???€?µ?????µ: middling
After dipping into the rich pools of ?????????? (a lot) and ???°?»?? (a little), I had the bright idea of looking at what's in between them. So I peered into the Russian middle ground — and discovered that it's pretty sparsely inhabited.
The main Russian adverb for in-between-ness is ???€?µ?????µ (middling, so-so), which can refer to anything that is in between two extremes, like wealth and poverty, or heat and cold. Unlike ?????????? and ???°?»??, it doesn't seem to be used as a one-word characterization very often, but you can come across it: ???°?? ???»?????°?‚ ?…???€???????? — ???€?µ?????µ, ???µ ?…???»????????, ???µ ?¶?°?€????, ?° ???€?????‚?? ?‚?µ???»?? (It has a great climate — it's moderate: not cold, not hot, but just warm).
Instead, Russians often spell things out using the adjective ???€?µ????????: ???? ?????»???‡?°?µ?‚ ???€?µ???????? ?·?°?€???»?°?‚?? (He gets an average salary). Or they use the adverb ?????µ?€?µ?????? (moderately) or adjective ?????µ?€?µ?????‹?? (moderate). ?¦?µ???‹ ?? ?€?µ???‚???€?°???µ ?±?‹?»?? ???µ???????° ?????µ?€?µ?????‹?µ (The prices in the restaurant were quite reasonable).
Or they avoid the boring middle ground and juxtapose extremes. For example, one newspaper article asks, ???°?? ?????‚?°?????????‚?? ?·?°?€???»?°?‚?? ?????‚?€???????????° ???µ?¶???? "??????????" ?? "???°?»??"? (How do you set an employee's salary between "a lot" and "a little"?)
And then they fudge with the phrase ???µ?‡?‚?? ???€?µ?????µ?µ (something in between) or ?????µ-?‚?? ?? ???µ?€?µ???????µ or ???????€?µ???????µ (somewhere in the middle).
Maybe the problem is that in-the-middle-ness isn't a very attractive quality for Russians. ???€?µ???????? and ???€?µ?????µ can be neutral words when applied to quantities, like temperatures or heights, but when they are applied to other human qualities or output, they can have the sense of mediocre. Here ???€?µ???????? isn't midway in-between big and small, it's in- between good and bad. ???? ???€?µ???????? ???‡?µ?????? (He's a mediocre student). ???? ???????°?» ???µ???????° ???€?µ?????µ, ???? ???µ ???°???‚???»?????? ???¶ ?…???¶?µ ???????????… ???· ?????»?»?µ?? (His writing was quite average, but it wasn't that much worse than many of his colleagues).
Now this particular middle ground between good and bad is more fertile Russian linguistic territory. You might hear ???€?µ?????µ???????? (just so-so), one of those diminutives that seems to be much more damning than the word it was derived from. ?????‚?‘?€ ?????€?°?» ???€?µ?????µ???????? (The actor was only just fair).
Other words for mediocrity include the adjective ???????€?µ?????‚???µ?????‹?? (fair, average) and adverb ???????€?µ?????‚???µ?????? (so-so). ?????‡?????µ?????? ???????°?» ???????€?µ?????‚???µ??????, ?????‡?µ?€?? ???¶?°???µ??, ?? ???°?‚?µ???°?‚?????µ ???????±?€?°?¶?°?» ???»?°?±?? (He wrote fair to middling essays, had terrible handwriting, and a poor grasp of mathematics). There's also ?·?°???€???????‹??/?·?°???€???????? (ordinary). ????, ?‡?‚?? ????????-?‚?? ???°?¶?µ?‚???? ?????·???‚????????, ???»?? ???€?????????? — ???????»???µ ?·?°???€???????? (Something that seems exotic to one person might be completely run-of-the-mill for someone else).
Or you might hear a bunch of negatives: ???°??-?‚?? ???µ ???‡?µ???? (not much; so-so), ???µ ?‚?°?? ???¶ ?????‘ ?…???€?????? (things aren't really so swell), ???? ?…???€??????, ???? ???»???…?? (not good or bad), ???µ ?°?…?‚?? ???°?? (nothing special, from the exclamation ?°?…! — wow!). ?”?µ?»?° ?? ?‚?µ?±?? ?? ???????»?µ?????µ?µ ???€?µ???? ???µ ?°?…?‚?? ???°?? (Lately your business is nothing to write home about).
I like the phrase ???€?µ?????µ?? ???°?€???????????‚?? (moderately mangy), which can be applied to almost anything: ?”?°?¶?µ ?‚???????° ???°?„?µ ???‡???‚?°?»?????? ???€?µ?????µ?? ???°?€???????????‚?? (Even then the cafe was considered just barely acceptable).
Happily, there is one Russian phrase that casts not too big and not too small in a good light. When you're served just enough food or something is affordable or a text is perfectly fine, you can say: ???°?? ?€?°?·! (Just right!)
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.