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February 20, 2005

clubs, ленгвидж-контроль

In case you were afraid I was only spending time with girls (or American girls, at that), I'll have you know that on Friday I hung out with a Russian guy named Андрей who did a Fulbright last year at Georgetown. We spent the beginning of the evening with Francesca, where he gave us a brief overview of all the important things we need to know about swearing in Russian and we taught him all the best current English expressions. Francesca promised me a photocopy of the Russian notes.

Then Андрей and I went clubbing (or, as eurosnobs like me might say, to the disco / discotheque / discothèque). Well, just to one club really ... to meet up with some friends of his celebrating a birthday. That reminds me of my two favorite expressions for describing clubs in Moscow:

So the one we went to was pretty democratic and had a good mix of people and music. But the one next door, he said, is really hard to get into. He said maybe if you speak some foreign language they might let you in. But if you look like a straight-laced librarian like I do, I doubt it. Besides, in a noisy club I have trouble convincing people I'm American anyway.

On that note, on Thursday I passed as a Pole at the Faculty of Geology library at the university. Someday I'll speak well enough that I'll be taken for a Ukrainian. That happened to me once in the US, but I don't count it because the Petersburg native who said so had been living in Germany for many years (and was doing an internship in the US).

Posted by kshawkin at February 20, 2005 11:26 AM

Comments

When swearing in Russian, keep in mind that Russian bad language ("мат") is much more strictly tabooed than its English equivalents or translations. So don't try it on the library people - keep it for the club :)))

Posted by: Olga_Kh at February 22, 2005 12:28 PM

Also, I wonder if you know that the Russian word "дискотека" (disco) is out of style now. You could say that, for example, kids organized a "дискотека" at their school on a Saturday night, but no one would call a trendy club "дискотека"; in this sense, you only use this word when speaking about the eighties/early nineties.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 22, 2005 12:43 PM

On the strength of мат, yes, I'm aware. That's why I never use it myself. The point of the lesson was to show the rich morphology of Russian and to show that there are words which sound almost identical but which have entirely different meanings (very good vs. very bad). I'm afraid I'd blush if I wrote them here, though. Let's just say they begin with "х".

As for "дискотека" going out of style, that's interesting to know. In American English it refers to the '70s! I get the impression the term is still used for the dance floor, as opposed to the rest of the клуб. For example, "В этом клубе хорошая дискотека."

Posted by: Kevin at February 23, 2005 10:15 AM

Maybe you are right about this use of "дискотека", though I don't think I would say that myself, because there is also a word for dance floor - "танцпол" (quite a funny word, actually).

Posted by: Olga_Kh at February 23, 2005 01:39 PM

So the fact that you won't use bad language yourself won't stop you from teaching when you get home, right?

Posted by: Murph at February 24, 2005 07:32 AM

Оле: Then I need to make fun of Андрей for using the word so often in Russian and English.

Murph: I'm such an amateur that I'm afraid of misinforming you. Better to consult "Dermo! The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used".

Posted by: Kevin at February 24, 2005 11:52 AM

As for "disco" - the norm can actually be different in Moscow.
As for the book - very funny!!! But the claim that Tolstoy never used bad language is simply ridiculous :)) I'm quite sure he did, and I saw some evidence in someone's memoirs. Well, maybe he didn't use it in his writings, or put dots when he did, but surely he wasn't such a prude :) Speaking of literature, I think anyone interested in "non-standard" Russian and its literary potential should read the 20th century classic "Moscow-Petushki" (Москва-Петушки) by Venedikt Erofeev. That will really give you an idea how these things are used :)

Posted by: Olga_Kh at February 25, 2005 12:42 PM

Right, the norm might be different here. I'll have to investigate.

For anyone interested in reading "Москва-Петушки" in English, I think it's usually translated as "Moscow to the End of the Line".

Posted by: Kevin at February 26, 2005 08:30 AM

I've confirmed that "дискотека" is out of style in Moscow too.

And my new favorite word in Russian: клубиться (to go clubbing)

Posted by: Kevin at February 27, 2005 01:48 PM