Перекати-поле
Growing up in Arizona, every time the wind blew I would see tumbleweeds. In American movies they are a symbol of the vast and empty West, or sometimes of economic desolation in the country. Despite their association with the American West, they originally came from Russia, and their Russian name is перекати-поле, which means “roll across a field.” The phrase is treated as a neuter noun and requires neuter adjectives and verb agreement.
| По степи, вдоль и поперёк, спотыкаясь и прыгая, побежали перекати-поле, а одно из них попало в вихрь, завертелось, как птица, полетело к небу и, обротившись там в чёрную точку, исчезло из виду. (Чехов) | The tumbleweeds ran over the steppe, back and forth, bumping and jumping; and one of them ended up in a dust devil. It began to spin around, flew up into the sky like a bird, and there it turned into a black spot and vanished from view. |
| После бури на дворе обнаружилось одно перекати-поле, в середине которого зацепилась жалкая высохшая птица, наверно когда-то искавшая там убежище от неприятной погоды и не знавшая, что там она найдёт только колючую смерть. | After the storm in the middle of the yard we found a single tumbleweed, in the middle of which a pathetic, dried-up bird was stuck. It had probably sought refuge there from bad weather, not knowing that there it would only find a thorny death. |
In Russian перекати-поле is often used to describe a person who doesn't stay in one place very long. It's mostly a negative description since most Russians tend to be born, live, and die in the same area. Notice that when applied to a person, it takes masculine or feminine adjectives, depending on the gender of the person in question:
| За послендие пять лет мой внук Вовка жил и в Архангельске и Нововсибирске и на Камчатке. Он такой перекати-поле, бедняжка, боюсь, что он никогда не женится. | Over the last five years my grandson Vovka has lived in Arkhangelsk and Novovisbirsk and Kamchatka. He is such a rolling stone, the poor guy, that I'm he will never get married. |
| Я вообще такая перекати-поле… вечно езжу куда-нибудь, терпеть не могу сидеть на одном месте. (source) | I am such a rolling stone... constantly traveling somewhere. I can't standing staying in one place. |
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