But Baby It's Cold Outside

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???????/?????????: someone who is always cold

M???? ?????? -- ???? ????????! (January is the Lord of winter!) Now there's a folk saying that has stood the test of time. There's nothing like standing at the bus stop and feeling like you're in a sci-fi movie: The wicked witch of winter blows frigid air over the city, and the temperature drops five degrees in three minutes. You take off your glasses to keep the metal from freezing to your nose, and send mental thanks to crazy Aunt Gladys, who gave you that ridiculous snow mask for Christmas. Who thought it would come in handy so soon?

This is what Russians call ?????????? ??????. These freezing cold days (??????) refer to the church holiday of ??????????? -- ???????? ???????? (properly called in English the "Holy Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ"), celebrated on Jan. 19. This is the day when Christ was baptized (????????) in the Jordan River and as the church says, "The three Faces of God appeared -- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." This is ??????????? (Theophany, the "appearance of God before man"), though Russians in everyday speech usually call the holiday ????????.

So where does the cold come in? In much the same way Americans have tracked hurricane season or know when to expect a Nor'easter, over the millennia Russians have noticed that cold weather tends to show up around this church holiday. This year it's right on schedule. The only consolation is in another bit of folk weather forecasting: ???? ?????? ????????, ???? ????? ????? ? ??????. (If January is cold, July will be hot and dry.) Start booking your vacation now.

We describe cold weather a bit differently in English and Russian. In Russian, ????? is like a giant: ??????? (powerful), ??????? (strong) or even ????????? (cracking). In English, cold is biting, bitter or raw. Lucky for us, the giant has a little toddler, the weaker ??????? (chilly weather). ?? ????? ????? ???????. (It was nippy outside.) ????? can also be used as a synonym for ???? ???? (below zero) in weather forecasts: ??????? ????????? 25 ???????? ??????. (Today the temperature is expected to drop to 25 degrees below zero.) And it can describe that clammy feeling you get when your neighbor leers at you: ?? ????? ?????????! ????? ??????? ?? ???? -- ?? ????? ?? ????. (He's revolting! When he looks at me it makes my flesh crawl.)

There are two verbs it's helpful to know these freezing days. ???????? refers to what the weather is doing: ??? ????????, ??? ????, ????????. (It had gotten dark, snow started to fall and the temperature dropped.) ???????? refers to what happens to you in cold weather: ? ????? ???????? ??? ? ??? ????????, ??? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?????????! (I waited for the bus an hour and was chilled to the bone. I couldn't warm up all evening.)

It would be nice if ??????? ?????? meant "freezing weather," but Russian is never that kind to us. Somewhere in the mists of the past, ??????? split off from the frozen pack and has come to mean vile or loathsome (what gives you goose bumps). ??????? ?????? is lousy weather, and usually refers to wet and cold days, but not freezing ones. On the other hand, when this adjective or the related noun ???????? are used in reference to a person, they describe that guy who gave you the creeps on the stairwell. ????????! (The slimeball!)

Some manage in cold weather; others can't stand it. In Russian people who are always cold or get chilled easily are called ???????? (men) or ????????? (women). In English we don't have a commonly used word to describe them. Only one informant told me that in his neck of the woods, they call these shivering folks "chilly-bones."

It should be no surprise that he's from Wisconsin, where they know from cold.

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