Russian idioms...

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Hi, guys.
I was translating a tatu song... going to my boyfriend for help, and I came across a phrase that didn't make sense to him. He said it's something in Russian that he couldn't translate, really.
It's "(до) случайных имен."

Comments

Well..

[earth-blue.livejournal.com]

Correct words are (taken from http://www.miditext.ru/lyrics/ru/01/do100.html):
Он сказал: "Я устал"
И его не вернуть
Ты считаешь до ста
Ты мечтаешь уснуть
Ты считаешь до ста
Сто случайных имен
А тебе надо спать
И не думать о нем
My poor translation:
He said 'I am tired'
And you won't get him back
You're counting to a hundred
You're dreaming of a sleep
You're counting to a hundred
Hundred different names
You have to sleep
Not thinking of him

The girl from this song is experiencing serious problems with her sleep, because she loves a guy who does not love her… In Russia we have a saying, or rather a national method - if you cannot sleep, you count to 100. Your mind calms down and you doze off.
Another Russian method is to count sheeps that jump over the fence, or to recollect various names - when you recollect the one hundredth name, you're probably sleeping already.

(!Thanks to papachka)

Re: Well..

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

thanks-- this was what I needed. The remembering names thing isn't an idiom/saying we have in English... that I know of. We have counting sheep, but not different names.

Well.. smth like

[bronevichek.livejournal.com]

He just said "I'm tired..."
And you can't bring him back
You are going in circles
You are dreaming of bed

You are counting sheeps
Thinking meaningless thoughts
But instead you should sleep
And pretend he is naught