ICONIC

Tik tok by: @afedoor

The magic of the language...

Just a fun fact

The word 'очевидец' is a combination of an old Russian noun 'очи' (eyes) and verb 'видеть' (to see). Just like that, the word itself means 'eyewitness'.

Back in the 90’s, my mom was doing a fan translation of this one book that wasn’t translated into Russian yet, but she was sure it was going to be. I read it in English and was sure she was wasting her time because I thought no person in the world would be interested in something like this. Eventually my mom didn’t finish the translation because she couldn’t negotiate with the publisher, but a couple of years later it was oficially released by the name of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. Well, I was a little wrong. Source: vk.com/pn6

So I was innocently watching a stand up about Russian language and found this comment. Even though it includes a lot of swear words, I thought it would be useful to people who have trouble remembering some Russian words. The stand up I was watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtMd6PbscwE&t=14s

"Crocodile Gena" (1969) and "Cheburashka" (1971) are puppet cartoons, based on the book of Eduard Uspensky. Crocodile Gena works in a zoo as a crocodile. He is very lonely. Gena finally decides to make friends. Animals and people react to his announcement. Soon, Cheburashka comes to his place, and together they begin to do good things.

«Крокоди́л Ге́на»» (1969) и «Чебурáшка» (1971) - ку́кольные мультфи́льмы, сня́тые по моти́вам кни́ги Эдуа́рда Успе́нского. Крокоди́л Ге́на рабо́тает в зоопа́рке — крокоди́лом. Он о́чень одино́к. Наконе́ц Ге́на реша́ет завести́ себе́ друзе́й. На его объявле́ния отклика́ются зве́ри и люди. Вско́ре к нему́ прихо́дит Чебурáшка, и они́ вме́сте начина́ют де́лать до́брые дела.

Among his multiple talents, Gena plays accordion and sings. On a rainy day, which happens to be his birthday, he sings the following song:

Песня Крокодила Гены

Пусть бегут неуклюже,

Пешеходы по лужам,

А вода по асфальту рекой.

И неясно прохожим,

В этот день непогожий,

Почему я весёлый такой.

Я играю на гармошке,

У прохожих на виду,

К сожалению, день рожденья,

Только раз в году.

Прилетит вдруг волшебник,

В голубом вертолёте,

И бесплатно покажет кино,

С днём рожденья поздравит,

И, наверно, оставит,

Мне в подарок пятьсот эскимо.

Я играю на гармошке,

У прохожих на виду,

К сожалению, день рожденья,

Только раз в году.

Gena the Crocodile's Song

Never mind that the clumsy pedestrians

are jumping over rain puddles.

And that the water is streaming down the street.

And never mind that the passers-by can't make sense of

Why is it that I'm so happy on such a dreary day.

Yet I'm playing my accordion

In front of everyone on the street.

It's so sad that a birthday

Can only happen once a year.

A wizard will suddenly appear

In a blue whirlybird,

And will show me free movies.

He'll say Happy Birthday

And just before he flies away

He'll probably leave 500 ice cream cones for me.

Yet I'm playing my accordion

In front of everyone on the street.

It's so sad that a birthday

Can only happen once a year

(https://youtu.be/lUBNtYixTSs)

Russians use some phrases from this cartoon in speech:

Некоторые фразы из этого мультфильма русские используют в речи：

Мы строили, строили и наконец построили. Ура! (We built, built and finally finished. Hooray!)

Чебурашка, ты настоящий друг.(Cheburashka, you are true friend)

Опять чебурахнулся*. Ух ты, Чебурашка какой. (*ЧЕБУРÁХНУТЬСЯ - Упасть с шумом /this verb means to fall with a big noise. The name Чебурашка is derived from the verb чебурахнуться)

[sheet/get ill]

[you get ill

I don't wanna get fucking sick]

Happy learning about this meme day!

The very infrequent “Russian meme of the day” topic continues with a meme that’s been going strong for over a year now that I’m sure you will appreciate. 

It started with joking about your elderly relatives online sending out of the blue funky images congratulating you with the most random celebrations, the progenitor of such being this:

Cement day

Which soon enough caught on and became a meme, now supplying you with celebratory images for all occasions 

Happy broken charger day! 

Happy 4 hours of sleep day!

Happy burnout day!

Happy chip day! a classic of vaccinations 

Happy teflon pan tay!

Happy welded joint day!

Happy stress eating day!

Happy fucking scorcher day!

Happy day of day!

Happy waiting for the next day day!

Happy sad vegan sausage day!

The celebrations are endless, so I congratulate you with endless celebrations day!

I'M BACK ALREADY because that was too good not to comment on, oh my god. That was hysterical. Anton's face when he pulled out that stick and the pie tin and realized he'd have to do something with it. These guys are so talented, I can't believe they pull the jokes out of the top of their heads. This is already one of my favorites and I can already foresee the rewatches. As a reverse learner, I could appreciate the humor so much. And that you explain the jokes to give cultural/linguistic context.

yes, this episode was freaking exellent! my favourite part is Anton's cocky face when he says 'yeah, I listen' I laughed for like 10 minutes when I saw that 🤣 by the way, it's not really a stick Anton pulled out, it's something called ве́ник (literally means 'besom' or 'bath broom') and is used for traditional sauna sessions (ба́ня). you basically whip yourself with it to help blood circulate better. sounds harsh, but it actually feels amazing, talking from experience lol.

/I'm too scared I may get blocked for sending the picture here, so just google 'bath brooms for banya' and you'll get the point haha/ and thank you for the feedback, of course! I'm so glad you enjoyed it 🥰

failure…

failure hurts

don’t panic or stress

keep it under control

you can do it

i know you can

question your wrongs

learn from your mistakes

change your plan

fix your regime

learn from others around you

start with a fresh mind

renew yourself

failure does not define you