Learn how to use a Russian phrase to talk about things you might disapprove of or about actions that are surprising, but you have great admiration for the risk involved
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| Oksana: [Здравствуйте, с Вами Оксана]. Today’s idiom is one of the most frequently used in Russia. I was trying to figure it out why. Either it’s because a lot of people there are so crafty and they hide their true selves, or because most of the people are not good at making judgments and just can’t see what other people are about until they are told about it directly. Or, maybe it’s because people just generally don’t know much about each other even they’re close relatives and as a result, so many things come as a shock to them. |
| Oksana: Ok, I’ll tell you the idiom so you can understand what I’m talking about. [В тихом омуте черти водятся ]. The English translation would be “Still waters run deep!” Again! Why have I heard it so many times in my relatively short life? |
| Oksana: Ok, let’s break down this phrase. |
| [В] means “in”. [Тихом] is “quite” in English. [Омуте] can be translated as a “whirlpool”. [Черти] means “Devil” in plural. And the last word, [водятся] is very colloquial version of “live” in this case. So, all together it will sound as: “In quite whirlpool, Devil lives.”. Once, my grandma told me this when I quit my University in Ukraine and went to live in china for 5 years. In that situation, she didn’t expect such a crazy character in me, which I tend to call adventurous. Later on, she said exact the same thing about my friend who moved in with her boyfriend. The thing is, my friend has never had any boyfriends until the age of 25, was all into Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and, suddenly, she lives with a guy and despites philosophy. Do you get the situations where this phrase can be used? Usually, it expresses disapproval, but can also express great surprise and even admiration. So, don’t be afraid to do unexpected and somewhat crazy things. Wake up, you Devils in the whirlpool and I’ll tell you eventually: [В тихом омуте черти водятся]. Thanks for listening and see you soon! |
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