Russian Word of the Day

The Russian word for a plastic bag, like the kind you get in a grocery store to hold your groceries, is пакет. It's a completely regular noun. In many American grocery stores the cost of the bag is included in the price of the food, and the cashier and bagger will automatically bag the food for you. Not so in Russia. Usually the cashier will ask you something like:

Пакет нужен?

Do you need a bag?

To which you may respond

Да, пожалуйста.

Yes, please.

or

Нет, не нужен.

No, I don't.

and then you bag the groceries yourself. Since they actually have to pay for a plastic bag every time they get one, the Russians are much more careful with them than Americans are. If you are about to go to the grocery store, you pack a few plastic bags in your purse or pocket. I've been in Kazan over a month now, and I can tell you that anytime I go out of the house, I make sure I have at least one plastic bag neatly folded in my briefcase or back pocket just in case I have to buy something on the way.

Here are some sample sentences:

— Что у тебя в пакете? — Водка, пиво и копчёная рыба.	"What do you have in the bag?" "Vodka, beer, and smoked fish."
Я всегда ношу с собой два-три пакета на случай, если надо будет что-то купить.	I always carry two or three plastic bags with me just in case I have to buy something.
Из пакета мама вынула торт «Птичье молоко».	Mama took a Bird's Milk Cake out of the bag.
Потеряв палец или стопу, упакуй её в двойной пакет. (adapted from here)	If you lose a toe or a foot, pack it in a double plastic bag.

One word that gets used a lot more in Russian than in English is киоск kiosk. I think the average American doesn't normally use this word, and I think most of us don't even have a clear idea of what it means. My first encounter with the word in English was at the University of Arizona. There were several brick structures which we called kiosks that had bulletin boards attached to which one could staple announcements for concerts, parties, businesses, etc. That is not what киоск means in Russian. A киоск is a small stand or booth where people sell things. Usually it's a free-standing structure, though it can also be part of a larger one. (It's never just a cart.) These are everywhere in Russia: at train stations, in the subway, anywhere there is a pedestrian street. And they sell all kinds of stuff. To say what kind of stand it is, Russians sometimes put an adjective before the noun:

газетный киоск	news stand
сувенирный киоск	souvenir stand
цветочный киоск	flower stand
книжный киоск	book stand
пивной киоск	beer stand

Sometimes the description of the stand comes in the genitive case after the noun:

киоск ремонта обуви

shoe repair stand

During the Soviet period you could find the oddest things at kiosks. The ones that seemed to have the most variety were the газетные киоски. I remember seeing toothbrushes and red pepper being sold в газетных киосках.

The noun itself is fairly straightforward with no grammatical quirks (as long as you remember the seven-letter spelling rule). Here are some sample sentences:

Я никогда не хотела работать в сувенирном киоске, но я здесь работаю уже пятый год.	I never wanted to work at a souvenir stand, but I've been working here for going on five years now.
Рядом с цветочным киоском находится банкомат.	There is an ATM next to the flower shop.
Когда я подошёл к газетному киоску, Комсомольксой правды уже не было.	When I walked up to the news stand, they were already out of Komsomol'skaya Pravda.
Если хочешь открыть пивной киоск около станции метро, то надо платить крыше, а то киоск подожгут.	If you want to open a beer stand near the subway station, then you have to pay protection money, otherwise they'll set the stand on fire.

Here are some shots of various kiosks around Kazan. This first one is basically a beer, snacks, and tobacco place. Its sign reads:

BEER JUICE SOFT DRINKS

24 hours

PHOTOCOPIES DOCUMENT PRINTING HOOKAH SUPPLIES

There is a reason that they offer printing services here. Right nearby there is an Architectural University. Universities here don't offer printing services to their students. They often don't have the internet. And students are too poor generally to own printers.

This next one is a flower stand.

And here we have a souvenir stand:

This next one is a shoe repair stand.

And here is a beer stand. The beer stand is interesting because you have to pay for both the beer and the container. If you bring your own plastic bottle in, then you just pay for the beer and they fill your bottle for you.

Last but not least, here is a little auto supply kiosk. They mostly sell oil and antifreeze.

Меню is a word that both Russian and English have borrowed from French, and it of course means menu. Because it ends in a sound that is not typical for a nominative singular noun in Russian, the noun is indeclinable, which means that it never changes endings. That's right: the genitive singular of меню is меню, as is the instrumental plural and all the other forms. However, the adjective that modifies the noun will definitely change for case. Since меню is both indeclinable and inanimate, it is treated as a neuter noun in Russian. Thus the phrase 'this menu' declines like this:

	Sg	Pl
Nom	это меню	эти меню
Acc
Gen	этого меню	этих меню
Pre	этом меню
Dat	этому меню	этим меню
Ins	этим меню	этими меню

Here are a few sample sentences:

Передайте, пожалуйста, меню.	Pass me the menu, please.
Вам нужно меню?	Do you need a menu?
Я закажу без меню. Я уже знаю, что я хочу.	I'll order without the menu. I already know what I want.
Не поверишь, какое меню в ресторане «Нептун». Там морепродуктов без конца!	You won't believe the menu at the Neptune Restaurant. There's no end to the seafood offerings!

When you first get to Russia and look at a Russian menu, your brain will likely undergo a complete meltdown. They phrase things differently. They list the weights of the components for many dishes. They have different customary dishes. And things are simply organized differently. So here for your viewing pleasure, I shall provide you with a Russian menu. It's a little trickier than Moscow menus because it contains borrowed Tatar words like элеш and перемяч which even Russians don't necessarily know outside of Tatarstan. It's the menu of a little kiosk that is located not far from the building that houses the филфак of the Tatar State Humanities Pedagogical University. There was a week where I had coffee there every morning. A preview of their menu is at the right. Click on the menu to see a larger version. An English translation of the menu is below.

Menu

		Rubles	Dollars
1.	Shawarma (1)	60	2
2.	Baked potato (280 g.)	25	0.83
3.	Side salad (40 g.)	15	0.50
4.	Grilled chicken (1)	190	6.33
5.	Thigh-drumstick (1)	50	1.66
6.	Thigh-drumstick (½)	25	0.83
7.	Plate (1 thigh-drumstick, fries, cabbage salad, ketchup mayonnaise)	75	2.50
8.	½ plate (½ thigh-drumstick, fries, cabbage salad, ketchup mayonnaise)	50	1.66
9.	Fries, cabbage salad, ketchup, mayonnaise (150g, 40g, 20g, 20g)	25	0.83
10.	Mayonnaise (20g)	3	0.09
11.	Ketchup (30g)	3	0.09
12.	Chicken shishkebab	35	1.17
13.	Rice pilaf with beef	45	1.50
14.	Sausage link (1)	9	0.30
15.	Sausage link + fries	34	1.13
16.	Sandwich	30	1.00
17.	Toast	25	0.83
18.	Hot-dog	18	0.54
19.	Rolton noodle soup — instant	15	0.50
20.	Rolton mashed potatoes — instant	16	0.53
21.	Chicken pizza	45	1.50
22.	Sausage pizza	45	1.50
23.	Mushroom pizza	45	1.50
	Baked goods
21.	Lavash (1)	20	0.67
22.	Stuffed triangle	22	0.73
23.	Beef croissant	28	0.93
24.	Chicken croissant	25	0.83
25.	Large savory hole-less doughnut stuffed with chicken	30	1.00
26.	Pig in a blanket	15	0.50
27.	Cabbage with bacon	10	0.33
28.	Potato calzone	9	0.09
29.	Sausage pizza	28	0.93
30.	Waffle cone with fried sweetened, condensed milk	20	0.67
31.	Small savory doughnut	16	0.53
32.	Sweetened farmer’s cheese pastry	15	0.50
	Drinks
33.	Tea (black, green)	6	0.18
34.	Tea with lemon	6	0.18
35.	Black coffee (coffee, sugar)	9	0.27
36.	3-in-1 coffee (coffee, cream, sugar)	9	0.27

If you read carefully, you'll notice the same item is listed twice at different prices (#22 & #29). I still haven't figured that issue out. And considering the numbering problem on the menu, I'm guessing that they haven't figured it out either.

One thing that surprises Americans in Russia is how often you can see people squatting. In the States I think most people lose this ability somewhere by the time they are thirty; constantly sitting in chairs allows the hamstrings and calf muscles to get tighter and tighter, which means those muscles lack the elasticity to maintain the position. (Regular attendance at yoga classes can help you bring that elasticity back.) The prepositional phrases in Russian used to describe this position include the word корточки. It only occurs in the plural, and theoretically in all six cases, though truth to tell I have never seen it in the instrumental, dative, or nominative:

	Pl
Nom	корточки
Acc
Gen	корточек
Pre	корточках
Dat	корточкам
Ins	корточками

If a person is in a squatting position, one mostly uses the verb сидеть/посидеть 'to be sitting' to capture the image. This verb is a location verb, thus you use with with the prepositional case and the preposition на.

На этой фотографии вы увидите, как мужчина сидит на корточках.

In this photograph you will see a man squatting.

When anthropologists discuss this position, they often use the word 'hunkering.' In the fully developed position the buttocks rest on the back of the shins or ankles. Young Russian men often hunker together in summer evenings smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. You aren't really supposed to drink beer on public streets in Russia, but as long as you aren't causing trouble, the police generally turn a blind eye:

To describe getting into that position, you most commonly use the verb садиться/сесть 'to sit down,' although you can also use присаживаться/присесть or опускаться/опуститься. These are motion verbs, so you use them with на plus the accusative:

Дима сел на корточки и позвонил своей девушке.	Dmitri squatted down and called his girlfriend.
Один из симптомов повреждения менисков коленного сустава — это невозможность присесть на корточки. (adapted from this source)	One of the symptoms of damaged menisci of the knee joints is the inability to squat.
Мне так не хотелось приближаться, но я вдохнула неглубоко через рот и опустилась на корточки рядом с ним. (adapted from this source)	I really didn't want to get closer, but I inhaled a bit through my mouth and squatted down next to him.

The generic word for ice cream in Russian is мороженое. In form it is declined like a neuter adjective, although they use it as a noun. Theoretically the plural forms exist, though I have not personally encountered them yet:

	Sg	Pl
Nom	мороженое	мороженые
Acc
Gen	мороженого	мороженых
Pre	мороженом
Dat	мороженому	мороженым
Ins	мороженым	морожеными

We Americans have all heard stories of those crazy Russians buying ice cream in the dead of winter. During my first trip to Moscow in 1986, I asked my acquaintance Алёша about that:

— Правда ли, что русские стоят в очереди за мороженым даже зимой, когда на улице минус десять градусов?	"Is it true that Russians will stand in line for ice cream even in the winter when it's ten below outside?"
— Правда.	"It's true."
— Но почему же? Ведь так холодно!	"Why in the world? I mean it's so cold!"
— Потому что вкусно.	"Because it tastes good."

Oh. Well, ask a stupid question...

During the Soviet period you could mostly buy vanilla ice cream, although ice cream with a chocolate coating (эскимо) was commonly available as well. Occasionally you would see chocolate or strawberry. Nowadays they have all sorts of flavors and toppings. I had a crème brûlée (крем-брюле) ice cream the other day that was wonderful. Here are a few sample sentences:

— Хочешь мороженое? — Хочу.	"Do you want ice cream?" "I do."
На десерт мы заказали блинчики с мороженым.	For dessert we ordered crepes with ice cream.
Без мороженого я не могу жить. Я его ем каждый день.	I can't live without ice cream. I eat it every day.
Мама всегда добавляет орешки в домашнее мороженое.	Mom always adds nuts to her homemade ice cream.

Although мороженое is a generic word for ice cream, there is another word you have to know nowadays to be ice-cream-competent in Russia. I'll blog about it in a week or so. Your assignment: take your best guess what that word is and post it in the comment section.