Moving past my comfort zone...

[alexpgp]

I am faced with a Russian phrase, "прост как три рубля." Literally, "simple as three rubles" (or "simple as a three-ruble bill").

Despite Google assuring me of 235,000 occurrences of this string of characters on the Internet, neither Galina nor Feht have ever heard the phrase. Hmmm.

In any event, the top few search results (including this one) convinces me that my gut "understanding" of the phrase—someone/something not very bright or sophisticated—is well within the ballpark.

In my original translation, I didn't give too much thought to the English-speaking reader and translated it as "as sophisticated as a three-ruble bill." The only problem is, pretty much any English-speaking reader would have to make a certain leap, based on context, to figure out what is meant. What would be left is, basically, an annoyance.

So I am leaning out just a bit and, relying on my rather limited stock of what I call "Texas-ism" (along the lines of "nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs"), I've decided that what is going out to the client is this:

"as sophisticated as a bag of rocks."

Let 'em complain, if they like.

Cheers...

Comments

[my-coast.livejournal.com]

Interesting translation... I know this idioma; it's not common in modern Russian and rather colloquial.. actually even for me it seems too be strange, because I cannot understand why a person may be simple as three rubles :) Why three, not one or five rubles, or fifty copecks? :))

I've asked my colleague, he said that his father used to use the phrase "simple as 50 copecks", and when my colleague asked him why 50 copecks, his father answered "What is complicated in 50 copecks?".
Strange :)

[skipperja.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard that expression in a long time!