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Scaling the wall...
Apr. 12th, 2008 10:56 amNot much context to go on, except that the head of a company is being interviewed and the interviewer suggests that the company's recent achievements consists of a bunch of anniversary celebrations. The old guy takes umbrage (I think) and proceeds to recite a laundry list of accomplishments. He ends by saying Так что юбилеи - юбилеями, а служба - службой .
There is an implied verb in there, somewhere, and I am not bright enough to figure out what it should be. The word юбилей means anniversary (jubilee is cognate); служба can mean any of a small constellation of words that are in the same neighborhood as "business," "duty," and "service".
Galina is not of much help, because although she understands what is meant, she can't effectively convey the meaning (at least, not in terms simple enough for my addled, caffeine-starved brain to grasp). This, by the way, is another data point to support my contention that subject-matter experts are often not helpful in the search for understanding. (Also, that one cannot drink too much coffee. :^)
Last night, I looked up the whole phrase on Google, with no joy. I looked up "юбилеи - юбилеями" with the same result. I looked in my deadwood idiom dictionary for юбилей, with no success.
Man, I should have taken that extra step!
This morning, after returning from a long walk to the beach with Shiloh, I looked up "служба - службой" and racked over 11 thousand hits on Google. The first half dozen hits on the first page refer to the more complete "дружба дружбой, а служба службой," which I don't recall hearing that way, but which does happen to be listed in my idiom dictionary.
Basically, the latter means "business and friendship don't mix."
This gives me a very solid shove in the right direction, toward the light.
Cheers...
UPDATE: The obvious "So celebrations and work don't mix" isn't it. My tentative rendering, for now: "So, there is a time to celebrate and a time to work."
There is an implied verb in there, somewhere, and I am not bright enough to figure out what it should be. The word юбилей means anniversary (jubilee is cognate); служба can mean any of a small constellation of words that are in the same neighborhood as "business," "duty," and "service".
Galina is not of much help, because although she understands what is meant, she can't effectively convey the meaning (at least, not in terms simple enough for my addled, caffeine-starved brain to grasp). This, by the way, is another data point to support my contention that subject-matter experts are often not helpful in the search for understanding. (Also, that one cannot drink too much coffee. :^)
Last night, I looked up the whole phrase on Google, with no joy. I looked up "юбилеи - юбилеями" with the same result. I looked in my deadwood idiom dictionary for юбилей, with no success.
Man, I should have taken that extra step!
This morning, after returning from a long walk to the beach with Shiloh, I looked up "служба - службой" and racked over 11 thousand hits on Google. The first half dozen hits on the first page refer to the more complete "дружба дружбой, а служба службой," which I don't recall hearing that way, but which does happen to be listed in my idiom dictionary.
Basically, the latter means "business and friendship don't mix."
This gives me a very solid shove in the right direction, toward the light.
Cheers...
UPDATE: The obvious "So celebrations and work don't mix" isn't it. My tentative rendering, for now: "So, there is a time to celebrate and a time to work."
