Translation?

[mananas.livejournal.com]

I've heard "Боже мой!" translated as, "My goodness!" and "Oh my God!". So tell me, is it corny or no? Would it be offensive if I, an American 20 something in Russia (well I'm not there... yet), said it?

Comments

[mananas.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... let's see. "Oh my God, it's beautiful" - maybe seeing something spectacular, like Lenin's preserved corpse. "Oh my God..." - seeing something shocking or disgusting, like a frozen hobo in the Red Square, or a car wreck.

[schwarzer-tod.livejournal.com]

lolololol @ Lenin's preserved corpse

[mananas.livejournal.com]

If it's not a pipe, what is it?

[schwarzer-tod.livejournal.com]

A Magritte parody?

[yms.livejournal.com]

Russuan tend to mention God much more seldom :)
If you're amazed, you can say "Ого!", or "Ничего себе!" with proper intonation. (Lingvo translates "ничего себе" as "not so bad", but it's only one meaning, and I mean the other one, expressing astonishment. It depends on intonation.)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

The word you're looking for is "wow."

[yms.livejournal.com]

and it can be said in Russian speech as well :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/bc_/]

...if you are a female teenager whose education comes from TV :)

(an exaggeration, I know)

[yozhevich.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it would apply in those cases just fine. I thought you meant something closer to "Ohhhh my God, this purse is so cute!" Then... probably not so much. :) Though, I guess if it's really cute...