(no subject)

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

There are three Russian constructions which seem to me to all express the same idea : 

(note: all are used with question words)

что / кто / где / куда / как / с кем / с чем /...  угодно (иди с кем угодно)

что / кто / где / куда / как / с кем / с чем /...  попало

хоть что / кто / где / куда / как / с кем / с чем /...

Are they interchangable? What are the differences in meaning? Literally I would translate them as "What / who / whereever pleases you", "What / who turned up" and "What / who / wherever you like".  But in terms of usage they all seem to mean basically "whatever, doesn't matter." Can попало be used with all of the question words just as the other two can? For instance "где попало" sounds strange to me.

Much thanks.

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

Где попало is fine.
However, all the expressions with попало have slightly derogatory meaning. E.g. if you have a houseguest and several unoccupied guest rooms, you may say Можешь спать где (тебе) угодно (wherever pleases you). However describing a heavily drinking neighbour you will say Он напивается и засыпает где попало (all over the place).

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

+1
To further elaborate попало and угодно in this sense are opposites: попало literally means "came up" as about some random event's outcome while угодно means "what is preferred, favorable" so the former is about complete lack of will while the later is about free choice. Combinations with хоть are synonymous with угодно but the tone is different - хоть also shows that the speaker herself does not care about the choice while угодно at least is neutral to the choice and is often respectful especially in future tense e.g. "что вам будет угодно?" is a very respectful way for sales clerk or a waiter to take orders.

[merry1978.livejournal.com]

Phrases with попало always have the additional meaning of the person discussed being indiscriminate. It's not always strictly derogative, but quite often is.

Note that угодно and хоть do not have this nuance, so sometimes попало is the only way to describe the situation.

E.g. Она вечно разбрасывает свои вещи где попало (She always leaves her things all over the place).

Here you can not use either угодно or хоть.

Phrases with хоть are a bit more bookish and are used a bit more rarely.

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Is хоть connected to (не)охота? Do both of these words stem from хотеть?

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

There are homonyms: охота - hunt and охота derived from хотеть, which хоть is indeed connected to.

[merry1978.livejournal.com]

Yes, хотя/хоть and охота/неохота derived from the verb хотеть.

[merry1978.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe I chose a bad word. This form seems a bit archaic to me. Phrases like хоть где were used quite more often in 19th century than now, as one can see from Russian classics.

For me the most neutral is "какой хотите/хочешь", "какой угодно" being just a bit more formal, but not much. It is used more often in a written text, and хотите/хочешь is better in a spoken language.

Bot хоть какой/где... etc is definitely 19th century for me. I have rarely heard this form from kids and teens.

[firebottle.livejournal.com]

кто угодно == whoever you like, anyone
что попало == whatever happened to be there

[firebottle.livejournal.com]

example: "вот разберусь как следует и накажу кого попало" :-)

[malim-praedari.livejournal.com]

This is not the best example to give. You should at least explain that this is a joke.

[no-access.livejournal.com]

yeah, "что угодно", "что попало", "хоть что" have the similar meanings, other words too. but pay attention that "хоть куда" has the second meaning "tiptop": "Он парень хоть куда" =)