Moscow notes...
Oct. 12th, 2013 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpBefore my unscheduled visit to the Botkin Hospital in August, my sister-in-law and I visited the open air flea market out by the Partizanskaya Metro station. In looking over the photos I took, the following items in photos taken at a tee-shirt stand caught my eye.
The first was a curious graphic of a hand wrapped around a hand grenade:
The tattoo ("За ВДВ") is the Russian equivalent of "Airborne!" (literally, it translates as: "For the air-assault troops"), although it was explained to me in Baikonur (where a ВДВ banner sits on the wall of the bar in the Polyot hotel next to, among other insignia, the flag of the Marine Corps), that the initials may also stand for "Uncle Vasya's Troops," where "Vasya" refers to the founder of the ВДВ, Army General Vasiliy Margelov. As is the case with most such expressions, if you're an outsider, saying it to the wrong person at the wrong time or in the wrong tone of voice may earn you a mouthful of knuckles, or worse.
The words on the shirt read: «Сбит с ног - сражайся на коленях, идти не можешь - лежа наступай» ("If they knock you down, fight on your knees. If you can't get up, attack while you're down."). I would expect nothing less of airborne troops, whose ultimate goal in combat is to jump out of a perfectly serviceable airplane onto a piece of real estate surrounded by enemy forces.
* * * The next image needs no translation. I just wonder: How popular might the sentiment be in the at-large population?
Cheers...
The first was a curious graphic of a hand wrapped around a hand grenade:
The tattoo ("За ВДВ") is the Russian equivalent of "Airborne!" (literally, it translates as: "For the air-assault troops"), although it was explained to me in Baikonur (where a ВДВ banner sits on the wall of the bar in the Polyot hotel next to, among other insignia, the flag of the Marine Corps), that the initials may also stand for "Uncle Vasya's Troops," where "Vasya" refers to the founder of the ВДВ, Army General Vasiliy Margelov. As is the case with most such expressions, if you're an outsider, saying it to the wrong person at the wrong time or in the wrong tone of voice may earn you a mouthful of knuckles, or worse.
The words on the shirt read: «Сбит с ног - сражайся на коленях, идти не можешь - лежа наступай» ("If they knock you down, fight on your knees. If you can't get up, attack while you're down."). I would expect nothing less of airborne troops, whose ultimate goal in combat is to jump out of a perfectly serviceable airplane onto a piece of real estate surrounded by enemy forces.
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:31 pm (UTC)Гуд-бай, Америка
I
Когда умолкнут все песни,
Которых я не знаю,
В терпком воздухе крикнет
Последний мой бумажный пароход.
ref
Good-bуe Америка, о,
Где я не был никогда.
Прощай навсегда.
Возьми банджо,
Сыграй мне на прощанье.
Ла-ла-ла-
Ла-ла-ла-
II
Мне стали слишком малы
Твои тертые джинсы.
Нас так долго учили
Любить твои запретные плоды.
ref
Good-bуe Америка, о,
Где я не буду никогда.
Услышу ли песню,
Которую запомню навсегда
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 12:51 am (UTC)Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 06:25 pm (UTC)In my experience, I saw relatively few such shirts while in Russia (and Kazakhstan). In fact, I saw hardly any clothing at all "decorated" with Cyrillic lettering. It was all pretty much in English.