Moscow Times article
Oct. 8th, 2004 02:12 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
alektoeumenides.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
learn_russianThe Fun of Fingers and Toes
By Michele A. Berdy
Безымянный палец: ring finger, literally "the nameless finger"
"With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes." Translating this bit of English nursery rhyme into Russian is hard, since in Russian there is one word -- пальцы -- that means both fingers and toes (something like "digits"). To clarify, you can say пальцы руки/ноги (fingers/toes, literally "digits of the hand/foot"), but most of the time it's clear from the context. In the phrase, Я ударил по пальцу молотком -- I hit my "digit" with a hammer -- you can be pretty sure we're talking about a finger. In Я уронила на палец коробку -- I dropped a box on a digit -- it's probably a toe.
Way back when the Russian language was being developed, the local folks didn't seem too interested in "body parts that stick out." The body parts sticking out of the upper torso -- in English arm and hand -- are both described by one word, рука; leg and foot are нога. Somehow context, adjectives and diminutives make it clear if you are talking about a foot or hand (often the diminutives ножка, ручка) or leg or arm. For example, it's definitely a leg if described as длинная (long) or толстая (fat). Other adjectives conventionally refer to feet: У неё большие ноги! (She has big feet!)
Despite the initial vagueness with digits, once you get down to describing individual fingers, things get more precise. Большой палец is thumb or big toe, указательный is the index finger (literally "pointing" finger); средний is the middle finger, and мизинец or маленький is the little finger (or toe). In Russian the fourth finger, or ring finger, is mysteriously called безымянный, literally, "the nameless finger." There are various theories about this: Either it was "the finger that shall not be named" because it had magical powers (we wear rings on this finger because the vein from it supposedly goes straight to the heart), or, more mundanely, because they ran out of things to call it. With toes, people usually refer to the big one and little one, and the middle ones don't seem to have names; they're just пальчики.
The fun of fingers in Russian is in the plethora of expressions involving these digits, many of which have English analogs. For example, Она очень вкусно готовит. Её пирожки -- пальчики оближешь! (She's a great cook. Her little pastries are delicious/finger-licking good!) Or, Когда я делала ремонт, мой муж даже пальцем не пошевелил! А потом с гордостью показывал друзьям отремонтированную квартиру. (When I was doing repair work, my husband didn't lift a finger to help. And then he proudly showed off the remodeled apartment to his friends.) Another expression in Russian for "not lifting a finger," i.e., "doing nothing," is палец о палец не ударить -- literally, "doesn't hit one finger against the other."
There are other expressions that don't have English analogs, although I wish they did. I've always been fond of the expression объяснить на пальцах -- which means literally "to explain on your fingers," i.e., explain something as simply as possible, so even a dummy can understand it. Наш новый начальник абсолютно тупой! Я объяснила ему налоговую систему на пальцах, а он всё равно ничего не понял. (Our new boss is a total idiot. I explained the tax system to him using one-syllable words, and he still didn't get a thing.) Or the expressive высосать из пальца -- literally "to suck it out of your finger" -- which means "to dream something up." Во время презентации клиент спросил о нашем плане по развитию, которого никогда и в помине не было. Мне пришлось этот план высасывать из пальца. (During my presentation, the client asked about our development plan, which we had never even thought about. I had to come up with the plan out of thin air.)
How do you describe a dangerous client? Ему пальца в рот не клади -- don't put your finger in his mouth. Or, as we say in English, he'll bite your head off.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
By Michele A. Berdy
Безымянный палец: ring finger, literally "the nameless finger"
"With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes." Translating this bit of English nursery rhyme into Russian is hard, since in Russian there is one word -- пальцы -- that means both fingers and toes (something like "digits"). To clarify, you can say пальцы руки/ноги (fingers/toes, literally "digits of the hand/foot"), but most of the time it's clear from the context. In the phrase, Я ударил по пальцу молотком -- I hit my "digit" with a hammer -- you can be pretty sure we're talking about a finger. In Я уронила на палец коробку -- I dropped a box on a digit -- it's probably a toe.
Way back when the Russian language was being developed, the local folks didn't seem too interested in "body parts that stick out." The body parts sticking out of the upper torso -- in English arm and hand -- are both described by one word, рука; leg and foot are нога. Somehow context, adjectives and diminutives make it clear if you are talking about a foot or hand (often the diminutives ножка, ручка) or leg or arm. For example, it's definitely a leg if described as длинная (long) or толстая (fat). Other adjectives conventionally refer to feet: У неё большие ноги! (She has big feet!)
Despite the initial vagueness with digits, once you get down to describing individual fingers, things get more precise. Большой палец is thumb or big toe, указательный is the index finger (literally "pointing" finger); средний is the middle finger, and мизинец or маленький is the little finger (or toe). In Russian the fourth finger, or ring finger, is mysteriously called безымянный, literally, "the nameless finger." There are various theories about this: Either it was "the finger that shall not be named" because it had magical powers (we wear rings on this finger because the vein from it supposedly goes straight to the heart), or, more mundanely, because they ran out of things to call it. With toes, people usually refer to the big one and little one, and the middle ones don't seem to have names; they're just пальчики.
The fun of fingers in Russian is in the plethora of expressions involving these digits, many of which have English analogs. For example, Она очень вкусно готовит. Её пирожки -- пальчики оближешь! (She's a great cook. Her little pastries are delicious/finger-licking good!) Or, Когда я делала ремонт, мой муж даже пальцем не пошевелил! А потом с гордостью показывал друзьям отремонтированную квартиру. (When I was doing repair work, my husband didn't lift a finger to help. And then he proudly showed off the remodeled apartment to his friends.) Another expression in Russian for "not lifting a finger," i.e., "doing nothing," is палец о палец не ударить -- literally, "doesn't hit one finger against the other."
There are other expressions that don't have English analogs, although I wish they did. I've always been fond of the expression объяснить на пальцах -- which means literally "to explain on your fingers," i.e., explain something as simply as possible, so even a dummy can understand it. Наш новый начальник абсолютно тупой! Я объяснила ему налоговую систему на пальцах, а он всё равно ничего не понял. (Our new boss is a total idiot. I explained the tax system to him using one-syllable words, and he still didn't get a thing.) Or the expressive высосать из пальца -- literally "to suck it out of your finger" -- which means "to dream something up." Во время презентации клиент спросил о нашем плане по развитию, которого никогда и в помине не было. Мне пришлось этот план высасывать из пальца. (During my presentation, the client asked about our development plan, which we had never even thought about. I had to come up with the plan out of thin air.)
How do you describe a dangerous client? Ему пальца в рот не клади -- don't put your finger in his mouth. Or, as we say in English, he'll bite your head off.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 07:54 am (UTC)Not exactly true. Foot is ступня, although нога used when it's obvious that foot is mentioned.
Ex: foot size - размер ноги, to drop something on my feet - уронить что-либо на ноги, but: to hurt foot - повредить ступню (cause it really makes difference, to hurt leg or foot).
Also hand is кисть, but this word is used even less frequently.
sorry for crude english. ;)
Date: 2004-10-08 04:18 pm (UTC)or стопа.
> to hurt foot - повредить ступню
For me it's sounds a little bit... hmm, silly?
No, it's actually right, but i would say "повредить стопу" more likely.