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It takes a foreigner an average of three hours in Russia before he or she realizes that Russians are serious fish eaters.
Actually, I made that up. But certainly the first time foreigners see sushi bars on every corner or sit at a Russian table covered with platters of fish, they realize that Russians like рыба (fish). It makes sense. Ancient Russians settled next to rivers and lakes, where throughout the year food could be caught regardless of droughts, floods, early snow, late frosts or any of the other climatic disasters that strike this land with sad regularity. Recipes may have changed over the centuries, but the basic ways to prepare fish are still practiced: жарить (to fry), тушить (to bake), коптить (to smoke), солить (to salt), вялить (to cure; a particular process of salting and drying fish).
It's no surprise that fishy notions have entered the language. If someone makes no impression, you can say: Он ни рыба, ни мясо (He's neither fish nor fowl). The affectionate рыбка is an unfishlike warm and fuzzy way to address someone you love. It's not unusual for a mother to coo over her new baby: Рыбка моя! (My little darling; literally, my fishie!) Note, however, that in business, рыба can also refer to a boilerplate, first draft or sample document: Напиши рыбу контракта (Write a draft of the contract).
In Russia, fish have a reputation for reticence: нем/молчит как рыба (mute/silent as a fish). Вместо того чтобы поддерживать меня на переговорах, он сидел и молчал как рыба. (Instead of supporting me during the negotiations, he just sat there with his mouth shut).
If you are beating your head against the wall over an impossible task, you can use the expression биться как рыба об лёд (literally, to beat against the ice like a fish). Бьюсь как рыба об лёд, но получить ипотеку не получается (I've been beating my head against the wall, but I just can't get a mortgage).
On the other hand, if you find yourself in a comfortable situation, you are как рыба в воде (like a fish in water). In English, we talk about someone being fish out of water, but don't use the image of a fish happily swimming in his element. Он чувствовал себя в этом коллективе, как рыба в воде (He felt right at home among the staff).
Russians also claimed an old Greek expression: ловить рыбу в мутной воде (to fish in troubled waters). A long time ago, fishermen realized that if they stirred up the bottom sand and lowered nets, fish would swim into them. The expression is used to describe anyone making a profit or gain during troubled times. Теперь можно легко сделать состояние -- всегда хорошо ловить рыбу в мутной воде (It's easy to make a fortune these days -- you can always catch fish in troubled waters).
These days you might hear an old fish expression with a new twist: Рыба тухнет с головы, но чистят её с хвоста (a fish rots from the head down, but gets cleaned from the tail). According to the lexicographer Vladimir Dal, the first part of the image was originally used to describe a stupid person. Today it means that if a business is rotten, it's the fault of the rotten boss. The second half, which seems to be a later addition, bemoans the fate of the little man. Even if it's the boss who is rotten, it's the lower-level folks who get reamed.
That is, when a badly run company is failing, it's the secretaries who get fired first, while the bosses come up with some fish story about their profits.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
