2-year-old son for walks in cool weather, older ladies were always saying things to the child like, «Твой папа забыл надеть на тебе шапку, да?» ("Did your daddy forget to put your hat on?")
Of course, outright abuse is always an option. One unfortunate day I was carrying some documents from one government office to another, and was looking for a place to buy a folder so that they would not be wrinkled or damaged in any way. I noticed a woman at a stand outside the metro selling various wallet covers and notebooks. «У вас случайно нет папок для документов?» I asked innocently. ("You don't happen to have folders for documents, do you?") She responded with: «Вы с ума сошли?! Это вам что, канцелярский магазин?» ("What are you, crazy?! Does this look like a stationery store to you?") Tough but fair.
Sara Buzadzhi is a Moscow-based translator and English teacher.
The Moscow News