After that act of defiance Grigor was never heard from again. And none in the company ever spoke of the incident. He was my best friend.
After that act of defiance Grigor was never heard from again. And none in the company ever spoke of the incident. He was my best friend.
At last! In these uncertain times, a new ROLcats to cheer even the heaviest heart.
Finally! I’ve been dying here.
Aaaaaahhhhhhhh! Relief.
poor Grigor. tonight I raise a glass of wodka in his memory.
I’m a bastard!
Yay, a new ROLcat!
Poignant!
Gregor was a fool and a coward. The Great Red Soviet Heart spits on his grave. Good Riddance, Gregor, but fear not Death’s solitude. Your family will join you soon.
Huh. This is one of those times where I understand every single word of the Russian, yet somehow I’m not quite “getting” the overall point, so I don’t know how to translate it. In particular, I think I might not be understanding the significance of ворона (“crow”) in the last line.
How do you say “HALLELUJAH! At last! You’re back!” in Russian?
::celebrating new Rolcat::
Please, Demitri (et al), don’t ever scare me like that again.
…
Throbert, throw out the words one by one and let’s see what it sounds like. Even if we don’t “get it,” we might still have fun trying!
I think it says “Oh how among those similar to oneself one wants to be different – beautiful, strong, brave! Such, in the world of sparrows, are inconvenient… Although, they will call one a CROW! Although a white one.”
I don’t get it…
ROLcats rocks.
One of the most enjoyable places to visit on the web.
The conjugations indicate that this is spoken by a female in first person:
”
How desirable [it is] among [those] similar to me
A different one to be – beautiful, strong, brave!
Such [individuals], in the sparrow’s world – not welcome…
[In fact,] Then, a CROW they’ll call [me]! Even if [they admit I'm] a white [one].
”
The last “Zato” should be translated as “In such a situation” or “Then” (i.e. literally, “after that”, or “behind that”), not as “Although.” It’s also possible that the original author wanted to write “Za eto,” but that seems unlikely. The point is that the other sparrows will be so jealous that they’ll call you a crow, and even if this makes no sense because you’re white, they’ll still insist that you’re just a white crow.
I swear people are translating the Russian into English in the comments JUST TO ANNOY ME.
Stop it already.
Please let us know what you are expecting to see when you read the comments. Some absurd nonsense? Substantive discussion about another topic? What would be least annoying to you? Because, you know, I really just want to make you happy! I’m just trying to make this work, and your attitude about it really isn’t helping…
I like seeing the real translations. Quit ragging on people who are trying to do something nice for others who might be wondering what it really means!
>but the fake translations are way funnier<
*loving the real translations.*
Haters to the left, please!
yup, love the real translations too. They are quite beautiful some of them..!
put me in the ‘loving the translations’ boat!
How desirable [it is] among [those] similar to me
A different one to be – beautiful, strong, brave!
Such [individuals], in the sparrow’s world – not welcome…
[In fact,] Then, a CROW they’ll call [me]! Even if [they admit I'm] a white [one].
Andrei: This is close to what I was able to come up with in my head, and yet I still couldn’t make sense out of it!
As I said, it was the “crow” part that was puzzling me — I mean, WHY are the other sparrows calling her a ворона, and not орёл (“eagle”), павлин (“peacock”), сова (“owl”), индейка (“turkey”), or some other type of bird?
In short (I was thinking) what characteristic of the crow are the other sparrows attributing to her? Obviously not the crow’s blackness, since they’d call her a crow even if her feathers were white. Well, she wanted to be stronger than she is, and crows are certainly large and strong in comparison with a sparrow — so could it be the other sparrows intended “you’re a crow!” as a compliment?
And then I thought, “Maybe the key is to understand what crows signify not from a sparrow’s point of view, but from a Russian point of view?” So I started trying to remember if there were any well-known proverbs or fairytales or jokes about the crow in Russian — all I could think of, however, was “The Fox and the Crow” and the expression “to count crows,” but neither seemed to fit the photo. But maybe there was some Russian proverb about “The Sparrow and the Crow” that I’d never heard of?
So at that point I just said “Fuck this shit, I’ll admit I’m confused, and go watch _South Park_ while I wait for one of the native speakers to post something…”
And if anyone is wondering, “Why on earth do you bother spending so much time thinking about a stupid translation,” my answer is “for the same reason that other people spend a lot of time working on crossword puzzles, while other people spend a lot of time trying to beat their previous score on Guitar Hero.”
thank you Throbert.
“White crow” is an idiom – someone who differs very much from the rest.
It is rooted from Roman poet Juvenal who said in one of his satires something like “Slave can become Caesar and captive can turn out victorious but such a lucky man is rarer then a white crow.”
Humor is supposed to be that by not conforming with the rest sparrow becomes figuratively a crow, although white one.
Sorry for my poor English.
Thank you all – Troodon, Andrei, Throbert, EvilRus, and everyone else in all the other threads – for the work you do in providing the translations. It’s like getting two Rolcats in one!
EvilRus, договоримся — тебе не просить прощения за “плохой английский”, а я не буду извиняться за ошибки на русском!
Your English is really pretty good — except that instead of “it is rooted from,” the correct construction would be something like “it has its roots in a satire by Juvenal, who said…”
And by the way, I didn’t know that the expression “white crow” goes all the way back to Latin — thanks for that info.
Can i just say yay for the translations?
Haters, hating is bad for your health. Go do something you find enjoyable.
Yep, count me, again, among those who really love the translations and cultural insights. Very cool stuff.
I actually ‘get’ this one, I think, thanks to the explanations. Crows everywhere have a unique set of attributions.
We, ugly Americans, sure do love to laugh – so long as its @ others’ expense. Someone hx0rz this site already. Lame.
lmao – i loved this – poor Grigor
Yes, as I belatedly point out, a белая ворона is something that is considered outside the norm – an aberration. So my guess is that the sense of the poem is that this particular sparrow wants to be different, but weirdos aren’t wanted in the sparrow world. The other sparrows will call her a vorona for being different (a fact that she welcomes?), although it will be belaya. or something…
Superb
and droll
enough to LOL.
“white crow” is a russian idiomatic equivalent of “black sheep”
Laughing till I’m crying. Thanks for keeping it real