Reading signs in Cyrillic

[SANDRO43]

leading to our first known Russian MOB!!!

You're quite right, and it also explains why MANY years later I thought I'd give the weird idea a try myself .

[Ooooops]

Wow!  What a romantic story  , leading to our first known Russian MOB!!! 

How does it qualify for MOB? 

...she meets 26-year old Mario Floriani in 1914 near Lausanne, where she had been residing for some time studying for her Baccalauréat which would have enabled her to teach French in Russia.

[Anotherkiwi]

How does it qualify for MOB? 

Don't be so literal!     You should know by now that most of the western world regards any bride from the FSU, no matter what the circumstances are, as being a "Mail Order Bride!"

[Ooooops]

  You should know by now that most of the western world regards any bride from the FSU, no matter what the circumstances are, as being a "Mail Order Bride!"

Well, as we all know Western world has never been wrong before, so I admit my ignorance and accept the consequences...   

[ML]

Don't be so literal!     You should know by now that most of the western world regards any bride from the FSU, no matter what the circumstances are, as being a "Mail Order Bride!"

The real bummer is when some of them arrive with 'Postage Due.'

[Anotherkiwi]

The real bummer is when some of them arrive with 'Postage Due.'

Simple answer -
 

[Anotherkiwi]

Well, as we all know Western world has never been wrong before, so I admit my ignorance and accept the consequences...   

You're not ignorant, Ooooops, just not a Western Woman (whose opinions about FSUW are like this -  ).

[Fashionista]

True and the Russian language has many foreign loan-words that many Russians do not even know where they come from, including quite a few words from the French language: этаж, плаж, тротуар, кошмар, макияж,...

пляж
And yes, a lot of "French" words  Historically, there's been quite an influence of French on Russian language. At some point it's been considered a more refined language by Russian aristocracy. A large portion of dialogue in War and Peace, for example, was written in French.

[Fashionista]

Here we have a typically Milanese dish, our cotoletta derives from costoletta (small rib) adapted in French as côtelette, in English as cutlet: a slice of veal with rib bone, covered with egg-mixed grated bread and fried in butter:

Cotoletta alla milanese

If you ask for a котлета in Russia, you are more likely to get something like this (made of ground meat)

[SANDRO43]

If you ask for a котлета in Russia, you are more likely to get something like this (made of ground meat)

Those look like 3 polpette (meat balls), once the traditional way of 'recycling' meat leftovers .

[Misha]

пляж
And yes, a lot of "French" words  Historically, there's been quite an influence of French on Russian language. At some point it's been considered a more refined language by Russian aristocracy. A large portion of dialogue in War and Peace, for example, was written in French.

Pushkin's nickname in college was "Frenchman" and the first poem he ever wrote was in French. As he helped to shape modern Russian, I would say that all of modem Russian literature owes much to the French language.

[Fashionista]

Those look like 3 polpette (meat balls), once the traditional way of 'recycling' meat leftovers .

There are other dishes in Russia that perhaps can be called meat balls, фрикадельки (фрикаделька sing) and тефтели (тефтеля sing). They are usually smaller, size of a walnut, with added spices or rice. Another variation is биточки, smaller than котлеты but larger than тефтели.
I can talk about cooking all day day long 

[Fashionista]

Pushkin's nickname in college was "Frenchman" and the first poem he ever wrote was in French. As he helped to shape modern Russian, I would say that all of modem Russian literature owes much to the French language.

Misha, you mentioned a few times that you are fluent in Russian, obviously spent quite a bit of time learning it. Is it something you do for a hobby, or it's somehow related to your profession?

[ghost of moon goddess]

True and the Russian language has many foreign loan-words that many Russians do not even know where they come from, including quite a few words from the French language: этаж, плаж, тротуар, кошмар, макияж,...

Another one invaded Russian is комильфо. Of course, today Russian would have a gap if this "imported" word was removed 

Comme il faut Japanese and European cuisine



Comme il faut ассорти/assorti/assorted chocolates boxes



Apropos, did you ever try Comme il faut chocolate chefs-d’oeuvre/шедевры ? 

[ghost of moon goddess]

Pushkin's nickname in college was "Frenchman" and the first poem he ever wrote was in French. As he helped to shape modern Russian, I would say that all of modem Russian literature owes much to the French language.

Fortunately,  lexical borrowing is not subject to import (and export) duty 

[ML]

There are other dishes in Russia that perhaps can be called meat balls, фрикадельки (фрикаделька sing) and тефтели (тефтеля sing). They are usually smaller, size of a walnut, with added spices or rice. Another variation is биточки, smaller than котлеты but larger than тефтели.
I can talk about cooking all day day long 

Ochka made up 16 of these and put in freezer for me before she left.

Ground beef, rice and some other items.  Somewhere in size between golf ball and tennis ball.  2 are enough for a dinner along with a couple  of side dishes.

Also a couple of other meat items and several blini.  The blini have my  favorite cream cheese rolled inside that she also makes from scratch with milk.  I eat these blini along with honey and walnuts.  Very tasty.

All of her stuff will be gone in a couple of days; then she will be back on Thursday to make some fresh items . . . I hope!!   

[Misha]

Another one invaded Russian is комильфо. Of course, today Russian would have a gap if this "imported" word was removed 

Comme il faut

Fascinating! As it must Three words became one Just looking at the Russian word, I did not recognize it immediately as French.

Apropos, did you ever try Comme il faut chocolate chefs-d’oeuvre/шедевры ? 

No, but you would would have to wish me приятного апетита then  And, I would have to buy it as the магазин.

If Russian politicians want to rid Russian of all its loan words, they will have to get to it 

[Misha]

Is it something you do for a hobby, or it's somehow related to your profession?

A bit of both 

[Boethius]

You're not ignorant, Ooooops, just not a Western Woman (whose opinions about FSUW are like this -  ).

There are two WW who post here, neither of whom has negative opinions about FSUW.  Some of the WM, who seek FSUW for the most superficial of reasons, is another story.

Bottom line, you owe WW an apology. 

[mendeleyev]

We'll continue the food words shortly but as Moscow rolls out English signs in the Metro this summer I wanted to send "kudos" to the nice folks at Moscow Municipal Programs and Moscow Online for their updates, news and helpful photos.

Until recently, the only English inside most Metro stations were the tall information towers at the centre of platforms and of course the Russian-English maps posted inside each wagon near the doors.

Well that is changing.


Before:





New:






With 188 stations the transition will take time and so floor signs are being added first as they're the easiest to install.

Trivia: For years the Moscow Metro has been the second busiest in the world behind only Japan's Tokyo Metro. While the number of riders continue to grow, the Seoul South Korea Metro has inched into the number two slot so Moscow ranks at #3 for the time being with an average of 9.28 million riders daily.

[Ooooops]

Another one invaded Russian is комильфо. Of course, today Russian would have a gap if this "imported" word was removed 

Comme il faut Japanese and European cuisine

 


 "Не комильфо" is more suitable for this pictures.   

[mendeleyev]

Back to food....


From the Wendy's on Arbat Street we read our next sign. By the way, what is the word for street?  It is  улица, "oo litz ah."

How to say Вендис, Wendy's? Since there is no 'w' in Russian we pronounce it as "Vendy's" with a V sound much like we'd say Washington as "Vash ing tone."




(Click on the photo to make it larger.)

The first term listed at the top of the sign is classic: классик and then we see transliterations of Single, Double, Triple.

Single  -  сингл  (s-i-n-g-l) can refer to a single song from an album, or someone from Singapore.

Double  -  дабл (d-a-b-l)

Triple  -  трипл  (t-r-i-p-l)

(Russians would recognize the transliterations but those aren't the normal adjectives Russians might use for single, double and triple.)


You see the noun беконатор (b-e-k-o-n-a-t-o-r). Bacon is бекон and they've added 'ator' to form "baconator." Most of the young adults working here speaking English at a basic level so if you simply say "be-kOn" they'll get the idea fast, or try your hand at "be-kon-ah-tor." They're giggle, but you'll get your bacon burger.

Next is the chicken spicy sandwich, чикен спайси, ch-i-k-e-n  s-p-a-i-s-y. Russians use another word for the noun chicken but this transliteration has become more commonly used and is recognizable. There is a popular chicken restaurant, Чикен Хауз (Chicken House) that is a favourite for kids birthday parties, etc, with a clown and a person in a chicken suit hosting parties for children.

Humour in transliteration: дели ростбиф, deli roast beef. The word for the Indian city of Delhi is дели. The Russian words for delicatessen/deli are деликатесы/гастроном. I enjoy roast beef personally and admit that it brings a smile each time I see a roast beef sandwich on the Wendy's menu supposedly from a part of the world where cows are sacred. At least ростбиф, r-o-s-t-b-i-f is correct.

Next is the potato twist: картофель твист. Since there is no 'w' it is fun to say "tvist" instead of twist. Twist is another word that came to Russia via music, just as did "single" by the way. Say твист and your listener might immediately think of a style of dancing.  Say картофель твист and you have a potato tvist as shown in the photo.

суп чили is chili soup. чили is the word for a country, Chile. Oh well, maybe the country of Chile had something to do with the soup known as chili, but somehow I doubt it which makes me think that Russia should pass a law that only Canadians can bring Western fast food to the FSU because the American attempts to Anglicize the Russian language is at times embarrassing. At least they got суп (s-u-p, soup) right.


шеф салат is chef's salad. шеф (sh-e-f) denotes the chief cook and normally you'll see it as шеф-повар. повар is cook and салат is salad, s-a-l-a-t.

печеный картофель is baked potato, related to the word печь which means oven.

чикен страйпсы is chicken stripes and that isn't a typo. They mean chicken strips that look more like nuggets and I'm wondering why not use the term for nuggets since McDonald's has popularized that in Russian, наггетс as in "Мак наггетс."

фрости твист is easy to figure out especially if you are learning the Russian Cyrillic alphabet: f-r-o-s-t-i  t-v-i-s-t, frosty twist.

After your meal it is time to enjoy some cocktails, коктейли: "k-o-k  t-e-i-l-i" the non-alcoholic kind. On the printed take-out menu you'll find this description: Классический молочный коктейль добавлением ванильного, клубничного или шоколадного сиропа, which explains that they're milkshakes made of vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. Darn, I wanted a cocktail after my burger!

[Ooooops]

These "беконатор" and "твист" are too funny...       Reminded me of that:


Vincent: And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the f**k a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.
Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King.[/size][/font]

[Anotherkiwi]

Bottom line, you owe WW an apology. 

Sorry, Boethius, but I don't.  Maybe if I moved in different circles I might get different responses, but I get tired of women who say, when they find out I've been to Russia, "Oh, hunting for a wife?" with an expression suggestive of finding something rather nasty on the sole of their shoe.  At least I don't get that response from female friends.
 
Of course it's not a generic response, but it has happened too often to be easily laughed off.  Men's responses are quite similar in words, but the inflection and expression are more akin to "I wouldn't mind trying that!"

[Ooooops]

Of course it's not a generic response, but it has happened too often to be easily laughed off. 

I thought you were joking...  I'm really surprised that so many people actually would connect the two - Russia and wife - after innocent remark about traveling to FSU...