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We know every country has their own idioms, which often make no sense to anyone other than those who have grown up with them, but for those in the know, they make perfect sense!
We are bringing you Russia’s TOP TEN idioms, with a helping hand from renowned artist Nathan James. By the time you’ve familiarised yourself with these, we’re hoping you won’t get overexcited… but you’ll jump out of your pants!
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#1
Russians Don’t Exaggerate, They 'Make An Elephant Out Of A Fly'
Final score:
81points
RELATED:
#2
A Russian Won’t Lie To You, He’ll 'Hang Noodles On Your Ears'
Final score:
54points
#3
You Are Not Just Talented Or Skilled, You Can 'Shoe A Flea'
Final score:
47points
#4
It’ll Never Happen – ‘A Lobster Whistles On Top Of A Mountain’
Final score:
39points
#5
A Russian Person Doesn’t Swear Something Is True… He Will ‘Give You His Tooth For It’
Final score:
39points
Igor Nikeshin 8 years ago
This ia just awful jail slang! ) This slang usually use bad educated and dumb people only ! Sometimes use as a joke about dumb people )
#6
Russians Don’t Show Off… They ‘Throw Dust In Your Eyes’
Final score:
31points
Ana Vrbanov 8 years ago
Some of these sayings are used in other countries of Europe too, here in Croatia as well, so it's not just the "Russian" thing. :)
#7
A Russian Doesn’t Say He’s In A Crowded Place, He Says He’s 'Like Herring In The Barrel'
Final score:
30points
#8
A Russian Doesn’t Get Overexcited, He 'Jumps Out Of His Pants'
Final score:
30points
#9
Russians Don’t Have A Snack, They 'Kill The Worm'
Final score:
27points
Igor Nikeshin 8 years ago
Slang too. More exactly that sounds something like this ."To excruciate a little worm to death"
#10
Russians Don’t Say You Have An Interesting Aspect To Your Character, They Say You Have A 'Raisin'
Final score:
22points
Arina I 8 years ago
The word used for raisin in this idiom is actually in the diminutive somewhat cutesy form. So if you have something interesting about you, that interesting thing about you is referred to as a baby raisin by this idiom. It is an odd expression, sure, but it is somewhat akin to "the cherry on top" expression in English, which to non-English speakers might seem like a similarly random food item metaphorically used to signify something extraordinary.
Alexander Petryaev 8 years ago
It is definitely food idiom if you suggests a raisin is in a porridge :D Plain porridge is edible, but porridge with raisin is more than just that. It is tasty.
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B H 8 years ago
He's in front of a gigantic beach ball, holding a dog turd, giving a flat-chested pregnant lady a poke in the eye AND "the finger", while being pick-pocketed. The illustrator certainly does have a raisin.
Eliah Snakin 8 years ago
Pants are actually in the meaning of trousers, not panties/trunks. You don't give a regular shoe to a flea, you give a horseshoe. I'm also speculate it can be "kill a worm" as well as "starve a worm", and probably the last meaning is more likely, but nobody knows.
Dmitry Bondarenko 8 years ago
A charming person is not the only meaning of that idiom in Russian. We can say like this about a movie or a picture, e.g.
BoriSlava Stavreva 8 years ago
'Dust in the eyes' is not showing off but to trick you, to make you a fool
Mariya Denisyuk 8 years ago
Usually about women: "Every women must have the little raisin" or "The woman must be a mystery"
Mariya Denisyuk 8 years ago
Usually about women: "Every women must have the little raising" or "The woman must be a mystery"
Lana Soboleva 8 years ago
It's generally used when speaking about women, not men, and it indicates not something "extra", as in "cherry on top", but rather something very personal and special that separates one from the rest, a charismatic personality quirk
Tatiana Isaeva 8 years ago
NIce! If anyone (learning Russian as a foreign language) wants to listen to the native Russian people discussing the meanings of the Russian idioms - welcome to my channel! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsKTB66s6D4V06OM8px_hwykHV8bLYcvL
Farrina 8 years ago
Just as it is, great!! )) Still, what's about 'zest' in English? Is it equal in its meaning to 'the cherry on top'?'
John Banister 8 years ago
The use of the metaphor is much like the use of the food. Zest is the peel of citrus fruit, used as flavoring. It's used with something sweet to add a bright note and keep it from seeming heavy. If you're bright and active about experiencing something sweet, then you have zest. When you see "a cherry on top" it's almost always a cherry with extra sugar and bright red dye, and what it's on top of is almost always white ice cream or white whipped cream. So, it's visually striking with a flavor that is not complex, added for appearance to a food product that doesn't need anything added, but even more was added anyway. In life the cherry on top is in addition to the thing that already fulfills your desire. (Although, sometimes it's also a distraction - if someone covers a turd with whipped cream, a cherry on top might distract you from noticing the suspicious shape.)
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Tania Samsonova 8 years ago
Also зуб даю is not an idiom. It is a phrase used by members of the criminal world - they promise to part with their own tooth if they fail to keep their word, sort of like Japanese mafia members cut off their little finger. The phrase came into the general language as a result of the criminalization of the Russian society in the 1990s. If I were you, I would never use it - it sounds extremely vulgar.
Irina Mitlin 8 years ago
Kill a worm: a picture isn't correct. When you are hungry, you feel like there's a worm inside you and you kill it!
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Tania Samsonova 8 years ago
Some of the pictures are factually incorrect. In the case of the flea, it's shoes as in horseshoes, from Leskov's "Levsha" (The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea). In the case of the worm, you do not kill the worm by eating it - it's the imaginary worm that lives in your stomach and give you stomach ache when you are hungry, so you throw something in your stomach to quieten it.
Dennis Ivanov 8 years ago
As a Russian speaking person these sound really ridiculous when you think about what you're saying. Then again, so do a lot of idioms.
Astrid S.H. 8 years ago
We have very similar ones in spanish. I.e. no herring in the barrel but sardines in a can. All but the one about the raisin sounded quite logical to me lol i may adopt a few.
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Aish Siva 8 years ago
Idioms are the best. They're culturally essential and usually make no sense to people who are not from that culture -even when explained. I'd love to see idioms from other languages!
Denis Ryabchenko 8 years ago
In iTunes there is an app called "English idioms illustrated". Great stuff, but have to pay if you want to see more. Also giving explanations.
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ispeak catanese 8 years ago
I love these, especially when commenters add the idioms used in their countries.
Maria Rukhalenko 8 years ago
"There's no truth in the feet (legs)" as an invitation to sit down "God's dandelion" about a calm and quiet person (usually old). "A teaspoon per hour" very slowly "To be boiled in your own juice" have almost no contact with the outside world "Let's get back to our rams" let's get back on track, to the point
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Михаил Лихобык 8 years ago
+ If you have a lot of experience you can say "I've eaten a dog in this work"
Jennifer Lynn 8 years ago
American idioms confused the hell out of me for a great many years, even though I was born here. Adults were always telling me to keep my nose clean for no apparent reason, but I had no idea that what they meant was "stay out of trouble," so I started picking my nose constantly, to the point where it would bleed and I would have scabs in my nose. It was a long time before someone laughingly informed me what was meant by the phrase, at which point I didn't even believe them, because it didn't make any sense to me and they couldn't explain the connection, only that "that's just something people say." I can only imagine growing up in Russia being accused of putting noodles on someone's ear or throwing dust in their eye, and replying that I don't even have any noodles or dust
Роман Васильев 8 years ago
I am afraid that now the Americans, even less will understand Russian people
Bobby Draper 8 years ago
Theres maybe 2 which do fit and are used. Rest of it ... never heard of. Btw. Its my motherlanguage
BoriSlava Stavreva 8 years ago
'Dust in the eyes' is not showing off but to trick you, to make you a fool
BASS HUNTER 8 years ago
I dont get it maybe this is what russian people say to each other almost like swearing.The only thing I understand from their perspective is the word suka which is a slang,i know the meaning by the way,used to hearing that when we are (me with my friends) while playing online moba i.e dota2 and sometimes CS.Maybe one can add that too but may disliked as its a slang.
Geoff Langdale 8 years ago
I have read somewhere that a Russian expression for "doing nothing" is (wait for it) "Knocking pears out of a tree with your d**k".
Павел Мамчий 8 years ago
They are not just "killing the worm" but rather "Starving it to death or killing it slowly by similar cruel torture". This one always being puzzles me.
Valera Bochkarev 8 years ago
way too simplistic. Probably the same people that were responsible for Hillary's "Reset" button.
jacluckycat 8 years ago
Not really sure how you came up with that connection but whatever
Load More Replies... Tania Samsonova 8 years ago
Some of the pictures are factually incorrect. In the case of the flea, it's shoes as in horseshoes, from Leskov's "Levsha" (The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea). In the case of the worm, you do not kill the worm by eating it - it's the imaginary worm that lives in your stomach and give you stomach ache when you are hungry, so you throw something in your stomach to quieten it.
Dennis Ivanov 8 years ago
As a Russian speaking person these sound really ridiculous when you think about what you're saying. Then again, so do a lot of idioms.
Astrid S.H. 8 years ago
We have very similar ones in spanish. I.e. no herring in the barrel but sardines in a can. All but the one about the raisin sounded quite logical to me lol i may adopt a few.
Load More Replies... Aish Siva 8 years ago
Idioms are the best. They're culturally essential and usually make no sense to people who are not from that culture -even when explained. I'd love to see idioms from other languages!
Denis Ryabchenko 8 years ago
In iTunes there is an app called "English idioms illustrated". Great stuff, but have to pay if you want to see more. Also giving explanations.
Load More Replies... ispeak catanese 8 years ago
I love these, especially when commenters add the idioms used in their countries.
Maria Rukhalenko 8 years ago
"There's no truth in the feet (legs)" as an invitation to sit down "God's dandelion" about a calm and quiet person (usually old). "A teaspoon per hour" very slowly "To be boiled in your own juice" have almost no contact with the outside world "Let's get back to our rams" let's get back on track, to the point
Load More Replies... Михаил Лихобык 8 years ago
+ If you have a lot of experience you can say "I've eaten a dog in this work"
Jennifer Lynn 8 years ago
American idioms confused the hell out of me for a great many years, even though I was born here. Adults were always telling me to keep my nose clean for no apparent reason, but I had no idea that what they meant was "stay out of trouble," so I started picking my nose constantly, to the point where it would bleed and I would have scabs in my nose. It was a long time before someone laughingly informed me what was meant by the phrase, at which point I didn't even believe them, because it didn't make any sense to me and they couldn't explain the connection, only that "that's just something people say." I can only imagine growing up in Russia being accused of putting noodles on someone's ear or throwing dust in their eye, and replying that I don't even have any noodles or dust
Роман Васильев 8 years ago
I am afraid that now the Americans, even less will understand Russian people
Bobby Draper 8 years ago
Theres maybe 2 which do fit and are used. Rest of it ... never heard of. Btw. Its my motherlanguage
BoriSlava Stavreva 8 years ago
'Dust in the eyes' is not showing off but to trick you, to make you a fool
BASS HUNTER 8 years ago
I dont get it maybe this is what russian people say to each other almost like swearing.The only thing I understand from their perspective is the word suka which is a slang,i know the meaning by the way,used to hearing that when we are (me with my friends) while playing online moba i.e dota2 and sometimes CS.Maybe one can add that too but may disliked as its a slang.
Geoff Langdale 8 years ago
I have read somewhere that a Russian expression for "doing nothing" is (wait for it) "Knocking pears out of a tree with your d**k".
Павел Мамчий 8 years ago
They are not just "killing the worm" but rather "Starving it to death or killing it slowly by similar cruel torture". This one always being puzzles me.
Valera Bochkarev 8 years ago
way too simplistic. Probably the same people that were responsible for Hillary's "Reset" button.
jacluckycat 8 years ago
Not really sure how you came up with that connection but whatever
Load More Replies... 
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