[identity profile] wordchick.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] learn_russian
I'm reading an article from Kyiv's Weekly Mirror and I'm having a problem parsing one sentence. Can anyone explain this to me?

на Западе страны будут «смаковать» мову; на Востоке — язык, а на Печерске — черную икру.

In the west of the country, [voters] will 'savor' [the Ukrainian] language; in the east, Russian, and in Pecherska, they'll have black caviar.

I've been away from Ukraine for almost 2 years now (alas), and I want to make sure I get it. To provide context, this is from this week's edition, and is describing the unclear results of the latest election. I believe Pecherska is referring to the underground pilgrimage site in Kyiv, but I'm not sure, and I have no idea what this reference to black caviar is. Can anyone explain?

Date: 2010-11-06 11:00 pm (UTC)
oryx_and_crake: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oryx_and_crake
The first two probably refer to the fact that Russian language ("язык") is more widespread in the East part of the country, and the Ukrainian ("мова") in the West. The mention of caviar in Pecherska (Pecherskaya Lavra) may be a hint to the high life of the church top management, but I am not sure.

Date: 2010-11-06 11:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miram.livejournal.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechersk,_Kiev

Date: 2010-11-06 11:02 pm (UTC)
oryx_and_crake: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oryx_and_crake
P.S. I believe that the language split reflects the political bias of the electors - pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. But I am not really an expert on Ukrainian politics.

Date: 2010-11-06 11:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stetzen.livejournal.com
As far as I can understand, in this case "Pechersk" is a district of Kyiv. The majority of the Ukrainian governmental building are located there, including the parlament (Verkhovna Rada) and the office of the President.

Date: 2010-11-06 11:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pro100-petrov.livejournal.com
The west part of Ukraine will pay attention to the oppression of the Ukrainian language and culture, the east part of Ukraine will pay attention to the oppression of the Russian language and culture, the rich people will pay attention to money



Date: 2010-11-06 11:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pro100-petrov.livejournal.com
This area is considered the most prestigious in the city. It is ukrainian Beverly hills, if its possible to say so.

+1

Date: 2010-11-07 08:48 am (UTC)

Date: 2010-11-07 12:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sart2003.livejournal.com
... and all of them pays no attention to really important rhings :)
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