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The Whirling Tandem

?????»???‚ ?›???‡???????‚??: Cartoon of Personality, a series of short animation, wordplay on ?????»???‚ ?»???‡???????‚?? (personality cult)

Where was I? Oh, right. Here we are in - what year? Give me a minute … 2010. That’s it. January. I remember now. After the holidays: digging the car out, scrolling through 1,500 e-mail messages and catching up on the news.

If you missed it — or if you are reading this online at a snowed-in European airport or at baggage claim in Sheremetyevo 2 — the big news in Russia over the holidays was a short cartoon of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin singing ?‡?°???‚???????? (irreverent rhyming ditties). Medvedev plays the accordion, Putin taps a tambourine on various body parts, and the two of them dance and twirl, interspersed with chummy comments like ?????»?????µ?†! (Attaboy!) — mostly Putin to Medvedev — and ???????»?°???µ??! (I agree!) — mostly Medvedev to Putin.

Since everyone is talking about it, you might want to check it out on the Internet. And just in case your Russian has slipped a bit over the long holiday season (how many million brain cells are destroyed by a shot of vodka?), here’s some prosaic help deciphering it.

It begins with a little pun on the word ???????????????‚??, which means both to let someone down and to tally something up: ? ?°?· ???????»?° ?‚?°???°?? ???????° / ???????????????‚?? ???‚?????? ???????° / ?’???‚ ?? ???‹ ???µ ?????????µ???‘?? / ?? ???µ???‡?°?? ???… ?????????µ???‘??. (Since today it’s all the fashion / to assess the year’s results / We won’t let you down / We’ll tally them up right now).

In another passage, they joke about Ukraine’s failure to pay a gas bill with a punning reference to Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector.” In Gogol’s play, one of the characters says: ?? ?????????€?? ?????µ?? ???‚???€?‹?‚??, ?‡?‚?? ?±?µ?€?? ???·???‚????, ???? ?‡?µ?? ???·???‚????? ?‘???€?·?‹???? ?‰?µ?????°????. (I tell everyone outright that I take bribes, but in what? Borzoi puppies.) Russia’s leaders sing: ???€???????? ?????µ??, ?‡?‚?? ?? ???‚???‚ ?€?°?· / ?????»?°?‚???‚?? ???µ???????°???? ???°?· / ?? ???µ ?±?°?????°????, ?±?»?????°???? / ?? ?±???€?·?‹???? ?®?‰?µ?????°???? (This time we request that Kiev / Pay for gas with cash / Not with stories or with blinis / Or with Yushenko’s puppies).

At another point, they sing about Sberbank’s unsuccessful bid to buy Opel. Medvedev: ???°?? ???±?µ?€?±?°???? ???°?? ???? ???‚?°?€?°?»???? / ?????µ?»?? ?‚?°?? ?? ???µ ???€?????°?»???? (No matter how hard our Sberbank tried / Opel just wouldn’t sell). Putin: ?? ?‚?µ???µ?€?? ?…???°?»?‘???‹?? ?????µ?»?? / ?????°?·?°?‚?????? ?????¶?µ?‚ — (And now much-vaunted Opel / might find itself —). Here Medvedev cuts in: — ?? ???»???±???????? ???€???·?????µ, ?’?»?°?????????€ ?’?»?°?????????€???????‡! (In deep crisis, Vladimir Vladimirovich!) The joke here is that the rhythm and rhyme suggest a different ending for Putin’s line. Let me just check The Moscow Times style guide … Nope. Can’t print that. And definitely can’t print that. Hmm. Let’s just say that Opel might find itself where the sun don’t shine.

Most of the humor is in the visuals of the dancing-in-tandem leaders and their comments to each other, especially when they sound like slangy 15-year-olds. At one point, Medvedev says: ????-?????µ????, ?¶?¶?‘??, ?’?»?°?????????€ ?’?»?°?????????€???????‡! (I think we’re really hot, Vladimir Vladimirovich!). When Medvedev boasts about his blogging, Putin responds in ???»?±?°???????µ?? (Albanian, aka, Internet slang): ?? ?·???°??. ?? ???µ???? ???µ?‚ ???° ???µ?‚ / ?’?°?? ????????: ???€?µ???µ??, ???µ?????µ??! (I know. From time to time / I write you: Hi there, Bear!). And Medvedev responds in kind: ?”?°, ?? ??????????. ???€???????»?????‹?? ???»???‡?°??! (Yes, I remember. That was a riot!)

Well, it seemed funny at the time. Pass the vodka, please.

Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.

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