Спех, спешка

by Don  

The words спех and спешка are nouns that mean “a hurry, a rush.” They are conversational words; you wouldn't write them in a formal paper. The former is particularly used in combination with the preposition к to mean “to be in a rush/hurry (to get something, to get something done).” The person who feels the haste is expressed in the dative:

— Когда тебе нужен перевод статьи?
— Мне не к спеху.
“When do you need the translation of the article?”
“I'm in no rush.”
Viper F50 2T продам не к спеху. (source) I'm selling a Viper F50 2T [scooter], but I'm in no rush.
— Тебе это очень к спеху?
— Нет, мне это не к спеху, я подожду.
“Are you in a big rush for this?”
“No, I'm in no hurry. I'll wait.”

Спешка is mostly used in the prepositional case after в:

Она в спешке вышла из дома и забыла сотовый. She left the house in a hurry and forgot her cell phone.
Никогда не работай в спешке, а то будут ошибки. Never do your work in a rush, otherwise you'll make mistakes.
Ураган "Айк" двинулся на Техас: техасцы в спешке покидают побережье. (source) Hurricane Ike has headed toward Texas: Texans are rushing to leave the coast
Я поцеловал жену, но в спешке попал не в ротик, а в носик. I kissed my wife, but in my haste landed on her nose instead of her lips.

Лоб

by Don  

The Russian word for forehead is лоб. The о is a fleeting vowel, which means that any time you add a grammatical ending to the noun, the о drops out. Notice also that the word distinguishes a locative form «на лбу» “on the forehead” from the prepositional form «о лбе» “about the forehead.”

SgPl
Nomлоблбы
Accлоблбы
Genлбалбов
Preо лбе, на лбулбах
Datлбулбам
Insлбомлбами

Первоклассник забыл дома дневник, и честно заработанную четверку Светлана Владимировна нарисовала ему прямо на лбу. Учительницу уволили. (adapted from this source) A first-grader left his gradebook at home, so [teacher] Svetlana Vladimirovna drew his hard-earned B on his forehead. The teacher was fired.
На лбу Ленина вандалы нарисовали свастику. (source) Vandals drew a swastika on Lenin's forehead.

Of course, in that last example they have in mind a statue of Lenin, not Lenin's embalmed body.

There is a phrase «как на лбу написано» “like it was written on the forehead” that the Russians use to catch the idea that something was obvious by the expression of a person's face.

Зина согласилась на поездку, но у неё на лбу было написано, что ей очень не хотелось провести восемь часов в одном купе с Витей. Zina agreed to the trip, but you could see in her face that she really didn't want to spend eight hours in the same train compartment with Viktor.
— Диме не нравится Лара.
— Да, это у него на лбу написано.
“Dima doesn't like Lara.”
“Yes, that's clear from the expression on his face.”

Мышца

by Don  

Have you ever wondered where the word muscle comes from? It's from Latin. In Latin mūs means mouse. The suffix -culus is a diminutive suffix. Thus mūsculus means “little mouse,” which kind of makes sense since if you look at a muscle moving on your body, it kind of looks like some critter is scurrying under your skin. In Russian the root мыш- means mouse. The suffix -ца is a diminutive suffix. One of the words for muscle in Russian is мышца. When you take the roots and suffixes of a word in one language, and you substitute the roots and suffixes of another language to make a new word in that language, we call that word a calque. Мышца is a Russian calque from a Latin word. Interestingly enough, something similar happens in Polish. The Polish root for mouse is myš-, and -ca is a diminutive suffix. The Polish word myšca is also a calque from Latin and means muscle. Here are some sample sentences:

Дельтовидная мышца — поверхностная мышца плеча. (adapted from source) The deltoid muscle is a superfical muscle of the shoulder.
Полузащитник "Ростова" Хон Ён Чо надорвал икроножную мышцу. (source) Rostov midfielder Hong Yong-Jo tore his calf muscle.
Желание накачать мышцы у мужчин, недовольных своей физической формой, возникает чаще, чем это можно себе представить. (source) Men who are dissatisfied with the physical form have the desire to pump up their muscles pop up more often than you can imagine.
Переварачиваю различные предметы мышцами живота. (dopey video) I flip various objects over with the muscles of my belly.

bgмускул
deder Muskel
esmúsculo
frmuscle (masc)
plmyšca

Подмышка

by Don  

Подмышка is a fun word. The prefix под- means under, and the root мыш- means mouse. Thus подмышка means armpit, and doesn't that little bit of hair under your arm kind of look like a mouse? Sample sentences:

Зачем нужна подмышка? Почему она потеет? (source) Why do you need an armpit? Why does it sweat?
У меня под левой подмышкой какое-то воспаление ввиде шарика. (source) I have some kind of ball-shaped inflamation under my left armpit.
А ну-ка, давай подмышку, будем мерить температуру! (adapted from this source) Well, now, give me your armpit. We're going to measure your temperature!
— Можно я посмотрю на твою подмышку?
— На мою подмышку?
— Это моя любимая часть женского тела.
“Do you mind if I look at your armpit?”
“My armpit?”
“It's my favorite part of a woman's body.”¹

¹ From the movie “Flirting with Disaster.”

Мышь (часть вторая)

by Don  

Мышь also means mouse in the sense of a computer mouse. There are a lot of different kinds of mouses (mice?) out there, including:

двухкнопочная мышь two-button mouse
трёхкнопочная мышь three-button mouse
лазерная мышь laser mouse

When you talk about pressing a mouse button, a variety of verbs are used: нажимать/нажать “to press,” кликать/кликнуть “to click,” щелкать/щелкнуть “to click.” Sample sentences:

Оптическая мышь плохо работает на чёрном коврике. An optical mouse doesn't work well on a black mouse pad.
Нажмите и отпустите левую клавишу мыши.
Кликните и отпустите левую клавишу мыши.
Щёлкните и отпустите левую клавишу мыши.
Click and release the left mouse button.¹
Наведите курсор мыши на «Корзину», нажмите и отпустите левую клавишу мыши. Move the mouse cursor to the Recycle Bin, press and release the left mouse button.
Чтобы выделить иконку, необходимо единожды кликнуть по ней левой клавишей мыши.¹ In order to select an icon, you must click it once with the left mouse button.
Одновременно с передвижением мыши по столу на экране будет перемещаться её стрелка. (adapted from this source) When you move the mouse on the desk, the arrow simultaneously moves across the screen.
Если при выполнении действия не сказано, какой именно кнопкой нужно щёлкнуть, имеется в виду левая кнопка мыши.¹ If it is not said which button in particular you need to press when performing an action, then they have in mind the left mouse button.

¹ Examples adapted from this source.

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