???????»?µ́?????†?°: drivel, twaddle
Lately I have been boring myself and everyone else with the same old words to describe what's going on in the world. How many times can you exclaim: ?•?€???????° ???°???°??! (What a bunch of nonsense!) ?§?‚?? ???? ?????????€???‚? ?§??????! (What is he saying? Baloney!) ???‹ ???»?‹???°?» ?µ????? ???°?????? ?°?…?????µ?? ???‘??! (Did you hear him? What a load of crap!)
The Russian language — bless its collective, amorphous soul — has plenty of words for nonsense of all kinds. Take the marvelous ???????»?µ?????†?°, which refers to any kind of silliness. Usually the verb pair ???µ???‚?? is used: ?’?‡?µ?€?° ???? ???°??????-?‚?? ???????»?µ?????†?? ???????µ?? — ???€?? ?°???????°?»??????????, ???€?? ?‚??, ?‡?‚?? ?µ???? ???° ???????… "?·?°???°?¶???‚." (Yesterday he talked pure drivel — about the apocalypse, about someone putting out a hit on him.)
The word ???????»?µ?????†?° comes from the adverb ???????»?? (around, about), which can be combined with ???????€???? (all around) to have the sense of talking a lot without any purpose. ?”?°???°???‚?µ ???µ?€?µ???‚?°???µ?? ?…???????‚?? ???????€???? ???° ???????»?? ???‚?????? ???€?µ???»???¶?µ??????. ?”?° ???»?? ???µ?‚?! (Let's cut to the chase about the proposal. Yes or no?)
This kind of verbal toing and froing can also be described with the phrase ?????????€???‚?? ???±?????????°???? (to speak in a roundabout way). ???? ???µ ???°???°?» ???€?????????? ???‚???µ?‚?°, ???€?µ???????‡???‚?°?? ?????????€???‚?? ???±?????????°????. (He didn't give a direct answer. He equivocated.) And as you might guess, ?±?µ?· ???±???????????? means just the opposite — to speak plainly. ???°?? ???°???? ?????µ???‚???? — ?????°?·?°?» ?‚?µ?…?????? ?±?µ?· ???±????????????. (The technician didn't beat around the bush. "They're making fun of you.")
Then there are lovely words that roll off your tongue, like ?±?µ?»???±?µ?€???° and ?°?±?€?°???°???°?±?€?°. ?‘?µ?»???±?µ?€???° (stress on the very last syllable) is thought by etymologists to be a mangled version of a Tatar word, and it means what it sounds like: a lot of meaningless hot air. ???µ???‡?°?? ???‹ ???°?±?»?????°?µ?? ?·?°?????»???µ ???€?????°???°?????????‚???????? ?±?µ?»???±?µ?€???‹ ?????µ???‚?? ???°???? ?? ???????‚???‚???‚?µ. (Now we are seeing the domination of propaganda twaddle instead of science at the institute.)
???±?€?°???°???°?±?€?° (abracadabra) is a very old magical word of unknown origin. It was used for incantations, and then was used in hundreds of fairy tales about magic in dozens of different languages. Today in Russian it can mean words the speaker doesn't understand: ?¤?€?°?·?‹, ???€?????·???????????‹?µ ???€?? ???‚???? ???€???†?µ?????€?µ, ???°?·?°?»?????? ?????µ ?????»?????? ?°?±?€?°???°???°?±?€????, ???»?? ?????… ?¶?µ ???°?¶?????µ ???»?????? ?±?‹?»?? ???°?????»???µ???? ?????‹???»????. (The phrases pronounced during the procedure sounded like complete abracadabra to me, but each word was filled with meaning for them.) It can also mean words that are truly senseless: ?????µ ???€?????»?° ???‚ ?‚?µ?±?? ???°???°??-?‚?? ?°?±?€?°???°???°?±?€?°. ???°???????? ?µ?‰?µ ?€?°?· ?? ?‡???‚?°?±?µ?»???????? ???????µ, ?µ???»?? ?????¶????. (What I got from you was abracadabra. Write again legibly, if you can.)
Closer to home and down to earth is plain old ?±?µ???????‹???»???†?° (quite literally "non-sense"). ?‘?µ???????‹???»???†?° might mean a sentence that doesn't make sense, or a thought, behavior or event that is logically flawed. You know — like everything happening these days. ???????? ???µ?»?? ?‡???‚?°?‚?? ?? ???°?·?µ?‚?µ ?? ?±?µ???????‹???»???†?°?… ???°???µ???? ?????€?°, ?° ???€???????µ — ?????????µ?‚?? ???… ???????????? ???»?°?·?°????. (It's one thing to read about all the absurdities of our world in the newspaper, but it's another matter altogether to see them with your own eyes.)
Also down to earth is ?±?€?µ?? (delirium, ravings) and its stronger cousin, ?±?€?µ?????‚?????° (raving nonsense, total absurdity). When you hear some unbelievably stupid news, you can shout: ?§?‚?? ?·?° ?±?€?µ?????‚?????°? (What is this bull?)
The news probably won't change, but at least you'll have a bigger vocabulary to describe it.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.
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