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Russia's Love of Abbreviations, From Gulag to LUKoil

Wikicommons

??.??.: acting


Russians use a lot of abbreviations — they have to if they want to do anything but talk. Even simple concepts take up a lot of letters. For example, in Russian the word "acting" as in "acting department head" is ?????????»???????‰???? ???±???·?°?????????‚?? (literally "carrying out the functions of"). Wouldn't you cut that down to ??.??.? Think of how much time you'd save — at least 4 seconds every time you said it. That could save you up to a minute a week, or 52 minutes a year — enough time to fall in love, or fix the leaking toilet, or figure out how to balance the family budget with double-digit inflation.

There are several ways to form abbreviations in Russian. You can mash together syllables from different words or combine syllables and whole words. This method produced all those wonderful names of Soviet businesses and factories that I recall as one big plant called ???€?????????????°?????‚?€????. Today this is a common way of dealing with the long names of governmental ministries like ???????„???? (???????????‚?µ?€???‚???? ?„?????°???????? — Finance Ministry) or ?????????±???€?????‹ (???????????‚?µ?€???‚???? ???±???€?????‹ — Defense Ministry).

Another way to form abbreviations is to combine the first letters of words. Some of these abbreviations are pronounced as if they were words — like ?????·, which stands for ???‹?????µ?µ ???‡?µ?±?????µ ?·?°???µ???µ?????µ (school of higher education). The rule seems to be "pronounced like a noun, acts like a noun" — that is, abbreviations like ?????· are declined: ???????????‚?µ?€???‚???? ???????±?»?????????°?»?? ???????????? ???· ?±???»?µ?µ ?‡?µ?? ?‚?‹?????‡?? ?????·????, ?????‚???€?‹?? ?±?‹?»?? ?€?µ???????µ?????????°???? ???????‹?????‚?? ???????? ???„?„?µ???‚???????????‚??. (The ministry published a list of more than 1,000 schools of higher education that they recommended raise their effectiveness.)

Some abbreviations are combinations of initials and syllables, like ?“???›?°?? (GULag), which stands for ?“?»?°???????µ ?????€?°???»?µ?????µ ?»?°???µ?€?µ?? ?? ???µ???‚ ?·?°???»???‡?µ??????. (Main Directorate of Camps and Places of Imprisonment.) ?›?????????» (or ?›?????????» — LUKoil) is also a compilation of initials and a word, this time "oil" transliterated into Russian. The ?›???? part is the initials of three cities in Khanty-Mansiisk where the company had its first oil refineries: ?›?°?????µ???°??, ???€?°?? and ???????°?»?‹??.

Some abbreviations have become so common you forget that they are abbreviations. ?????µ?†???°?· is really ???????€?°?·???µ?»?µ?????µ ?????µ?†???°?»?????????? ???°?·???°?‡?µ?????? (special forces unit), but has already generated the word ?????µ?†???°?·?????µ?† (a special forces soldier).

The Russian workplace is abbreviation heaven — or hell, if you don't speak in syllables and initials. Your boss is probably called ?“?” or ???µ???????€?µ???‚???€ (???µ???µ?€?°?»?????‹?? ?????€?µ???‚???€ — general director). ?“?µ???????€?µ???‚???€ ???????? ?€?°???????°?¶?µ?‚ ?? ?????????? ???‚?€?°?‚?µ?????? ?°???µ???‚???‚???°. (The general director of TASS will talk about the agency's new strategy.) There may also be ?—?“?” or ?·?°?????µ???????€?µ???‚???€ (?·?°???µ???‚???‚?µ?»?? ???µ???µ?€?°?»?????????? ?????€?µ???‚???€?° — deputy general director). Every office has the ???»?°???±???…, which can be reconstructed as ???»?°?????‹?? ?±???…???°?»?‚?µ?€ (chief accountant), and a few ?·?°?? ???»?°???±???…?° (deputy chief accountants).

By the way, ?·?°??s are everywhere. Where there is ?????»???€?µ?? (?????»?????????‡???‹?? ???€?µ?????‚?°?????‚?µ?»?? — ambassador or envoy), there is sure to be ?·?°???????»???€?µ?? (deputy envoy). In the office next to the ???»?°???€?µ?? (???»?°?????‹?? ?€?µ???°???‚???€ — editor in chief) is the ?·?°?????»?°???€?µ???  (?·?°???µ???‚???‚?µ?»?? ???»?°?????????? ?€?µ???°???‚???€?° — deputy editor in chief, sometimes called managing editor). ?“???µ ?????????°?‚?° ?·?°???°? (Where is the deputy's office?)

The whole point of abbreviations is brevity, but the folks at the site sokr.ru — the go-to source for all things abbreviated — have found a "short form" institute name that is 55 letters long: ???????????????›???‘??????? ???‘?•???–?•?›?‘?•??? ???‘???‘??? ?????????????????????????”???•??????? ??????????.

Now that puts ???????????????‚?€???????°?? to shame.

Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.

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