?“?????????‚??: to honk, sort of
When we talk about the "untranslatable" in texts, we mean words and concepts that do not have an equivalent in another language: cultural concepts, names of food or types of architecture, etc. But it turns out the untranslatable might also be associated with something as mundane as cell phone payment plans.
In the U.S., you get a bill once a month for your phone activity over the past 30 days. In Russia, you make a pre-payment for phone traffic you expect to have over the upcoming 30 days. If you forget to pay or spend more time yakking than usual, you may suddenly realize you are really low on phone funds or have hit zero.
The ways Russians deal with these two circumstances are described by a variety of slang words — all of which are "untranslatable" into American English because in the U.S. there is not the annoying problem, the clever solution or the cool way to talk about it.
In Russia, if you are low on funds but need to talk to someone, you call them from your phone, let the call ring once so that your number flashes on their screen and then you hang up. This will let the other person know to call you back. My young friends in Moscow call this ???????????‚?? (literally, to honk once) or ?????µ?»?°?‚?? ?????·?????? (literally, to make a call through). Or they say: ?? ?????·???????? ?? ???±?€?????? ?·??????????, ?? ?‚?‹ ?????µ ???€?°?·?? ???µ?€?µ?·???????????? (I will call you and drop the call, and you call me right back). Or they might explain: ?? ?‚?µ?±?µ ???€???????????°?»??, ?? ?‚?‹ ?????µ ?????·???????? (I will signal you, and you call me back).
In other parts of the former Soviet Union — and possibly among some folks in Moscow — this is called ???°?????????‚?? from the noun ???°???? (lighthouse) and the notion of sending a signal. Although I cannot independently confirm this, I have read that Russian speakers in Latvia use the word ?…?€?????????‚?? (literally, to oink once). I hope that is true because it is very witty.
If your cell phone account is on zero or in the red, your provider lets you send a couple of emergency text messages free of charge. My young Moscow friends call this ?????????‚?? ?…?°?»?????? (literally, to toss a freebie), but in other regions and other sets it might be called ?????????‚?? ?±?????¶-??????, ???????€?????°?????? or ?±?µ?????»?°?‚???? (literally, to toss a homeless text message, a beggar text or a free text).
You can send out slangy signals in other Russian contexts. In Ukraine ???°?????????‚?? is commonly used to mean to send a signal, inform or report something: ???°???????? ?????µ, ?????????° ???‹?????µ???? (Let me know when you are leaving). No one in my Moscow set says this. Instead, they use the word ???????????‚??, which is "to bark" in literary Russian and "to talk nonsense" in older colloquial Russian. In today's slang, it means "to give a holler": ?’????????, ?????????° ?????µ???µ????, ?° ?‚?? ?? ?±?????? ?±?µ?????????????‚?????? (Let me know when you get home, or else I will worry).
Another slang word for this is ???µ???°?„???€???‚?? (to signal, as in workers or sailors with flags). ???µ ?·?°?±?????? ???€?????µ???°?„???€???‚?? ?????µ, ?‡?‚?? ?????‘ ?? ?????€???????µ (Do not forget to give me a sign that everything's all right).
???°?????????‚??, which is a busy little word, can also mean to flash your car lights: ???°???????? ?µ???? ???°?»?????????? ?„?°?€?°????. (Flash your high beams at him.)
Flashing, barking, honking, oinking … Signaling is energetic work in Russia.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.