Пыль
Two words that I continually confuse in Russian are пыль dust and пыл heat/passion. Time to blog about them so I can get them straight! Пыль is a third declension feminine noun used only in the singular:
| Sg | |
| Nom | пыль |
| Acc | |
| Gen | пыли |
| Pre | о пыли в пыли |
| Dat | пыли |
| Ins | пылью |
| В комнате мебель была вся в пыли, и я боялся, что никак не приведу её в порядок. | The furniture in the room was all covered with dust, and I was afraid that I would never be able to get it into decent condition. |
| Напиши твоё имя в пыли на столе, и заключим пари на то, сколько времени потребуется, пока папа не заметит. | Write your name in the dust on the table. Then we'll make a bet about how long it takes Dad to notice. |
| Во время пыльных бурь в Ираке ветер может достичь скорости до ста пятидесяти километров в час. В такой буре ветер проникает в здания через мельчайшие отверстия и оставляет за собой невообразимый слой пыли. | During dust storms in Iraq the wind may reach speeds of one hundred fifty kilometers per hour. In such a storm the wind penetrates buildings through the smallest openings and leaves behind an unimaginable layer of dust. |
| — Ах, декабрь! Как я в декабре наслаждаюсь рождественской пылью! — Ты серьёзно? Как можно пылью наслаждаться? — Ведь у нас в Финиксе не бывает снега. Надо наслаждаться тем, что есть, а не тем, чего нет, и у нас вполне хватает пыли. — У тебя тараканы в голове. |
“Ah, December! I so enjoy the Christmas dust in December!” “Are you serious? How can you enjoy dust?” “Well, we don't usually have snow in Phoenix. You have to enjoy what you do have, not what you don't have, and we have plenty of dust.” “You are really strange.”¹ |
¹ The phrase “you are really strange” literally means “you have cockroaches in your head.”
3 comments
More precisely, “to have cockroaches in one’s head” means to have strange complexes, ideas, convictions, which are usually preventing you from doing something interesting or fun - but the last condition is not a requirement.
For example, if you refuse to have sex before marriage, that would nowadays be considered by many to be an example of “cockroaches in your head". (Although not by your fellow cockroach-in-the-head owners). Another example is when you’re scared of talking in a loud voice on the street because “everybody will hear".
It’s just “Феникс", а не “Финикс” in Russian. У вас в Фениксе.
Don responds: Although the spelling Феникс is still common, the newer cartographical standard is to spell it Финикс; see, for example, this map. Of course, the legendary bird is still spelled Феникс.
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