?›???…??: wildly, jauntily, recklessly, slickly, evilly, rakishly, dashingly, with great difficulty, with great aplomb; also the one-eyed personification of evil and bad luck
If the first 10 years of this century are called ?????‹?»?‹?µ ?????»?µ???‹?µ (the gloomy oughts), what are the last 10 years of the last century called? They are ?»???…???µ ???µ???????????‚?‹?µ. And ?»???…???? means … ? Wait. I need to pop an aspirin and take my Prozac. Ah, that’s better. Now I can start to deal with perhaps my least-favorite Russian word.
Actually, ?»???…?? and ?»???…???? are fascinating words. The problem is that they have about five different meanings and can be either extremely negative or extremely positive, depending on the context and speaker. The original meaning of the word was something like “immoderate.” In old Russian, the word meant evil, bad, unfortunate. As a noun, ?›???…?? is ???????????»?°?·???µ (one-eyed), the personification of evil and ill fortune. It’s this ?»???…?? in the wise saying: ???µ ?±?????? ?»???…?? ???????° ?????? ?‚???…?? (don’t look for trouble; literally, “Don’t wake Evil while it’s quiet”). ?›???…???µ ???µ?»?? is bad business; ?»???…?°?? ???????????° means hard times; ?»???…???? ?€?°?·?±?????????? is a wild and murderous outlaw. ???µ ???????????°???‚?µ ???µ???? ?»???…???? is what you say when you’ve been naughty: Don’t think ill of me. And ?»???…?? is lower-case evil in another expression: ???·???°?‚??, ?????‡?‘?? ?„?????‚ ?»???…?° (to fall on hard times; literally, “to find out how much a pound of misfortune costs”).
The second meaning is as an intensifier for something bad: ?»???…???? ???µ?????? (a serious illness); ?»???…???? ?????€???· (bitter cold). It’s this sense in another common expression: ?»???…?° ?±?µ???° ???°?‡?°?»?? (the first step is the hardest; literally, “the beginning is a sore trouble”).
And then we jump to the third meaning: a person or action that is daring, deft, jaunty, cocky or high-spirited. Sometimes this is good. ???? ?»???…?? ???‚???»?????‹???°?» ?‡?°?€?»?????‚???? (He danced a spirited Charleston). In 19th-century literature, ?»???…???? ???°?»?‹?? might be a dashing lad. In today’s New York, you’d probably say admiringly: Man, that guy’s got balls. When someone has pulled something off, you can say: ?›???…??! (Slick!) This could mean either “well done” or the more ambiguous “you sneaky little bastard.” ?
Also good is ?»???…???? ???°?µ?·???????? (a dashing rider). The adverb ?»???…?? can be used to describe skillful driving with an overlay of showing off: ?’???€???? ???·-?·?° ?????»?° ???‹?»?µ?‚?µ?»?° ?‚?€???????° ?? ?»???…?? ?????‚?°?????????»?°???? ???µ?€?µ?? ?????€???‚?°???? (Suddenly, a troika flew around the corner and nimbly came to a halt in front of the gates).
This sense of being overdone and show-offy is present when the word ?»???…?? is used with other things: ?»???…?? ?·?°???€???‡?µ?????‹?µ ?????‹ (dashing curled moustaches); ?»???…?? ?·?°???€???‡?µ?????‹?? ?????¶?µ?‚ (a wildly twisting plot); ?»???…?? ?·?°?»???????‚?? ???°?????? (to cock one’s hat at a jaunty angle).
But in other cases, youthful derring-do turns into reckless and dangerous acts. ?’???????‚?µ?»?? ?»???…?? ???‘?» ???°?? ?°???‚???±???? ???? ?????€?????µ, ???µ?‚?»?????‰?µ?? ???µ?¶???? ?…???»???°???? (The driver careened our bus on the switchbacks in the hills.) ?›???…?°?‡ is a reckless driver, and ?»???…?°?‡???‚?? is the verb that describes his mad dashes between lanes, over curbs and through yellow lights.
So back to the 1990s. The phrase ?»???…???µ ???µ???????????‚?‹?µ was apparently first used in a 2001 novel by Andrei Konstantinov called ?’?‹???????‰???? (The Liar) and was then the title of a documentary television series in 2007. Is ?»???…???µ here dashing, skillful, reckless, evil, lawless, cocky, jaunty or high-spirited? As far as I can tell, the phrase is used to suggest hard times: lawless, out-of-control and wild.
Pass the Prozac, please.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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