If you've been on a 36-hour flight or locked in a cabin in the woods, you might have missed the news that almost 100 buildings were destroyed in Moscow overnight. But it wasn't a war or terrorist attack. It was the Moscow government putting your tax rubles to work.
Because this was a special operation, the city government and media are using special terminology to describe it. To help you understand it, I've put together a little primer. ?
????????: demolition, the orderly dismantling of a structure. The party line: ?’ ?????‡?? ???° 9 ?„?µ???€?°?»?? ?????? ???????? ???????»?? ???????»?? ?????‚???? ?‚???€???????‹?… ?‚???‡?µ?? (On the night of Feb. 9 about 100 shops were taken down). The real story: Hundreds of bulldozers appeared in the middle of the night and smashed to smithereens several million dollars' worth of real estate.
????????????, ???°?»?°?‚???? ?? ???°?????»???????‹: kiosks, stalls, and pavilions, i.e. small, flimsy trading booths. The party line: ???????????????? ?????‡???? ???°?‡?°?»???? ???µ???????‚?°?¶ ???°?????»??????????, ?±?µ?· ?€?°?·?€?µ???µ?????? ?????·???µ???µ?????‹?… ?€???????? ???? ???‚?°???†???????? ???µ?‚?€?? (Last night work began to demolish stalls that had been put up next to metro stations without permission.) The real story: Solid, stone one-, two- and three-story buildings, hooked up to utilities, with licenses, deeds, and court orders certifying their legal status were destroyed.
???°?????????»?????°?? ???????‚?€???????°: unauthorized structure, also called ???°???????‚?€???? (shanty), ???µ?·?°?????????°?? ???????‚?€???????° (illegally built structure). The party line: ???????????° ???·?±?°???»???µ?‚???? ???‚ ?????°?????????? ???°???????‚?€???? (Moscow is getting rid of its dangerous shanties). The real story: Perfectly safe, authorized, inspected buildings were destroyed for no clear reason.
???€???·???°?????‹??: adjudicated, declared, determined, i.e., status granted as the result of a legal process. Party line: ?’ ?€?°?·???‹?… ?€?°???????°?… ???°?‡?°?»???? ???????? ?‚???€???????‹?… ??????????????, ???°?»?°?‚???? ?? ???°?????»??????????, ???€???·???°?????‹?… ???‚???»???‡???‹?? ???€?°?????‚?µ?»?????‚?????? ?????‚?µ???†???°?»?????? ?????°?????‹?? ???°???????‚?€???µ?? (In various districts, demolition began of trading kiosks, stalls and pavilions that were determined by the city government to be potentially dangerous illegal construction.) The real story: After every court ruled in favor of the store owners, the city decreed they could tear down buildings without a court order.
???‚???…???????‹??: primitive, cobbled together, i.e., something that appeared spontaneously. Party line: ???? ???»?????°?? ?????µ?†???°?»?????‚????, ???‚???…???????‹?µ ?????????‚?€?????†???? ?????????‚ ???€?µ?????‚?°???»???‚?? ?????€???·?? ???»?? ???°?¶???‹?… ?????€???????????… ?????????????????°?†???? (Specialists say that these structures, which were quickly thrown up, might be a threat to key city utility lines.) The real story: Although all these solid buildings that have stood for up to 20 years are fully licensed and inspected, my brother-in-law and his buddy said that in a hurricane phone lines might be affected.
So if you read the official news reports, it sounds like a bunch of ugly, illegally constructed market stalls and shanties were torn down to protect citizens' health and safety.
But here's what the free press — well, Facebook ?€” says about it:
It was called: ?????‡?? ???»???????‹?… ?????????µ?? (Night of the long diggers); ?????‡?? ?…?€?????‚?°?»?????‹?… ?»?°?€???????? (Night of the crystal stalls); or just: ???µ?????????????????? ???????€???? (today's pogrom). Someone wrote that is looked like "???????????° ?????????µ?€???»?°???? ???°?€???°?€???????? ?±?????±?°?€?????€???????µ" (barbaric bombing raids hit Moscow).
What I say is: ???????‚?? ???µ???‚?? ???????‚?? ???µ ?±?‹???°?µ?‚ (Nature abhors a vacuum).
Let's see how empty those lots are in six months.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.