?’ ???°???‹?‡???°?…: in quotes, so-called
I have never made peace with Russian ?·???°???? ???€?µ???????°?????? (punctuation marks). I persist in putting in ?·?°?????‚?‹?µ (commas) where they don't belong, dither over where the period goes with ???°???‹?‡???? (quotes) and have resorted to the childish principle: When in doubt, use ?‚???€?µ (dash).
But when I started learning what these symbols are called in Russian and how they are discussed, punctuation got, well, interesting. ???‚?? ?±?‹ ?????? ???????????°?‚??? (Who'd a thunk it?)
Take, for example, ???°???‹?‡???? (quotation marks). First fun fact: There is no singular form of the word. This is good news for us foreigners: You don't have wonder if it's ???????? ???°???‹?‡?µ?? or ???????° ???°???‹?‡???° (one quotation mark) like you do about other words used mostly in the plural, like ?????????? (socks) — ?????????? or ?????????°?
Second fun fact: The «» style of Russian quotation marks is called ?‘?»???‡???? (herringbone, literally little firs), which in English are called French quotation marks, guillemots, chevrons, angle quotation marks or duck-foot quotes. How cool is that? I wish English had duck-foot quotes.
Like in English, Russian quotation marks indicate direct speech, but they are also used to convey that something is ?‚?°?? ???°?·?‹???°?µ???‹?? (so-called): ?•?‘ ???‡???‚?°???‚ «?€???????????? ???€?°???°?????†?µ??» (She's considered a "Russian beauty").
Those quotes mean: "I don't think so." In spoken Russian, people use the phrases ?? ???°???‹?‡???°?… (in quotes) and ?±?µ?· ???°???‹?‡?µ?? (without quotes) to indicate their attitude to a word or phrase. ?’ ???°???‹?‡???°?… means "I don't share this view," while ?±?µ?· ???°???‹?‡?µ?? means "I'm dead serious about this." Here are two examples from discussions about Ukraine: ???????±?????° ???»?? ?????€?°?????‹ ?????°?·?°?»?°???? ?? ???°???‹?‡???°?… (In Ukraine, freedom is in name only). ?????€?°?????†?‹ ???µ ?»???±???‚ ???????µ???? ???????µ???°-?±?€?°?‚?????????? (?±?µ?· ???°???‹?‡?µ??) ???°?€?????° (Ukrainians don't like their neighbor, a fraternal — no irony intended — nation).
The gesture of air quotes is not very widespread in Russia. In a highly unscientific survey of Russians aged 25 to 85, the older generations said they never made air quotes, and only a few of the younger generations said they did. One respondent said that after someone said something he disagreed with — ?•?‘ ???‡???‚?°???‚ ?€???????????? ???€?°???°?????†?µ??, for instance — he might raise one hand and flex the index and middle fingers as a jokey way of conveying: "So-called Russian beauty, you mean."
???????±???? (parentheses) are also cited in Russian spoken speech: ?—?°???µ?‚???? ?? ???????±???°?…, ?‡?‚?? ?????‡?µ???? ???‚ ???????° ???µ ?????…?€?°?????»?????? (We should mention parenthetically that nothing of the house was preserved). ???????±???? are also part of a useful expression: ?????‚?°???»???‚?? ?·?° ???????±???°???? (to leave aside).
?”?°?¶?µ ?µ???»?? ?????‚?°?????‚?? ?·?° ???????±???°???? ?±?????°?‚???? ????????????, ?†?µ???‹ ???° ?¶???»???µ ???°?????????? ?????µ?€?µ?¶?°???‚ ?????„?»???†???? (Even if we take rich Moscow out of the equation, housing prices are rising much faster than inflation). And then there's #, the punctuation mark with a dozen names in every language. In English it is most commonly called the pound sign, crosshatch, number sign, sharp, hash and hashtag.
? In Russian it used to be most commonly called ?€?µ???‘?‚???° (grate) or ?????µ?· (sharp) in the musical world, but now it is sometimes called ?…?µ?? (hash) or even ?·???°?? ???????µ?€?° (number sign). If you speak Russian and don't use Twitter, you probably know # from the telephone and call it ?€?µ???‘?‚???°. I know it from calling card instructions: ???°?±?µ?€???‚?µ ???????µ?€ ?? ?·?°?‚?µ?? ???°?¶?????‚?µ ?€?µ???‘?‚???? (Type in the number and then press the pound key).
Oh, and by the way — ?·?°???µ?‡?? ?? ???????±???°?…, ?‡?‚?? ???€?°?????»??????: ???????? ??????????.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.
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