Russian Word of the Day

The Russian word for monkey is обезьяна. Monkeys are very intelligent creatures and are often trained to perform in the Russian circus and can even help individuals with disabilities. Monkeys that are trained to perform at the circus are taught many tricks and are often dressed up in colorful and shiny costumes.

My grandmother told me the story of how her eye glasses were almost stolen once by a circus monkey. On my grandmother’s birthday, she decided to go to the circus with with my grandfather. When the circus show ended, the trainers came out and announced that individuals can buy an extra ticket to play with some of the trained monkeys after the show. My grandmother turned to my grandfather and said «Давай пойдем и поиграем с обезьянами после спектакля!» “Lets go and play with the monkeys after the show!” Once my grandmother walked into the room and saw all the monkeys bouncing off the walls, she said «Какие энэргичные обезьяны!» “What energetic monkeys!”

She approached one of the monkeys and began petting it. All of the sudden the monkey reached for her eye glasses and ran off with them. My grandmother began laughing when the monkey stopped and waved the glasses at her. Everyone around her began laughing loudly when the monkey put the glasses on himself. Everyone said «Какая смешная обезьяна!» “What a funny monkey!” My grandmother began chasing him and calling out «Oтдай мои очки!» “Give me back my eye glasses!” Eventually the monkey gave in and returned her glasses to her.

Don's additional notes: the word обезьяна includes both monkeys and apes, so it's a bit broader than “monkey” in English. I rather suspect that most readers won't know the difference between monkeys and apes. Hm. Now I'm curious. If you read this post, please add a comment to it saying something like, "Yes, I know the difference" or "No, I don't know the difference."