Куча мала

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Where does the eхpression куча мала come from? And what does it mean exactly? Is it allways a bunch of kids fighting on the ground or is there a broader meaning?

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Comments

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Never thought about its origin :-)

but I would use it in many chaotic situations where people collide and fall over, or maybe when they are roughhousing, even when it is about adults.

Always about people though. I can not think of a situation off the top of my head where it would be about things.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Thinking further, I would say it when there are at least 3 people piled up and entangled.

For example:
Они столкнулись, упали, вышла такая куча мала, что прошло несколько минут, пока они смогли распутать руки-ноги и встать.

(They collided and fell, and such a 'куча мала' resulted that it was several minutes before they could untangle arms and legs and get up.)

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!

[russtam.livejournal.com]

It's come from old children game. When one falls on other, and so one. And new participant says "Куча мала!" (implying that he must increase that heap) and jumps on pile of people.

[russtam.livejournal.com]

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Ah! Thanks!

[russtam.livejournal.com]

Жаркой Юрий - Куча-мала

Грабли, лопата, совок и метла
Кучу собрали, но куча мала.
Сто голубей, воробьи без числа
В кучу слетелись, но куча мала.
Кот полосатый из-за угла
Прыгнул на кучу, но куча мала.
Дворник усатый со взглядом орла –
Тоже на кучу, но куча мала.
В кучу мальчишки, забросив дела,
Бросились кучей, но куча мала.
Я разбежался – была ни была –
В кучу с разбега, но куча мала.
Чтоб она выросла хоть на вершок,
В кучу добавлю-ка этот стишок.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you, interesting!

[konstkaras.livejournal.com]

A piece of a fairy-tale movie with such a game:



Yes, these words are used wider: they may mean mob, disorder and so on (mostly ironically, not tragic)

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

:-)

[licvidator.livejournal.com]

Where does the eхpression куча мала come from?
I believe it's come from a "pile of little [children]".
And what does it mean exactly? Is it allways a bunch of kids fighting on the ground or is there a broader meaning?
A result of "twister" game can be well described as "куча мала" :-) Куча-мала is not always about kids, but commonly...

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

spasibo!

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Алексей Козлов, "Козёл на саксе":
"...самое страшное, что можно вспомнить из дворовой жизни - это
так называемая "куча-мала". Мне приходилось оказываться на дне такой кучи.
Это оставило неизгладимые ощущения реального страха смерти, когда ты
начинаешь терять сознание и задыхаться под тяжестью навалившейся на тебя
массы тел. При этом грудная клетка сдавлена так, что нет возможности не
только закричать, а просто издать писк. Да если даже и заорать во всю
глотку, то никто тебя не услышит, поскольку когда образуется куча-мала,
вопят все, включая тех, кто наверху."
"The most terrible of all backyard life impressions was the so-called kucha-mala. I happened to find myself in the bottom part of the heap. It left lsting feelings of the real fear of death, when you were beginning to lose consciousness, and suffocate under the weight of the multitude of bodies lying over you. Your chest would be so squeezed that there was no chance no only to scream, but merely to produce a squeak. But even if you screamed on top of your lungs, you would not be heard, because when kucha-mala is building up, everybody is screaming, including those on top of you." From: Alexey Kozlov, "A Goat On A Sax"

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah, it can result in a serious "davka" of course...
By the way, the stress is
kúcha mála, yes?
And both words are treated as nouns?

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

No, it's kúcha malá. Both word form a set expression and are treated as a single noun: кучу-малу, кучей-малой, о куче-мале etc.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Ah!
thanks! One more udarenie-question:
stanovitsya na ruki
is "na ruki" prononced like one word with the udarienie om "na"?

And what about "On shel na rukakh". That's with "normal" udarenie, yes?

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Yesma'am, it's нá руки or нá ноги (он прыгнул со второго этажа и удачно приземлился на ноги - the logical stress is definitely on НА, so it sounds like one word with a stress on the first syllable: нáноги, нáруки.
Second guess also correct.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I swopped from the strange new book by Andrej Turgenev to "sluchajnyj vystrel" by Valislij Shukshin. Some words are outdated and derevenskie, I guess, but at least it is staroe i proverennoe. :-)

Kucha mala and stanavit'sya naruki is from the adorable short story "Dalekie, zimnye vechera". Oh, I just love it....