(no subject)

[sisyphus.livejournal.com]

How do you convey that someone is not a person that you would want to fight because he is a tough guy? I'm looking for a Russian equivalent to a word like 'badass' or a word or phrase to say that someone is a dangerous person.

What is the proper word for 'thug'? Looking it up on translators and online dictionaries gives убийца, головорез, бандит ... all kinds of stuff.

Is there a phrase that conveys that someone is a 'connected guy' (that he has friends in the Mafia, or is part of a gang)?

Finally, is there a single verb that has the meaning that someone is carrying a gun or weapon? Something like an equivalent to the American slang 'to be strapped'?

Comments

[nyusha81.livejournal.com]

real'niy patzan :))
J/K
and sorry for translit

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Offtopic, but thinking about the direct translation of "badass" into "плохая ж-па" has highly amused me. :D

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Uh-huh... just remembered that American 1970s movie "The Last Detail" with Jack Nicholson as one Navy man called Billy Buddusky, which everybody transforms into Badass...

[malaya-zemlya.livejournal.com]

убийца is a murderer
бандит - gangster or just someone with an utter disregard for law
головорез - that's a good translation for thug. That's someone who'd not hesitate to slaughter an entire village of kittens.
Also Add to the list
"отморозок" and "беспредельщик" - that's a lawless among lawless, a person that would kill a little old lady for a bottle of counterfeit vodka.
Гопник - street mugger
разбойник - an armed robber or a generally violent and criminal person
Мокрушник - murderer (a criminal slang)
Мясник - butcherer, an especially violent murderer

'connected guy' - "со связми" (в Мафии), also there are
"блатной" - if he's a real gangsta,
or "приблатненный" if he's only connected to them, or a candidate gangster(or, simply if he has gangster attitude without being a real gangsta.)

there's also
"стоять за (name of a gang, or a criminal authority)" meaning to belong to a gang
"ходить под (name of a gang, or a criminal authority)" meaning to be under mafia's protection
"Жук" - would be someone with extensive knowledge of the criminal world, (or , in another sense, just a someone with shady reputation)

Also there's, naturally, an entire heiearchy of gang ranks from "боец" (foot soldier) all the way to "авторитет" or "вор в законе" (Godfather)

As you can see, gangsterism-related words are plentiful in Russian. No surpirse there.

However I cannot think of any slang terms equivalent to 'to be strapped', "вооруженный" is simply "armed", a perfercly neutral term. I you know the type of the weapon carried, you can say
"при волыне/пере/обрезе/заточке etc" i.e carrying a gun, knife, sawed-off, improvised knife etc)
or
"c волыной/пером etc на кармане" - i.e packing a gun/knife etc

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>'connected guy' - "со связми"
со связями, not связми

>"вор в законе" (Godfather)

hmmm... as far as I understand, there can be several воры в законе in one area, unlike Godfathers. Maybe it's something like a "made man"?

[malaya-zemlya.livejournal.com]

Russian criminal world is very different from Italian, so it's hard to draw exact parallels. What I meant was simply the top criminal authority, Capo, Don or what have you.

AFAIK, "made man" means anyone initiated into the criminal family and living by the criminal customs (по понятиям) In Russian terms, "блатной".

Comparing Wikipedia ariticle about Mafia with Russian realities, I'd give the following very rough correspondence

Picciotti - шестерки
Sgarrista or Soldati - бойцы, быки
Caporegime' or Capodecina - бригадир, угловой (a head of a section of a prison), пахан (a head of an entire prison)
Contabile - кассир, держатель общака
Capo Bastone - свояк
Capo Crimini - вор в законе

[nelis.livejournal.com]

"вор в законе" — это не то же самое, что "авторитет". учите матчасть.
это именно made man

[vedma.livejournal.com]

i thought Гопник is chav

[malaya-zemlya.livejournal.com]

In everyday language yes, in a more specific criminal usage it's someone who does "гоп-стоп" that is a mugger.

By the way, chav is only used in Britain. I cannot think of a good US equivalent. Gangsta? White Trash? Wigger? they are a bit of everything...

[sisyphus.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! Very helpful. Exactly what I was looking for.

[oryx_and_crake]

I have heard "жосткий" (of жесткий=tough, hard)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Never heard that.

[oryx_and_crake]

http://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=%E6%EE%F1%F2%EA%E8%E9+%EF%E0%F6%E0%ED&stype=www

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I know that the word exists in today's slang, I only never hear it as a definition of a criminal person. It's more like "tough guy," "don't-you-f***-with-me type of person" thing, I guess.

[oryx_and_crake]

this is exactly what sisyphus was asking for: "someone is not a person that you would want to fight because he is a tough guy"

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

OK, sorry, then.
I would stick with the old good "крутой" anyway :)

IMHO

[sushchestvo.livejournal.com]

Some of the mentioned slang words cannot be understood even by a native speaker ;) Maybe I'm too conservative but I suppose one who uses them is either a criminal or someone who takes after criminals. Thus, these words mainly belong to the wordstock of uneducated teenagers from the outskirts ;)) I wouldn't use them. I'm sorry.

Re: IMHO

[ybivan.livejournal.com]

Низачот по лингвистике. Кому-то интересно.

Re: IMHO

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I would love to remind that the working language of this community is English.

Re: IMHO

[sushchestvo.livejournal.com]

All words in any language are equal from the linguistic point of view and I know it perfectly well. But if we take it from the so to speak functional viewpoint? Sometimes foreigners abuse these words. Perhaps they want to please native speakers who are fed up with it all.

Re: IMHO

[sisyphus.livejournal.com]

My motivation for asking is that:
a) these are the kinds of words I use in English. Blame gangsta rap.
b) my wife also wouldn't know the nuances of many of these words, and the dictionary is of little help, so a knowledgeable native speaker of a different kind is required.

I'm not sure what it would mean to 'abuse' words though?

Re: IMHO

[sushchestvo.livejournal.com]

OK ;)