An idiom?

[mananas.livejournal.com]

Helloooo...
My Russian teacher asked us to find out what "пол на полу" means. I don't know anyone who's Russian, so this is my only outlet (sorry!).

And for practice: Большое спасибо, если Вы меня поможете!

Comments

[lawyer-x.livejournal.com]

And for practice: Большое спасибо, если Вы МНЕ поможете!
=)

[abat.livejournal.com]

it's better to say вы or Уважаемое сообщество (respected community?)
imho adressing by Вы is very bureaucratic. the language of a advertising pamphlet i mean =)

[oryx_and_crake]

Sorry, it has nothing to do with bureaucracy or pamphlets. According to the rules of Russian language, you should use Вы for to address one person formally, and вы to address multiple persons. Hence it is indeed correct to use вы in this case, but not for the reasons you provided.

[abat.livejournal.com]

Are you shure about the rules of Russian language and using Вы for to address one person formally?
I'm not!

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, if you are not, look it up in some book on Russian grammar.

[bro-kolli.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely sure in the fact, and I'm native speaker and linguist =)

[abat.livejournal.com]

Ok, I understand, thanks :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I am, and I'm a mass media editor with 15 years of experience. Studied Russian Stylistics with Professor Rosenthal himself. Would you be so kind as of giving us your credits, please?

[abat.livejournal.com]

what for may I ask?

[moon-aka-sun.livejournal.com]

Hm, it sounds quite meaningless. It's not a proverb, not a saying, not an idiom. "Floor on the floor," nothing else. "Пол" means also 'sex', but it doesn't help either.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "sex on the floor", but I'm sure that's not right. ;) (I don't speak Russian very well.)

[moon-aka-sun.livejournal.com]

It's 'sex' as 'gender', not as 'an intercourse', which makes the phrase totally stupid.

[gera.livejournal.com]

Probably, that's what the teacher thought, not realizing that it doesn't sound this way in Russian.

[abat.livejournal.com]

Yeap!
I speak russian good :)
and I don't know any phraseologism like this
(am I right? imho it's more correctly than idiom, or maybe not)

[benightedfool.livejournal.com]

Sex on the floor? I remember a group of sophomores who used to giggle about that as well as "bold Russian chorus" all the time. Hm. I can't spell the latter properly, but.. smyelii russkii khor? Like that, I believe. I think the girls thought they were clever, because they were obviously tricking those around them into believing they were using a naughty English word. Oh my!

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

Not "sex on the floor". Пол = sex = gender but not an intercourse. So it's just floor on floor. Whatever that might mean.

[kart.livejournal.com]

I think the phrase is "смелый русский хор".

Socks! Eso si que es (that's what it is)

"пол на полу"

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

It does not make any sense.

BTW, mixing Russian and English, I've read your header as "An idiot?", and immediately agreed - Yes, your teacher is an ... :))
Sorry, if it sounded too rude.

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

May be he meant "Пол" - English male name in Russian transcription, like Paul McCartney - Пол Маккартни
Then it will be: Пол [Маккартни] [сидит или лежит] на полу.

Anyways, your teacher made it up, there is no such saying in Russian.

LOL

[mananas.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I'd have to agree, she's not very smart. I mean, she has her Ph.D. in Russian, but she basically hands out A's to anyone who wants one, and with my dealings with her outside of class, I would say she's mentally retarded.

Re: LOL

[mananas.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thanks everyone who responded so quickly! I'm only beginning my 3rd semester, so I'm still learning the basics.

[sventhelost.livejournal.com]

It seems that I've heard this phrase before, but I can't for the life of me remember where or what it meant. I did find one reference to it here:

http://www.musagetes.kz/konkurs/list.php?start=4&cid=20

I don't know if that's what your professor meant. I'd be interested to know what he comes up with!

[adverte.livejournal.com]

Пол на полу не видит пола,
Осел – осла, престол – престола….
Все видят, лишь, хвосты чужие.


Если это взято отсюда, то очень неудачно для изучения. Это абстракция (наверно).

[pekingspring.livejournal.com]

Heh, your teacher must have been in my high school Russian class, because when someone figured out that "пол" also meant sex (though, yeah, it means 'gender', not the act), everyone went around saying "Я люблю пол на полу".

So, yeah, it doens't mean anything, but "sex on the floor" is probably what your teacher is going for here.

Offtop

[polinet.livejournal.com]

Russians love to play with names. So, somebody's idea about Paul McCarthey on the floor brought up a funny anekdote :
Бил - гей! (тсссс!)
Ринго - стар.
и всего лишь пол Маккартни.
Bill - gay (shhh!)
Ringo is old
And there is only half of McCarthney

))))))

Re: Offtop

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Дитер - болен. :)

Re: Offtop

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Americans don't know who Diether Bohlen is :)

Re: Offtop

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

Lucky guys and ladies!

Re: Offtop

[danvolodar.livejournal.com]

I don't, either. And who is he?

[mricon.livejournal.com]

If she does, indeed, think that this means "sex on the floor," then make sure you ask her out for a couple of drinks of "gender on the beach."

[freedomcry.livejournal.com]

Goodness gracious. ROFLMAO.

Well... I suppose some people in your class will think they've figured it out. Break the news to them gently. Point out that the Russian for "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" is NOT «пол, лекарства и трясись-катись»...

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

If I die laughing, it's because of you.

[night1ngale.livejournal.com]

Hm... May be it's "flour on the floor"?

[freedomcry.livejournal.com]

You've either got a typo there or... or I don't know. I've yet to see «пшеничный пол» or «пол грубого помола».

[night1ngale.livejournal.com]

I mean "мука на полу" :)

[freedomcry.livejournal.com]

And why would anyone take this perfectly random phrase, translate it into English, make a mistake in the translation, then translate it back to Russian and ask people to find out what it means?

[night1ngale.livejournal.com]

Mmm... I don't know :) It was just an idea :)

[malpa.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps it was: пол на пол (i.e. fifty-fifty, half-and-half)?

[dvv.livejournal.com]

Ааа! Я опять опоздал :-)

[malpa.livejournal.com]

Не расстраивайтесь, со мной это происходит сплошь и рядом. (Вот еще одно выраженьице для изучающих русский, кстати).

[mazterito.livejournal.com]

Im Russian, but im dont know what might it mean.. sorry for bad english

Linguistic Development

[mister-mist.livejournal.com]

Seems like a new idiom is being created here. We are witnessing the natural evolution of a language!

Hopefully, people will sooner or later come to an agreement about the meaning of this new idiom. I opt for "half and half", the fluid you get when you mix dark porter beer with light lager beer - half of each. Tastes better than it sounds :-) And much more meaningful than the suggested floor stuff...

На здорове!

[spiderhood.livejournal.com]

"Sex on the floor" would be "секс на полу", not "пол на полу". So. Either you teacher meant "Пол на полу" (which means "Paul on the floor"), or this was not a stand-alone expression (it might have been something like "деревянный пол, на полу сумка, в сумке деньги" - "[there is] a wooden floor, a bag on the floor, money in the bag"), or it was an ungrammatical sentence as an answer to something else (however, most natives would use "половина" (half) instead of "пол" in that case) or (s)he is just unappropriately unfamiliar with the language taught.

[benois.livejournal.com]

Hei! i'm russian and i also want to know the translation of this idiom...

As i understand it's not "sex on the floor" it can be translated as "gender on the floor", it's like a disco for russians there is "дискотека-трение двух полов о третий"

But there is a mistake for sure otherwise it's really old russian language 'coz even russians don't understand the meaning.....

[leahjaga.livejournal.com]

"Большое спасибо, если Вы мне поможете!" ?????

it will be better if you say it shortly "Заранее спасибо"

[danvolodar.livejournal.com]

Hm. Maybe the floor's texture is meant? Sth like linoleum etc...

[immer-wieder.livejournal.com]

What about "пол, на полу" - 2 different grammatical forms of one and the same word "floor", and example of how to use a preposition.