?“?°???€????́?»: Gabriel
Time for a pop quiz! What is ???°???€????? a) a nickname for Gavriil; b) a sleeping mat for dogs, a conflation of ???°?? (bark) and ???????€???? (small rug); c) a silly person; d) a hustler; e) all of the above; f) none of the above; g) some of the above; h) will you just tell us already?
If you chose (g), you're right, and very clever not to be tricked by my fake dog etymology. If you chose (h), your word is my command.
?“?°???€???? is an odd word. Ask four people what it means and you'll get five answers. ?“?°???€???? seems to be young or youngish person, usually male but not always; a kind of goof-off; maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer; someone who isn't the most honest fellow you ever met; or someone who is just not serious. Our boy ?“?°???€???? might be just one of those types or be all of them. Figuring out which ???°???€???? is meant in each situation is the first tricky bit. The second is figuring out how to translate them.
Sometimes ???°???€?????? might be just "boys" with enough context to indicate that they're bad boys. Here ???°???€?????? are kind of low-level street punks pushing into the territory of a local crime boss: ???°???»????, ?‚?????? ???°???€?????? ?…?°???????»?? ?????????‹?? ???°???°?·????? ??‚?? ?? ?‚?????µ?? ???‚???€?????‹ ?…?°?????‚????, — ???€?????‚???? ???·?????…?????» ???»?µ?????°?????€. ("Pavlik, was it your boys who hit the wine store? That's way out of line," Alexander said with a sad sigh.) And here they'll be up to no good: ?????? ???°???€?????? ?·???µ???? ???? ???»???†?°?? ???????????‚?€???‚ (My boys will be hustling on the streets.) And in this case, the ???°???€???? was caught: ?????µ?€ ?????€???? ?????‚?€?µ?????‚?µ?»?????? ?????±?°???€?????µ?». — ???»?????°??, ???°???€????! ???‹ ???? ???????? ???µ ?????‚??! (The detective suddenly turned purple with rage. "Listen, you punk! Don't play games with me!")
In other contexts they are just guys, blokes, dudes — the key word here being "just." They aren't anyone special. Here is the head of a laboratory complaining: ???????‡?????µ?????‹?… ?? ???µ???? — ?????µ???°???†?°?‚?? ???°???€????????, ?° ?·?° ?????????? ???‚???€?°?????‚?? ???µ????????. (I've got 12 blokes working under me and there's no one I can send out for wine.)
And then sometimes those gray men whom no one notices are not gray men at all: ?”?µ?»?? ?? ?‚????, ?‡?‚?? ?‚?µ ?????° ???°???€?????°, "?„???‚?????€?°?„?‹", ?????°?·?°?»?????? ?????±???????????°???? (Actually, those two nobodies — the photographers — turned out to be KGB.)
The kind of ???°???€???? that is hardest to translate is the non-serious ???°???€???? — the person who isn't trying hard, or doesn't really care, or who just doesn't cut it. On a translators' forum, one participant wrote about serious translators and ???°???€?????? — slapdash translators who crank out a romance novel over a weekend, never double check anything, and make up whatever they don't understand. But ???°???€?????? can be redeemed: ?›?????? ???µ?€?µ?…???????‚ ???· ???°???€???????? ?? ?°???‚???????‹?µ ?‡?»?µ???‹ ?„???€?????° (Lightweights can turn into active members of the forum.)
So people work with ???°???€??????: ?????»???‡???» ???????µ???????µ?????‚ "?????????‹?… ???µ???±???‡?µ?????‹?…" ???°???€???????? ?? ?????»?¶?µ?? ?±?‹?» ???±???‡???‚?? ???… ?????µ?????????? ?????????????‚???? (I got 80 "able-bodied but untrained" know-nothings and I had to teach them the art of war.) And sometimes they have success: ???°?? ???? ???‚?€?°??????, ?????? ???°???€?????? ?????°?·?°?»?????? ?????€?°?·???? ?»???‡???µ, ?‡?µ?? ?? ???€?µ???????»?°???°?» (Strange as it seems, my twerps turned out to be much better than I expected.)
So be nice to your local ???°???€????. He might turn out to be president some day.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.