Moscow Times article
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learn_russianAll Time Is Relative
By Michele A. Berdy
При Царе Горохе: in times of yore, literally "during the reign of the Pea King"
If you have any doubts about time being relative, you have only to travel a bit around the world. In some places, "Let's meet at 11:30" means just that; in other places it means "sometime after breakfast and before lunch," and in yet other places it means "Today, if I remember." Russians like to be very specific about time -- in business they often use what Americans call "military time," i.e., the 24-hour clock -- to make sure that 11:30 is understood as a.m. and not p.m. (which in Russian would be 23:30). On the other hand, they also like to make appointments во второй половине дня (in the afternoon, literally, "in the second half of the day"), which could mean anything from about 1 p.m. to nightfall. Or they say, Встретимся завтра часов в шесть. (Let's meet about six/six-ish tomorrow.) In Russian if you put the number after what it refers to, you mean "approximately." This is a nice trick, and requires us foreign folks to pay attention to word order. Встретимся завтра в шесть часов would mean a definite, "Let's meet at six tomorrow."
We English speakers and Russian speakers regard the passing of the hours a bit differently. We tend to describe it in terms of the last hour struck by the clock (it's half past seven), while Russians tend to describe it in terms of how much of the new hour has gone by: половина восьмого (literally, "half of the eighth hour"). They also describe "it's after a certain hour" by saying "it's already part of the next hour": Ой! "же первый час! Надо успеть на метро! (Oh, my gosh! It's after midnight already! [literally, "it's already the first hour"] I've got to make the metro before it closes!) This is confusing until you rewind your internal clock and get used to calculating forward instead of backward.
The prime example of how differently we are wired for time is the contrast in our verbal systems. English has developed a totally neurotic system for pinpointing when something happens exactly in time and in relation to other points along the time continuum. "By tomorrow at 5 p.m. I will have finished the report" describes a point in the future that will be the past from the point of view of a moment still farther in the future. To Russians, this is nuts. Why can't we just say, Я закончу отчёт завтра к семнадцати часам (I'll finish the report by 5 p.m. tomorrow)? Why make it so darn complicated?
The past in Russian can also be a bit foggy. Когда это было? Ну, давно. (When was that? A long time ago.) Ну, давным-давно. (Well, a really long time ago.) vМного лет тому назад. (Many years ago.) Когда точно? "рудно сказать. В девяностых годах. (When exactly? It's hard to say. In the 1990s.)
One of my friends uses a nice phrase when referring to events that took place so long ago, they no longer seem real: Да, была замужем. Но это было так давно, уже неправда. (Yes, I was married. But it was such a long time ago, it's no longer true.) This should be legislated as standard practice in reference to all past marriages.
When referring to events that took place in another historical era, you can say в старину (in times of old) or, if it took place before time was recorded, you can say в незапамятном прошлом (in ancient times, literally "in the past that has been forgotten"). Or you can say при Царе Горохе -- in the times of the Pea King. Царь Горох, who often is mentioned with his wife, the lovely Царица Чечевица (the Lentil Queen), ruled Rus' in those times "that have been forgotten." No one is sure of the derivation of these mythical names: Perhaps Gorokh was a corruption of a Danish King Gorukha, perhaps he was a mythical figure based on the importance of dried peas in the Russian diet. In any case, he ruled a really, really long time ago. Он давно у нас работает -- со времён Царя Гороха. (He's been working for us forever -- since time immemorial.)
And then you can say: Как время летит! (How time flies!)
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
By Michele A. Berdy
При Царе Горохе: in times of yore, literally "during the reign of the Pea King"
If you have any doubts about time being relative, you have only to travel a bit around the world. In some places, "Let's meet at 11:30" means just that; in other places it means "sometime after breakfast and before lunch," and in yet other places it means "Today, if I remember." Russians like to be very specific about time -- in business they often use what Americans call "military time," i.e., the 24-hour clock -- to make sure that 11:30 is understood as a.m. and not p.m. (which in Russian would be 23:30). On the other hand, they also like to make appointments во второй половине дня (in the afternoon, literally, "in the second half of the day"), which could mean anything from about 1 p.m. to nightfall. Or they say, Встретимся завтра часов в шесть. (Let's meet about six/six-ish tomorrow.) In Russian if you put the number after what it refers to, you mean "approximately." This is a nice trick, and requires us foreign folks to pay attention to word order. Встретимся завтра в шесть часов would mean a definite, "Let's meet at six tomorrow."
We English speakers and Russian speakers regard the passing of the hours a bit differently. We tend to describe it in terms of the last hour struck by the clock (it's half past seven), while Russians tend to describe it in terms of how much of the new hour has gone by: половина восьмого (literally, "half of the eighth hour"). They also describe "it's after a certain hour" by saying "it's already part of the next hour": Ой! "же первый час! Надо успеть на метро! (Oh, my gosh! It's after midnight already! [literally, "it's already the first hour"] I've got to make the metro before it closes!) This is confusing until you rewind your internal clock and get used to calculating forward instead of backward.
The prime example of how differently we are wired for time is the contrast in our verbal systems. English has developed a totally neurotic system for pinpointing when something happens exactly in time and in relation to other points along the time continuum. "By tomorrow at 5 p.m. I will have finished the report" describes a point in the future that will be the past from the point of view of a moment still farther in the future. To Russians, this is nuts. Why can't we just say, Я закончу отчёт завтра к семнадцати часам (I'll finish the report by 5 p.m. tomorrow)? Why make it so darn complicated?
The past in Russian can also be a bit foggy. Когда это было? Ну, давно. (When was that? A long time ago.) Ну, давным-давно. (Well, a really long time ago.) vМного лет тому назад. (Many years ago.) Когда точно? "рудно сказать. В девяностых годах. (When exactly? It's hard to say. In the 1990s.)
One of my friends uses a nice phrase when referring to events that took place so long ago, they no longer seem real: Да, была замужем. Но это было так давно, уже неправда. (Yes, I was married. But it was such a long time ago, it's no longer true.) This should be legislated as standard practice in reference to all past marriages.
When referring to events that took place in another historical era, you can say в старину (in times of old) or, if it took place before time was recorded, you can say в незапамятном прошлом (in ancient times, literally "in the past that has been forgotten"). Or you can say при Царе Горохе -- in the times of the Pea King. Царь Горох, who often is mentioned with his wife, the lovely Царица Чечевица (the Lentil Queen), ruled Rus' in those times "that have been forgotten." No one is sure of the derivation of these mythical names: Perhaps Gorokh was a corruption of a Danish King Gorukha, perhaps he was a mythical figure based on the importance of dried peas in the Russian diet. In any case, he ruled a really, really long time ago. Он давно у нас работает -- со времён Царя Гороха. (He's been working for us forever -- since time immemorial.)
And then you can say: Как время летит! (How time flies!)
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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Date: 2004-10-22 09:20 am (UTC)The meaning is not that it is no longer true, but more like 'no, I don't know him — o'kay, we have chatted once — all right, that's true, I've slept with him' reversed.