Meanings of famous phrases and expressions. Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary. Pull the wool over someone's eyes

12 popular expressions, the meaning of which is not known to everyone

Editor's response

Catchphrases help to express thoughts more accurately and give speech a more emotional coloring. They allow you to express more emotions in a few short but precise words and convey your personal attitude to what is happening.

AiF.ru resembles the meanings of some Russian phraseological units.

Quietly

Originally, this expression implied secretly digging a tunnel or secret tunnel. The word "zappa" (translated from Italian) means "earth shovel".

Borrowed from French, the word turned into the French "sap" and received the meaning of "earth, trench and submine work", from this word the word "sapper" also arose.

In Russian, the word “sapa” and the expression “silent sapa” meant work that was carried out with extreme caution, without noise, in order to get close to the enemy unnoticed, in complete secrecy.

After widespread dissemination, the expression acquired the meaning: carefully, in deep secrecy and slowly (for example, “So he quietly drags all the food from the kitchen!”).

Can't see anything

According to one version, the word “zga” comes from the name of a part of a horse’s harness - a ring in the upper part of the arch, into which the reins were inserted so as not to dangle. When the coachman needed to unharness the horse, and it was so dark that this ring (zgi) was not visible, they said that “there is no sign of it.”

According to another version, the word “zga” comes from the Old Russian “s’tga” - “road, path, path.” In this case, the meaning of the expression is interpreted as “so dark that you can’t even see the road or path.” Today the expression “nothing is visible”, “nothing is visible” means “nothing is visible”, “impenetrable darkness”.

The blind leads the blind, but both do not see. (last)

“Darkness hangs over the earth: you can’t see it...” ( Anton Chekhov, "Mirror")

Dance from the stove

Vasily Alekseevich Sleptsov. 1870 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Published in St. Petersburg, 1903

The expression “dance from the stove” first appeared in a novel by a 19th-century Russian writer Vasily Sleptsova"Good man". The book was published in 1871. There is an episode in it when the main character Seryozha Terebenev remembers how he was taught to dance, but he could not do the steps required from the dance teacher. There is a phrase in the book:

- Oh, what are you, brother! - the father says reproachfully. - Well, go back to the stove, start over.

In Russian, this expression began to be used when speaking about people for whom the habit of acting according to a fixed script replaces knowledge. A person can perform certain actions only “from the stove”, from the very beginning, from the simplest and most familiar action:

“When he (the architect) was commissioned to plan, he usually drew the hall and the hotel first; just as in the old days schoolgirls could dance only from the stove, so he artistic idea could originate and develop only from the hall to the living room.” ( Anton Chekhov,"My life").

Shabby look

During times Tsar Peter I lived Ivan Zatrapeznikov- an entrepreneur who received the Yaroslavl textile manufactory from the emperor. The factory produced a material called “pestryad”, or “pestryadina”, popularly nicknamed “trashy”, “trashy” - coarse and low-quality cloth made from hemp (hemp fiber).

Clothes were made from shabby clothes mainly by poor people who could not buy themselves something better. And such poor people looked appropriate. Since then, if a person is dressed sloppily, they say about him that he looks shabby:

“The hay girls were poorly fed, dressed in shabby clothes and given little sleep, almost exhausting continuous work». ( Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Poshekhon antiquity”)

Sharpen the laces

To sharpen your lasses means to talk idle talk, to engage in useless chatter. Lyasy (balusters) are turned, figured posts of railings at the porch.

At first, “sharpening balusters” meant conducting an elegant, fancy, ornate (like balusters) conversation. However, there were few people skilled in conducting such a conversation, and over time the expression began to mean idle chatter:

“They used to sit down in a circle, some on a bench, some simply on the ground, each with some kind of task, a spinning wheel, a comb or bobbins, and they would go and go sharpen their laces and tell tales about another, old time.” ( Dmitry Grigorovich, "Village").

Lies like a gray gelding

To lie like a gray gelding means to tell tales without being embarrassed at all. In the 19th century, an officer served in one of the regiments of the Russian army, a German by the name of von Sievers-Mehring. He liked to tell the officers funny stories and fables. The expression “lies like Sivers-Mehring” was understandable only to his colleagues. However, they began to use it throughout Russia, completely forgetting about the origins. Sayings have appeared among the people: “lazy as a gray gelding”, “stupid as a gray gelding”, although the horse breed has nothing to do with this.

Bullshit

According to one version, the expression “bullshit” comes from “lying like a gray gelding” (in fact, these two phrases are synonymous)

There is also a version that the expression “bullshit” comes from the name of one scientist - Brad Steve Cobile, who once wrote a very stupid article. His name, consonant with the words “bullshit,” was correlated with scientific nonsense.

According to another version, “bullshit” is an expression denoting a stupid statement or thought; appeared due to the beliefs of the Slavs that the gray horse (gray with an admixture of another color) was the most stupid animal. There was a sign according to which if you dream gray mare, then in reality the dreamer will be deceived.

Androns are traveling

“Androns are coming” means nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, complete nonsense.

In Russian, this phrase is used in response to someone who tells a lie, puts on inappropriate airs and brags about himself. In the 1840s, throughout almost all of Russia, andres (andron) meant a cart, various kinds of carts.

“And you don’t have to scold my house! - Am I scolding?.. Cross yourself, Petrovnushka, the androns are coming! ( Pavel Zarubin, “Dark and bright sides of Russian life”)

Live as a Biryuk

The expression “to live like a pearl” means to be a hermit and a closed person. In the southern regions of Russia, a wolf is called a biryuk. The wolf has long been considered a dangerous animal for the economy. The peasants perfectly studied his habits and habits and often remembered them when speaking about the person. “Oh, you’ve grown old, brother! - Dunyashka said regretfully. “It’s become kind of gray, like biryuk.” ( Mikhail Sholokhov, "Quiet Don")

Mikhail Golubovich in the film "Biryuk". 1977

Play spillikins

Spillikins are various small household items that were used during the ancient game. Its meaning was to pull out one toy after another from a pile of toys with your fingers or a special hook, without touching or scattering the rest. The one who moves the adjacent spilliyule passes the move to the next player. The game continues until the whole pile is cleared. By the beginning of the twentieth century, spillikins became one of the most popular games in the country and were very common not only in children, but also in adults.

In a figurative sense, the expression “to play tricks” means to engage in trifles, nonsense, leaving aside the main and important things:

“After all, I came to the workshop to work, and not to sit idly by and play with spillikins.” ( Mikhail Novorussky"Notes of a Shlisselburger")

Pies with kittens

In Rus' they never ate cats, except in times of severe famine. During long-term sieges of cities, their inhabitants, having exhausted all food supplies, used domestic animals for food, cats were the last to go.

Thus, this expression means a catastrophic state of affairs. Usually the proverb is abbreviated and said: “These are the pies,” in other words, “those are the things.”

Leave unsalted with a slurp

Illustration for the fairy tale “Shemyakin Court”. Copper engraving, first half of the 18th century. Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Balabanov

In Rus' in the old days, salt was an expensive product. It had to be transported from afar off-road; taxes on salt were very high. When visiting, the owner salted the food himself, with his own hand. Sometimes, expressing his respect to especially dear guests, he even added salt to the food, and sometimes those who sat at the far end of the table did not get any salt at all. Hence the expression “to leave unsalted”:

“And the more she spoke, and the more sincerely she smiled, the stronger the confidence became in me that I would leave her with a slurp.” ( Anton Chekhov"Lights")

“The fox let go of his prey and went away, slurping unsalted.” ( Alexey Tolstoy"The Fox and the Rooster")

Shemyakin court

The expression “Shemyakin court” is used when they want to emphasize the injustice of any opinion, judgment or assessment. Shemyaka - a real historical figure, Galician Prince Dimitry Shemyaka, famous for his cruelty, deceit and unrighteous deeds. He became famous for his tireless, persistent struggle with the great Prince Vasily the Dark, his cousin, for the Moscow throne. Today, when they want to point out the bias or injustice of some judgment, they say: “Is this criticism? Some kind of Shemyakin court.”

Description of some catchphrases

We often use so-called catchphrases without even knowing their origin. Of course, everyone knows: “And Vaska listens and eats” - this is from Krylov’s fable, “gifts of the Danaans” and “ Trojan horse" - from the Greek legends about the Trojan War... But many words have become so close and familiar that we can’t even imagine who said them first.

Scapegoat
The history of this expression is as follows: the ancient Jews had a rite of absolution. The priest laid both hands on the head of the living goat, thereby, as it were, transferring the sins of the entire people onto it. After this, the goat was driven out into the desert. Many, many years have passed, and the ritual no longer exists, but the expression still lives on...

Tryn-grass
The mysterious “tryn-grass” is not at all some kind of herbal medicine that people drink so as not to worry. At first it was called “tyn-grass”, and tyn is a fence. The result was “fence grass,” that is, a weed that no one needed, everyone was indifferent to.

Master of sour cabbage soup
Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food: water and sauerkraut. Preparing them was not particularly difficult. And if someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, it meant that he was not fit for anything worthwhile. Balzac’s age

The expression arose after the publication of the novel by the French writer Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) “A Woman of Thirty” (1831); used as a characteristic of women aged 30-40 years.

White crow
This expression, as a designation of a rare person, sharply different from the rest, is given in the 7th satire of the Roman poet Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127 AD):
Fate gives kingdoms to slaves and brings triumphs to captives.
However, such a lucky person is rarer than a black sheep.

Plant the pig
In all likelihood, this expression is due to the fact that some peoples do not eat pork for religious reasons. And if such a person was quietly put pork in his food, then his faith was desecrated.

Throwing a stone
The expression “throwing a stone” at someone in the sense of “accusing” arose from the Gospel (John 8:7); Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, who, tempting him, brought to him a woman caught in adultery: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (in ancient Judea there was a penalty - stoning).

Paper endures everything (Paper does not turn red)
The expression goes back to the Roman writer and orator Cicero (106 - 43 BC); in his letters “To Friends” there is an expression: “Epistola non erubescit” - “A letter does not blush,” that is, in writing one can express thoughts that one is embarrassed to express orally.

To be or not to be - that is the question
The beginning of Hamlet's monologue in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, translated by N.A. Polevoy (1837).

Wolf in sheep's clothing
The expression originated from the Gospel: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

In borrowed plumes
It arose from a fable by I.A. Krylov “The Crow” (1825).

Add the first number
You won’t believe it, but... from the old school, where students were flogged every week, no matter who was right or wrong. And if the mentor overdoes it, then such a spanking would last for a long time, until the first day of the next month.

Register Izhitsa
Izhitsa is the name of the last letter of the Church Slavonic alphabet. Traces of flogging on well-known places of careless students strongly resembled this letter. So registering an Izhitsa means teaching a lesson, punishing it, and it’s easier to flog it. And you still criticize modern school!

I carry everything I have with me
The expression originated from an ancient Greek legend. When the Persian king Cyrus occupied the city of Priene in Ionia, the inhabitants abandoned it, taking with them the most valuable of their possessions. Only Biant, one of the “seven wise men”, a native of Priene, left empty-handed. In response to the perplexed questions of his fellow citizens, he answered, referring to spiritual values: “I carry everything I own with me.” This expression is often used in the Latin formulation due to Cicero: Omnia mea mecum porto.
Everything flows, everything changes
This expression, which defines the constant variability of all things, sets out the essence of the teachings of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 530-470 BC)

Goal like a falcon
Terribly poor, beggar. People usually think that we are talking about a bird. But the falcon has nothing to do with it. In fact, the “falcon” is an ancient military battering gun. It was a completely smooth (“bare”) cast iron block attached to chains. Nothing extra!

Orphan Kazan
This is what they say about a person who pretends to be unhappy, offended, helpless in order to pity someone. But why is the orphan “Kazan”? It turns out that this phraseological unit arose after the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. The Mirzas (Tatar princes), finding themselves subjects of the Russian Tsar, tried to beg all sorts of concessions from him, complaining about their orphanhood and bitter fate.

Unlucky man
In the old days in Rus', “path” was the name given not only to the road, but also to various positions at the prince’s court. The falconer's path is in charge of princely hunting, the hunter's path is in charge of hound hunting, the stableman's path is in charge of carriages and horses. The boyars tried by hook or by crook to get a position from the prince. And those who did not succeed were spoken of with disdain: a good-for-nothing person.

Was there a boy?
One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood. Klim hands Boris the end of his gymnasium belt, but, feeling that he too is being pulled into the water, he lets go of the belt. Children are drowning. When the search for the drowned begins, Klim is struck by “someone’s serious, incredulous question: “Was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy.” The last phrase became popular as a figurative expression of extreme doubt about something.

Twenty two misfortunes
So in the play by A.P. Chekhov “ The Cherry Orchard"(1903) is the name of the clerk Epikhodov, with whom some comic misfortune happens every day. The expression is applied to people with whom some misfortune constantly happens.

Money doesn't smell
The expression arose from the words of the Roman emperor (69 - 79 AD) Vespasian, said by him, as Suetonius reports in his biography, on the following occasion. When Vespasian's son Titus reproached his father for introducing a tax on public latrines, Vespasian brought the first money received from this tax to his nose and asked if it smelled. To Titus's negative answer, Vespasian said: "And yet they are made of urine."

Draconian measures
This is the name given to the excessively harsh laws named after Dragon, the first legislator of the Athenian Republic (7th century BC). Among the punishments determined by its laws, the death penalty allegedly occupied a prominent place, which punished, for example, such an offense as theft of vegetables. There was a legend that these laws were written in blood (Plutarch, Solon). In literary speech, the expression “draconian laws”, “draconian measures, punishments” have become stronger in the meaning of harsh, cruel laws.

Inside out
Now this seems to be a completely harmless expression. And once it was associated with shameful punishment. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, a guilty boyar was placed backwards on a horse with his clothes turned inside out and, in this disgraced form, was driven around the city to the whistling and jeers of the street crowd.

Retired goat drummer
In the old days, trained bears were brought to fairs. They were accompanied by a dancing boy dressed as a goat, and a drummer accompanying his dance. This was the goat drummer. He was perceived as a worthless, frivolous person.

Yellow press
In 1895, American graphic artist Richard Outcault published a series of frivolous drawings with humorous text in a number of issues of the New York newspaper “The World”; Among the drawings was a picture of a child in a yellow shirt, to whom various funny sayings were attributed. Soon another newspaper, the New York Journal, began publishing a series of similar drawings. A dispute arose between these two newspapers over the right of primacy to the “yellow boy”. In 1896, Erwin Wardman, editor of the New York Press, published an article in his magazine in which he contemptuously called both competing newspapers "yellow press." Since then, the expression has become popular.

Finest hour
An expression by Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) from the preface to his collection of historical short stories, Humanity's Finest Hours (1927). Zweig explains that he called historical moments starry hours “because, like eternal stars, they invariably shine in the night of oblivion and decay.”

Golden mean
An expression from the 2nd book of odes of the Roman poet Horace: “aurea mediocritas.”

Choose the lesser of two evils
An expression found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle “Nicomachean Ethics” in the form: “The lesser of evils must be chosen.” Cicero (in his essay “On Duties”) says: “One should not only choose the least of evils, but also extract from them themselves what can be good in them.”

To make mountains out of molehills
The expression is one of the ancient ones. It is quoted by the Greek writer Lucian (3rd century AD), who ends his satirical “Praise of the Fly” like this: “But I interrupt my speech, although I could say a lot more, lest anyone think that I “, as the proverb goes, I make a mountain out of a molehill.”

Highlight
The expression is used in the meaning: something that gives a special taste, attractiveness to something (a dish, a story, a person, etc.). It arose from a popular proverb: “Kvass is not expensive, the zest in kvass is expensive”; became popular after the appearance of L. N. Tolstoy’s drama “The Living Corpse” (1912). The hero of the drama Protasov, talking about his family life, says: “My wife was an ideal woman... But what can I tell you? There was no zest - you know, there is zest in kvass? - there was no game in our lives. And I needed to forget. And without the game you won’t forget...”

Lead by the nose
Apparently, trained bears were very popular, because this expression was also associated with fairground entertainment. Gypsies led bears by a ring threaded through their noses. And they forced them, the poor fellows, to do various tricks, deceiving them with the promise of a handout.

Sharpen the laces
Lyasy (balusters) are turned figured posts of railings at the porch. Only a true master could make such beauty. Probably, at first, “sharpening balusters” meant conducting an elegant, fancy, ornate (like balusters) conversation. But in our time, the number of people skilled in conducting such a conversation became fewer and fewer. So this expression came to mean empty chatter.

a swan song
The expression is used to mean: the last manifestation of talent. Based on the belief that swans sing before death, it arose in ancient times. Evidence of this is found in one of Aesop’s fables (6th century BC): “They say that swans sing before they die.”

Flying Dutchman
A Dutch legend has preserved the story of a sailor who vowed, in a strong storm, to round the cape that blocked his path, even if it took him forever. Because of his pride, he was doomed to forever rush on a ship on a raging sea, never landing on the shore. This legend obviously arose in the age of great discoveries. It is possible that its historical basis was the expedition of Vasco da Gama (1469-1524), who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497. In the 17th century this legend was associated with several Dutch captains, which is reflected in its name.

Seize the day
The expression apparently goes back to Horace (“carpe diem” - “seize the day”, “take advantage of the day”).

The lion's share
The expression goes back to the fable of the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop “The Lion, the Fox and the Donkey”, the plot of which - the division of prey among the animals - was later used by Phaedrus, La Fontaine and other fabulists.

The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave
Quote from the drama by F. Schiller (1759 - 1805) “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” (1783). This phrase (d.3, iv.4) is uttered by the Moor, who turned out to be unnecessary after he helped Count Fisco organize a rebellion of the Republicans against the tyrant of Genoa, Doge Doria. This phrase has become a saying characterizing a cynical attitude towards a person whose services are no longer needed.

Manna from heaven
According to the Bible, manna is the food that God sent to the Jews every morning from heaven when they walked through the desert to the promised land (Exodus 16, 14-16 and 31).

Disservice
The expression arose from I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Hermit and the Bear” (1808).

Honeymoon
The idea that the happiness of the first stage of marriage quickly gives way to the bitterness of disappointment, figuratively expressed in eastern folklore, was used by Voltaire for his philosophical novel “Zadig, or Fate” (1747), in the 3rd chapter of which he writes: “Zadig experienced that The first month of marriage, as described in the book of Zend, is the honeymoon, and the second is the wormwood month.”

Young people love us everywhere
Quote from “Song of the Motherland” in the film “Circus” (1936), text by V. I. Lebedev-Kumach, music by I. O. Dunaevsky.

Silent means consent
Expression of Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) in one of his messages, included in canon law (a set of decrees of church authority). This expression goes back to Sophocles (496-406 BC), in whose tragedy “The Trachinian Women” it is said: “Don’t you understand that by silence you agree with the accuser?”

Torments of Tantalus
In Greek mythology, Tantalus, the king of Phrygia (also called the king of Lydia), was the favorite of the gods, who often invited him to their feasts. But, proud of his position, he offended the gods, for which he was severely punished. According to Homer (“Odyssey”), his punishment was that, cast down into Tartarus (hell), he forever experiences unbearable pangs of thirst and hunger; he stands up to his neck in water, but the water recedes from him as soon as he bows his head to drink; branches with luxurious fruits hang over him, but as soon as he stretches out his hands to them, the branches deviate. This is where the expression “torment of Tantalus” arose, meaning: unbearable torment due to the inability to achieve the desired goal, despite its proximity.

On the seventh sky
Expression meaning highest degree joy, happiness, goes back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC), who in his essay “On Heaven” explains the structure of the firmament. He believed that the sky consists of seven motionless crystal spheres on which the stars and planets are established. The seven heavens are mentioned in various places in the Quran: for example, it is said that the Quran itself was brought by an angel from the seventh heaven.

I don't want to study, I want to get married
Words by Mitrofanushka from D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor” (1783), no. 3, yavl. 7.

New is well forgotten old
In 1824, the memoirs of milliner Marie Antoinette Mademoiselle Bertin were published in France, in which she said these words about the queen’s old dress that she had updated (in reality, her memoirs are fake - their author is Jacques Pesce). This idea was perceived as new only because it had been well forgotten. Already Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) said that “there is no new custom that is not old.” This quote from Chaucer was popularized by Walter Scott's book The Folk Songs of Southern Scotland.

Nick down
In this expression, the word “nose” has nothing to do with the organ of smell. A “nose” was the name given to a memorial plaque, or a note tag. In the distant past, illiterate people always carried such tablets and sticks with them, with the help of which all kinds of notes or notches were made as memories.

Break a leg
This expression arose among hunters and was based on the superstitious idea that with a direct wish (both down and feather), the results of a hunt can be jinxed. In the language of hunters, feather means bird, and down means animals. In ancient times, a hunter going on a hunt received this parting word, the “translation” of which looks something like this: “Let your arrows fly past the target, let the snares and traps you set remain empty, just like the trapping pit!” To which the earner, in order not to jinx it either, replied: “To hell!” And both were sure that evil spirits, invisibly present during this dialogue, will be satisfied and fall behind, and will not plot intrigues during the hunt.

Beat your head
What are “baklushi”, who “beats” them and when? For a long time, artisans have been making spoons, cups and other utensils from wood. To carve a spoon, it was necessary to chop off a block of wood from a log. Apprentices were entrusted with preparing the bucks: it was an easy, trivial task that did not require any special skill. Preparing such chocks was called “beating the lumps.” From here, from the mockery of the masters at the auxiliary workers - “baklushechnik”, our saying came from.

About the dead it's either good or nothing
The expression often quoted in Latin: “De mortuis nil nisi bene” or “De mortuis aut bene aut nihil” seems to go back to the work of Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD): “Life, teaching and opinions famous philosophers”, which contains the saying of one of the “seven wise men” - Chilon (VI century BC): “Do not slander the dead.”

Oh holy simplicity!
This expression is attributed to the leader of the Czech national movement, Jan Hus (1369-1415). Sentenced by a church council as a heretic to be burned, he allegedly uttered these words at the stake when he saw that some old woman (according to another version, a peasant woman) in simple-minded religious zeal threw the brushwood she had brought into the fire. However, Hus's biographers, based on reports of eyewitnesses to his death, deny the fact that he uttered this phrase. The church writer Turanius Rufinus (c. 345-410), in his continuation of Eusebius's History of the Church, reports that the expression “holy simplicity” was uttered at the first Council of Nicaea (325) by one of the theologians. This expression is often used in Latin: “O sancta simplicitas!”

An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth
An expression from the Bible, the formula for the law of retribution: “A fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth: as he has injured a person’s body, so must he do it” (Leviticus 24:20; about the same - Exodus 21: 24; Deuteronomy 19, 21).

From great to funny one step
This phrase was often repeated by Napoleon during his flight from Russia in December 1812 to his ambassador in Warsaw, de Pradt, who spoke about it in the book “History of the Embassy to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw” (1816). Its primary source is the expression of the French writer Jean-François Marmontel (1723-1799) in the fifth volume of his works (1787): “In general, the funny comes into contact with the great.”

The language will take you to Kyiv
In 999, a certain Kiev resident Nikita Shchekomyaka got lost in the endless, then Russian, steppe and ended up among the Polovtsians. When the Polovtsians asked him: Where are you from, Nikita? He answered that he was from the rich and beautiful city of Kyiv, and described the wealth and beauty of his native city to the nomads in such a way that the Polovtsian Khan Nunchak attached Nikita by the tongue to the tail of his horse, and the Polovtsians went to fight and plunder Kyiv. This is how Nikita Shchekomyaka got home with the help of his tongue.

Sharomyzhniki
1812 When the French burned Moscow and were left in Russia without food, they came to Russian villages and asked for food She rami, like give it to me. So the Russians began to call them that. (one of the hypotheses).

Bastard
This is an idiomatic phrase. There is a river called Voloch, when the fishermen came with their catch, they said ours and Voloch came. There are several other tomological meanings of this word. To drag - to collect, to drag. This word came from them. But it became abusive not long ago. This is the merit of 70 years in the CPSU.

Know all the ins and outs
The expression is associated with an ancient torture in which needles or nails were driven under the fingernails of the accused to extract a confession.

Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh’s hat!
Quote from A. S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”, scene “The Royal Chambers” (1831), monologue of Boris (Monomakh in Greek is a martial artist; a nickname that was combined with the names of some Byzantine emperors. In ancient Rus' this nickname was assigned to the Grand Duke Vladimir (beginning of the 12th century), from whom the Moscow kings traced their origin. Monomakh's cap is the crown with which the Moscow kings were crowned kings, a symbol of royal power). The above quote characterizes a difficult situation.

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer
The Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) in his essay “Phaedo” attributes to Socrates the words “Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth.” Aristotle, in his work “Nicomachean Ethics,” polemicizing with Plato and referring to him, writes: “Even though friends and truth are dear to me, duty commands me to give preference to truth.” Luther (1483-1546) says: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth should be preferred” (“On the Enslaved Will,” 1525). The expression “Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas” - “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”, was formulated by Cervantes in the 2nd part, ch. 51 novels "Don Quixote" (1615).

Dancing to someone else's tune
The expression is used to mean: to act not according to one’s own will, but according to the will of another. Goes back to the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who in the 1st book of his “History” says: when the Persian king Cyrus conquered the Medes, the Greeks of Asia Minor, whom he had previously tried in vain to win over to his side, expressed their readiness obey him, but under certain conditions. Then Cyrus told them the following fable: “One flute player, seeing fish in the sea, began to play the flute, expecting them to come out to him on land. Having lost his hope, he took a net, threw it in and pulled out many fish. Seeing the fish struggling in the nets, he said to them: “Stop dancing; when I played the flute, you didn’t want to come out and dance.” This fable is attributed to Aesop (VI century BC).

After the rain on Thursday
The Rusichi - the most ancient ancestors of the Russians - honored among their gods the main god - the god of thunder and lightning Perun. One of the days of the week was dedicated to him - Thursday (it is interesting that among the ancient Romans Thursday was also dedicated to the Latin Perun - Jupiter). Prayers were offered to Perun for rain during the drought. It was believed that he should be especially willing to fulfill requests on “his day” - Thursday. And since these prayers often remained in vain, the saying “After the rain on Thursday” began to be applied to everything that is unknown when it will come true.

Get into trouble
In dialects, a binder is a fish trap woven from branches. And, as in any trap, being in it is not a pleasant thing. Beluga roar

Beluga roar
He's as dumb as a fish - you've known that for a long time. And suddenly a beluga roars? It turns out that we are not talking about the beluga, but the beluga whale, which is the name of the polar dolphin. He really roars very loudly.

Success is never blamed
These words are attributed to Catherine II, who allegedly expressed herself this way when A.V. Suvorov was put on trial by military court for the assault on Turtukai in 1773, undertaken by him contrary to the orders of Field Marshal Rumyantsev. However, the story about Suvorov’s arbitrary actions and about putting him on trial is refuted by serious researchers.

Know yourself
According to the legend reported by Plato in the dialogue "Protagoras", the seven wise men ancient Greece(Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson and Chilo), meeting together in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, wrote: “Know yourself.” The idea of ​​knowing oneself was explained and disseminated by Socrates. This expression is often used in its Latin form: nosce te ipsum.

Rare bird
This expression (Latin rara avis) meaning “rare creature” is first found in the satires of Roman poets, for example, in Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127 AD): “A rare bird on earth, sort of like black Swan".

Born to crawl cannot fly
Quote from “Song of the Falcon” by M. Gorky.

Smoke rocker
In old Rus', huts were often heated in a black way: the smoke did not escape through a chimney (there was none at all), but through a special window or door. And they predicted the weather by the shape of the smoke. The smoke comes in a column - it will be clear, dragging - towards fog, rain, a rocker - towards the wind, bad weather, or even a storm.

Not appropriate
This is a very old sign: only the animal that the brownie likes will live both in the house and in the yard. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll get sick, get sick, or run away. What to do - not good!

Hair on end
But what kind of rack is this? It turns out that standing on end means standing at attention, on your fingertips. That is, when a person gets scared, his hair seems to stand on tiptoes on his head.

Get into trouble
Rozhon is a sharp pole. And in some Russian provinces this is what they called four-pronged pitchforks. Indeed, you can’t really trample on them!

From the ship to the ball
Expression from “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin, chapter 8, stanza 13 (1832):

And travel for him,
Like everyone else in the world, I'm tired of it,
He returned and hit
Like Chatsky, from the ship to the ball.

This expression characterizes an unexpected, sharp change in situation or circumstances.

Combine business with pleasure
An expression from “The Art of Poetry” by Horace, who says about the poet: “He is worthy of all approval who combines the pleasant with the useful.”

Wash your hands
Used to mean: to avoid responsibility for something. It arose from the Gospel: Pilate washed his hands before the crowd, giving Jesus to them for execution, and said: “I am not guilty of the blood of this righteous man” (Matt. 27:24). The ritual washing of hands, which serves as evidence of the non-involvement of the person washing in anything, is described in the Bible (Deuteronomy 21:6-7).

Weak spot
It arose from the myth about the only vulnerable spot on the hero’s body: Achilles’ heel, a spot on Siegfried’s back, etc. Used in the meaning: the weak side of a person, deeds.

Fortune. Wheel of Fortune
Fortuna is the goddess of blind chance, happiness and misfortune in Roman mythology. She was depicted blindfolded, standing on a ball or wheel (emphasizing her constant changeability), and holding a steering wheel in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. The rudder indicated that fortune controls a person's destiny.

Upside down
Loitering - in many Russian provinces this word meant walking. So, upside down is just walking upside down, upside down.

Grated kalach
By the way, in fact there was such a type of bread - grated kalach. The dough for it was crushed, kneaded, and grated for a very long time, which is why the kalach turned out to be unusually fluffy. And there was also a proverb - don’t grate, don’t crush, there won’t be a kalach. That is, trials and tribulations teach a person. The expression comes from a proverb, and not from the name of the bread.

Bring to light
Once upon a time they said to bring fish to clean water. And if it’s a fish, then everything is clear: in thickets of reeds or where snags are drowning in silt, a fish caught on a hook can easily break the fishing line and leave. And in clear water, over a clean bottom - let him try. So it is with an exposed swindler: if all the circumstances are clear, he will not escape retribution.

And there is a hole in the old woman
And what kind of gap (mistake, oversight by Ozhegov and Efremova) is this, a gap (i.e. flaw, defect) or what? The meaning, therefore, is this: And a person wise by experience can make mistakes. Interpretation from the lips of an expert in ancient Russian literature: And on an old woman there is a blow of Porukha (Ukrainian zh. coll.-dec. 1 - Harm, destruction, damage; 2 - Trouble). In a specific sense, porukha (other Russian) is rape. Those. everything is possible.

He who laughs last laughs best
The expression belongs to the French writer Jean-Pierre Florian (1755-1794), who used it in the fable “Two Peasants and a Cloud.”

End justifies the means
The idea of ​​this expression, which is the basis of Jesuit morality, was borrowed by them from the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).

Man is a wolf to man
An expression from the “Donkey Comedy” by the ancient Roman writer Plautus (c. 254-184 BC).

Speech is a way of communication between people. To achieve complete mutual understanding and express your thoughts more clearly and figuratively, many lexical techniques are used, in particular, phraseological units (phraseological unit, idiom) - stable figures of speech that have independent meaning and are characteristic of a particular language. Often, to achieve some kind of speech effect simple words sometimes it's not enough. Irony, bitterness, love, mockery, your own attitude to what is happening - all this can be expressed much more succinctly, more precisely, more emotionally. We often use phraseological units in everyday speech, sometimes without even noticing - after all, some of them are simple, familiar, and familiar from childhood. Many of the phraseological units came to us from other languages, eras, fairy tales, and legends.

Augean stables

First clear out these Augean stables, and then you can go for a walk.

Meaning. A cluttered, polluted place where everything is in complete disarray.

Origin. An ancient Greek legend tells us that King Augeas lived in ancient Elis, a passionate lover of horses: he kept three thousand horses in his stables. However, the stalls in which the horses were kept had not been cleaned for thirty years, and they were overgrown with manure up to the roof.

Hercules was sent to Augeas' service, and the king instructed him to clean the stables, which no one else could do.

Hercules was as cunning as he was powerful. He directed the waters of the river into the gates of the stables, and a stormy stream washed away all the dirt from there within a day.

The Greeks sang this feat along with the other eleven, and the expression “Augean stables” began to be applied to everything neglected, polluted to the last limit, and generally to denote great disorder.

Arshin swallow

It stands as if it had swallowed an arshin.

Meaning. Standing unnaturally straight.

Origin. The Turkish word “arshin”, meaning a measure of length of one cubit, has long become Russian. Before the revolution, Russian merchants and craftsmen constantly used arshins - wooden and metal rulers seventy-one centimeters long. Imagine what a person must look like after swallowing such a ruler, and you will understand why this expression is used in relation to prim and arrogant people.

Overeat henbane

In Pushkin’s “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish,” the old man, outraged by the shameless greed of his old woman, angrily says to her: “Why, woman, have you eaten too much henbane?”

Meaning. Behaving absurdly, viciously, like a madman.

Origin. In the village, in the backyards and landfills, you can find tall bushes with dirty yellowish flowers with purple veins and unpleasant smell. This is henbane - a very poisonous plant. Its seeds resemble poppy seeds, but whoever eats them becomes like a madman: he raves, goes on a rampage, and often dies.

Buridanov's donkey

He rushes about, cannot decide on anything, like Buridan’s donkey.

Meaning. An extremely indecisive person, hesitating between equally valuable decisions.

Origin. Philosophers of the late Middle Ages put forward a theory according to which the actions of living beings depend not on their own will, but solely on external causes. The scientist Buridan (more precisely Buridan), who lived in France in the 14th century, confirmed this idea with such an example. Take a hungry donkey and put on both sides of his muzzle, at equal distances, are two identical armfuls of hay. The donkey will have no reason to prefer one of them to the other: after all, they are exactly alike. He will not be able to reach for either the right or the left and will eventually die from hunger.

Let's go back to our sheep

However, enough about this, let's get back to our sheep.

Meaning. An appeal to the speaker not to be distracted from the main topic; a statement that his digression from the topic of conversation was over.

Origin. Let's return to our sheep - a tracing from the French revenons a nos moutons from the farce “The Lawyer Pierre Patlin” (c. 1470). With these words, the judge interrupts the speech of the rich clothier. Having initiated a case against the shepherd who stole a sheep from him, the clothier, forgetting about his litigation, showers reproaches on the shepherd's defender, lawyer Patlen, who did not pay him for six cubits of cloth.

Versta Kolomenskaya

Everyone will immediately pay attention to a Kolomna mile like you.

Meaning. This is what they call a very tall person, a brute.

Origin. In the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow there was the summer residence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The road there was busy, wide and considered the main one in the state. And when huge milestones were erected, the likes of which had never been seen in Russia, the glory of this road increased even more. The savvy people did not fail to take advantage of the new product and dubbed the lanky man the Kolomna milepost. That's what they still say.

Lead by the nose

The smartest man, he fooled his opponent by the nose more than once or twice.

Meaning. Deceive, mislead, promise and fail to deliver.

Origin. The expression was associated with fairground entertainment. Gypsies took bears to show by wearing a nose ring. And they forced them, poor fellows, to do various tricks, deceiving them with the promise of a handout.

Hair on end

Horror gripped him: his eyes rolled out, his hair stood on end.

Meaning. This is what they say when a person is very frightened.

Origin. “Standing on end” means standing at attention, on your fingertips. That is, when a person gets scared, his hair seems to stand on tiptoes on his head.

That's where the dog is buried!

Ah, that's it! Now it’s clear where the dog is buried.

Meaning. That's the thing, that's the real reason.

Origin. There is a story: the Austrian warrior Sigismund Altensteig spent all his campaigns and battles with his beloved dog. Once, during a trip to the Netherlands, a dog even saved its owner from death. The grateful warrior solemnly buried his four-legged friend and he erected a monument on his grave, which stood for more than two centuries - until the beginning of the 19th century.

Later, the dog monument could only be found by tourists with the help of local residents. At that time, the saying “That’s where the dog is buried!” was born, which now has the meaning: “I found what I was looking for,” “I got to the bottom of it.”

But there is a more ancient and no less probable source of the saying that has come down to us. When the Greeks decided to give the Persian king Xerxes a battle at sea, they put old men, women and children on ships in advance and transported them to the island of Salamis.

They say that a dog that belonged to Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, did not want to part with its owner, jumped into the sea and swam after the ship to Salamis. Exhausted from fatigue, she died immediately.

According to the testimony of the ancient historian Plutarch, a cinema sema was erected for this dog on the seashore - a dog monument, which was shown to the curious for a very long time.

Some German linguists It is believed that this expression was created by treasure hunters who, out of fear of the evil spirits supposedly guarding every treasure, did not dare to directly mention the purpose of their search and conventionally began to talk about a black dog, implying both the devil and the treasure.

Thus, according to this version, the expression “that’s where the dog is buried” meant: “that’s where the treasure is buried.”

Add the first number

For such deeds, of course, they should get paid the first day!

Meaning. Severely punish or scold someone

Origin. Well, what, this expression is familiar to you... And where did it come from on your unfortunate head! You won't believe it, but... from the old school, where students were flogged every week, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. And if the mentor overdoes it, then such a spanking would last for a long time, until the first day of the next month.

Rub glasses

Don't believe it, they're trying to bully you!

Meaning. To deceive someone by presenting the matter in a distorted, incorrect, but beneficial light for the speaker.

Origin. We are not talking about glasses that are used to correct vision. There is another meaning of the word "glasses": red and black marks on playing cards. For as long as there have been cards, there have been dishonest players and cheaters. In order to deceive their partner, they resorted to all sorts of tricks. By the way, they knew how to quietly “rub in points” - turn a seven into a six or a four into a five, on the go, during the game, by gluing in a “point” or covering it with a special white powder. It is clear that “to cheat” came to mean “to cheat”, hence special words were born: “fraud”, “fraud” - a trickster who knows how to embellish his work, pass off the bad as very good.

Voice in the wilderness

Work in vain, you will not convince them, your words are the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Meaning. Denotes vain persuasion, appeals that no one heeds.

Origin. As the biblical stories tell, one of the ancient Hebrew prophets called out from the desert to the Israelites to prepare the way for God: to lay roads in the desert, to make the mountains lower, the valleys to be filled, and the crookedness and unevenness to be straightened. However, the calls of the hermit prophet remained “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” - they were not heard. The people did not want to serve their fierce and cruel god.

Goal like a falcon

Who should I kind word says? After all, I'm an orphan all around. Goal like a falcon.

Meaning. Very poor, beggar.

Origin. Many people think that we are talking about a bird. But she is neither poor nor rich. In fact, the “falcon” is an ancient military battering gun. It was a completely smooth (“bare”) cast iron block attached to chains. Nothing extra!

Naked truth

This is the state of affairs, the naked truth without embellishment.

Meaning. The truth is as it is, without mincing words.

Origin. This expression is Latin: Nuda Veritas [nuda veritas]. It is taken from the 24th ode of the Roman poet Horace (65 - 8 BC). Ancient sculptors allegorically depicted truth (truth) in the form of a naked woman, which was supposed to symbolize the true state of affairs without silence or embellishment.

Onion grief

Do you know how to cook soup, dear onion.

Meaning. A klutz, an unlucky person.

Origin. The caustic volatile substances contained in abundance in the onion irritate the eyes, and the housewife, while crushing the onion for her cooking, sheds tears, although there is not the slightest grief. It is curious that tears caused by the action of irritants chemical composition different from sincere tears. Fake tears contain more protein (this is not surprising, since such tears are designed to neutralize caustic substances that enter the eye), so fake tears are slightly cloudy. However, every person knows this fact intuitively: there is no faith in muddy tears. And onion grief is not called grief, but a passing nuisance. Most often, they turn half-jokingly, half-sorrowfully to a child who has done something strange again.

Two-Faced Janus

She is deceitful, cunning and hypocritical, a real two-faced Janus.

Meaning. Two-faced, hypocritical person

Origin. In Roman mythology, the god of all beginnings. He was depicted with two faces - young man and the elder - looking in opposite directions. One face is turned to the future, the other to the past.

In the bag

Well, that's it, now you can sleep peacefully: it's all in the bag.

Meaning. Everything is fine, everything ended well.

Origin. Sometimes the origin of this expression is explained by the fact that in the days of Ivan the Terrible, some court cases were decided by lot, and the lot was drawn from the judge’s hat. However, the word “hat” came to us no earlier than in the days of Boris Godunov, and even then it was applied only to foreign headdresses. It is unlikely that this rare word could have found its way into a popular saying at that time.

There is another explanation: much later, clerks and clerks, when dealing with court cases, used their hats to receive bribes.

If only you could help me,” says the plaintiff to the clerk in a sarcastic poem. A.K. Tolstoy, - I would pour ten rubles into my hat, by the way. Joke? “Rash now,” said the clerk, holding up his cap. - Come on!

It is very possible that the question: “Well, how am I doing?” - clerks often answered with a sly wink: “It’s in the bag.” This is where the saying could have come from.

Money doesn't smell

He took the money and didn’t wince, money doesn’t smell.

Meaning. It is the availability of money that is important, not the source of its origin.

Origin. To urgently replenish the treasury, the Roman Emperor Vespasian introduced a tax on public urinals. However, Titus reproached his father for this. Vespasian brought the money to his son's nose and asked if it smelled. He answered negatively. Then the emperor said: “But they are from urine...” Based on this episode, a catchphrase developed.

Keep in a black body

Don't let her sleep in bedBy the light of the morning star, Keep the lazy girl in the black body And don’t take the reins off her!

Nikolay Zabolotsky

Meaning. To treat someone harshly, strictly making you work hard; to oppress someone.

Origin. The expression comes from Turkic expressions associated with horse breeding, meaning - to eat in moderation, to be malnourished (kara kesek - meat without fat). The literal translation of these phrases is “black meat” (kara - black, kesek - meat). From the literal meaning of the expression comes “to keep in a black body.”

Bring to white heat

Vile guy, drives me crazy.

Meaning. Make you angry to the limit, drive you crazy.

Origin. When metal is heated during forging, it glows differently depending on the temperature: first red, then yellow and finally blinding white. At a higher temperature, the metal will melt and boil. An expression from the speech of blacksmiths.

Smoke rocker

In the tavern the smoke stood like a yoke: songs, dances, shouting, fighting.

Meaning. Noise, din, disorder, turmoil.

Origin. In old Rus', huts were often heated in a black way: the smoke escaped not through the chimney, but through a special window or door. And they predicted the weather by the shape of the smoke. The smoke comes in a column - it will be clear, dragging - towards fog, rain, a rocker - towards the wind, bad weather, or even a storm.

Egyptian executions

What kind of punishment is this, just Egyptian executions!

Meaning. Disasters that bring torment, severe punishment

Origin. Goes back to the biblical story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. For Pharaoh’s refusal to release the Jews from captivity, the Lord subjected Egypt to terrible punishments - ten Egyptian plagues. Blood instead of water. All the water in the Nile and other reservoirs and containers turned into blood, but remained transparent for the Jews. Execution by frogs. As was promised to Pharaoh: “They will go out and enter into your house, and into your bedroom, and into your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. Toads filled the entire land of Egypt.

Invasion of midges. As a third punishment, hordes of midges fell upon Egypt, attacking the Egyptians, clinging to them, getting into their eyes, noses, and ears.

Dog flies. The country was flooded with dog flies, from which all animals, including domestic ones, began to attack the Egyptians.

Cattle pestilence. All Egyptians' livestock died out; only the Jews were not affected by the attack. Ulcers and boils. The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to take a handful of furnace soot and throw it up in front of Pharaoh. And the bodies of the Egyptians and the animals were covered with terrible sores and boils. Thunder, lightning and fiery hail. A storm began, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and a hail of fire fell on Egypt. Locust invasion. A strong wind blew, and behind the wind hordes of locusts flew into Egypt, devouring all the greenery down to the last blade of grass on the land of Egypt.

Unusual darkness. The darkness that fell on Egypt was thick and dense, you could even touch it; and candles and torches could not dispel the darkness. Only the Jews had light.

Execution of the firstborn. After all the first-born children in Egypt (except for the Jewish ones) died in one night, Pharaoh gave up and allowed the Jews to leave Egypt. Thus began the Exodus.

Iron curtain

We live as if behind an iron curtain, no one comes to us, and we don’t visit anyone.

Meaning. Obstacles, obstacles, complete political isolation of the country.

Origin. At the end of the 18th century. An iron curtain was lowered onto the theater stage to protect spectators in case of a fire. At that time, open fire was used to illuminate the stage - candles and oil lamps.

This expression acquired political overtones during the First World War. On December 23, 1919, Georges Clemenceau declared in the French Chamber of Deputies: “We want to put an iron curtain around Bolshevism so as not to destroy civilized Europe in the future.”

Yellow press

Where did you read all this? Don't trust the yellow press.

Meaning. A low-quality, deceitful press, greedy for cheap sensations.

Origin. In 1895, the New York World newspaper began regularly publishing a series of comic strips called “The Yellow Kid.” Its main character, a boy in a long yellow shirt, made funny comments about various events. In early 1896, another newspaper, the New York Morning Journal, lured the creator of the comic strip, artist Richard Outcault. Both publications thrived on publishing scandalous materials. A dispute broke out between competitors over the copyright of " Yellow baby" In the spring of 1896, the editor of the New York Press, Erwin Wordman, commenting on this litigation, contemptuously called both newspapers “the yellow press.”

Alive Smoking Room

A. S. Pushkin wrote an epigram to the critic M. Kachenovsky, which began with the words: “How! Is Kurilka the journalist still alive? It ended with wise advice: “...How to extinguish a stinking splinter? How can I kill my Smoking Room? Give me some advice.” - “Yes... spit on him.”

Meaning. An exclamation when mentioning someone's continued activity or existence despite difficult conditions.

Origin. There was an old Russian game: a lit splinter was passed from hand to hand, chanting: “The Smoking Room is alive, alive, alive, alive, not dead!..” The one whose sparkle went out, began to smoke, and smoke, lost.

Gradually, the words “the Smoking Room is alive” began to be applied to certain figures and various phenomena that, according to the logic of things, should have disappeared long ago, but, despite everything, continued to exist.

Behind seven seals

Well, of course, because this is a sealed secret for you!

Meaning. Something incomprehensible.

Origin. Goes back to the biblical expression “a book with seven seals” - a symbol of secret knowledge inaccessible to the uninitiated until seven seals are removed from it, III from the prophetic New Testament book “Revelations of St. John the Evangelist." "And I saw in right hand He who sits on the throne has a book written inside and outside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open this book and to open its seals?” And no one in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth could open this book and look into it. The Lamb, who “was slain and redeemed us to God with his blood, opened the seals of the book. After the opening of six seals, the seal of God was placed on the inhabitants of Israel, according to which they were accepted as true followers of the Lord. After the opening of the seventh seal, the Lamb ordered John to eat the book: “... it will be bitter in your belly, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey,” in order to talk about the future renewal of the whole world and dispel the fears of believers about the future of Christianity, which Jews, pagans and false teachers are fighting on all sides.”

Nick down

And get this in your head: you won’t be able to deceive me!

Meaning. Remember it firmly, once and for all.

Origin. The word “nose” here does not mean the organ of smell. Oddly enough, it means “memorable tablet”, “record tag”. In ancient times, illiterate people carried such sticks and tablets with them everywhere and made all kinds of notes and notches on them. These tags were called noses.

The truth is in the wine

And next to the neighboring tables Sleepy footmen hang around, And drunkards with rabbit eyes shout “In vino Veritas.”

Alexander Blok

Meaning. If you want to find out exactly what a person is thinking, treat him to wine.

Origin. This is the famous Latin expression: In vino Veritas (in wine veritas). It is taken from the work “Natural History” by the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder (1st century AD). where it is used to mean: what is on the sober mind is on the tongue of the drunk.

It is not worth it

You shouldn't do this. The game is clearly not worth the candle.

Meaning. The effort expended is not worth it.

Origin. The phraseological expression is based on a card term, which means that the stakes in the game are so insignificant that even the winnings will be less than the funds spent on candles to illuminate the card table.

To the head analysis

Well, brother, you've come late to the very basic analysis!

Meaning. Be late, show up when it’s all over.

Origin. The saying arose in those days when in our frosty country people, coming to church in warm clothes and knowing that it was forbidden to go inside with a hat, put their three hats and caps at the very entrance. At the end of the church service, when everyone left, they took them apart. Only those who were clearly in no hurry to go to church came to the “head-by-side analysis.”

How to get chickens into cabbage soup

And he ended up with this case like chickens in cabbage soup.

Meaning. Bad luck, unexpected misfortune.

Origin. A very common saying that we repeat all the time, sometimes without any idea of ​​its true meaning. Let's start with the word "chicken". This word in old Russian means “rooster”. But “cabbage soup” was not in this proverb before, and it was pronounced correctly: “I got caught in the plucking like a chicken,” that is, I was plucked, “unlucky.” The word “plucking” was forgotten, and then people, willy-nilly, changed the expression “to plucking” to “into cabbage soup.” When she was born is not entirely clear: some think that even under Demetrius the Pretender, when she was “plucked”; the Polish conquerors fell; others - what's in Patriotic War 1812, when the Russian people forced Napoleon's hordes to flee.

King for a day

I would not trust their generous promises, which they give out right and left: caliphs for an hour.

Meaning. About a man who accidentally found himself on a short time endowed with power.

Origin. The Arabic fairy tale “A Waking Dream, or Caliph for an Hour” (collection “A Thousand and One Nights”) tells how the young Baghdadi Abu-Shssan, not knowing that the caliph Grun-al-Rashid is in front of him, shares with him his cherished dream - become caliph at least for a day. Wanting to have fun, Harun al-Rashid pours sleeping pills into Abu Hassan’s wine, orders the servants to take the young man to the palace and treat him like a caliph.

The joke succeeds. Waking up, Abu-1ksan believes that he is the caliph, enjoys luxury and begins to give orders. In the evening, he again drinks wine with sleeping pills and wakes up at home.

Scapegoat

I'm afraid that you will forever be their scapegoat.

Meaning. Responsible for someone else's fault, for the mistakes of others, because the true culprit cannot be found or wants to evade responsibility.

Origin. The phrase goes back to the text of the Bible, to the description of the ancient Hebrew ritual of transferring the sins of the people (community) onto a living goat. This ritual was performed in the event of desecration of the sanctuary where the Ark of the Ark was located by Jews. To atone for sins, a ram was burned and one goat was slaughtered “as a sin offering.” All the sins and iniquities of the Jewish people were transferred to the second goat: the priest laid his hands on it as a sign that all the sins of the community were transferred to him, after which the goat was expelled into the desert. All those present at the ceremony were considered purified.

sing Lazarus

Stop singing Lazarus, stop being poor.

Meaning. Beg, whine, complain exaggeratedly about fate, trying to evoke the sympathy of others.

Origin. In Tsarist Russia, everywhere in crowded places Crowds of beggars, cripples, blind men with guides gathered, begging, with all sorts of pathetic lamentations, alms from passers-by. The blind people especially often sang the song “About the Rich Man and Lazarus,” composed based on one gospel story. Lazarus was poor and his brother was rich. Lazarus ate the rich man's leftover food along with the dogs, but after death he went to heaven, while the rich man ended up in hell. This song was supposed to frighten and reassure those from whom beggars begged for money. Since not all beggars were actually so unhappy, their plaintive moans were often feigned.

Get into trouble

You promised to be careful, but you deliberately get into trouble!

Meaning. Undertaking something risky, running into trouble, doing something dangerous, doomed to failure.

Origin. Rozhon is a sharpened stake that was used in bear hunting. When hunting with a goad, daredevils held this sharp stake in front of them. The enraged beast got into trouble and died.

Disservice

Constant praise from your lips is a real disservice.

Meaning. Unsolicited help, a service that does more harm than good.

Origin. The primary source is I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Hermit and the Bear.” It tells how the Bear, wanting to help his friend the Hermit smack a fly that had landed on his forehead, killed the Hermit himself along with it. But this expression is not in the fable: it developed and entered folklore later.

Cast pearls before swine

In a letter to A. A. Bestuzhev (late January 1825), A. S. Pushkin writes: “The first sign of an intelligent person is to know at first glance who you are dealing with, and not to throw pearls in front of the Repetilovs and the like.”

Meaning. Wasting words speaking to people who cannot understand you.

Origin. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ says: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces” (Gospel of Matthew, 7: b). In the Church Slavonic translation, the word “pearl” sounds like “beads”. It is in this version that this biblical expression entered the Russian language.

You can't ride a goat

He looks down on everyone, you can’t even approach him on a crooked goat.

Meaning. He is completely unapproachable, it is not clear how to contact him.

Origin. Amusing their high patrons, using harps and bells for their amusement, dressing up in goat and bear skins, and in the plumage of a crane, these “spinners” were sometimes able to do some pretty good things.

It is possible that their repertoire also included riding goats or pigs. Obviously, it was the buffoons who sometimes encountered such a bad mood from a high-ranking person that “even a goat had no effect on him.”

Unlucky man

Nothing went well with him, and in general he was a bad person.

Meaning. Frivolous, careless, dissolute.

Origin. In the old days in Rus', not only the road was called a path, but also various positions at the prince’s court. The falconer's path is in charge of princely hunting, the hunter's path is in charge of hound hunting, the stablemaster's path is in charge of carriages and horses. The boyars tried by hook or by crook to get a position from the prince. And those who did not succeed were spoken of with disdain: a good-for-nothing person.

Shelve

Now you’ll put it on the back burner, and then you’ll forget it completely.

Meaning. Give the case a long delay, delay its decision for a long time.

Origin. Perhaps this expression originated in Muscovite Rus', three hundred years ago. Tsar Alexei, the father of Peter I, ordered a long box to be installed in the village of Kolomenskoye in front of his palace, where anyone could drop their complaint. Complaints were received, but it was very difficult to wait for a solution: months and years passed. The people renamed this “long” box “long”.

It is possible that the expression, if not born, was fixed in speech later, in “presences” - institutions of the 19th century. The officials of that time, accepting various petitions, complaints and petitions, undoubtedly sorted them, putting them in different boxes. “Long” could be called the one where the most leisurely tasks were postponed. It is clear that the petitioners were afraid of such a box.

Retired goat drummer

I am no longer in office - a retired goat drummer.

Meaning. A person not needed by anyone, respected by anyone.

Origin. In the old days, trained bears were brought to fairs. They were accompanied by a dancing boy dressed as a goat, and a drummer accompanying his dance. This was the “goat drummer”. He was perceived as a worthless, frivolous person. What if the goat is also “retired”?

Bring it under the monastery

What have you done, what should I do now, you brought me under the monastery, and that’s all.

Meaning. To put someone in a difficult, unpleasant position, to bring them under punishment.

Origin. There are several versions of the origin of the turnover. Perhaps the turnover arose because people who had big troubles in life usually went to the monastery. According to another version, the expression is related to the fact that Russian guides led enemies under the walls of monasteries, which during the war turned into fortresses (bring a blind man under a monastery). Some believe that the expression is associated with the difficult life of women in Tsarist Russia. Only strong relatives could protect a woman from her husband’s beatings, having achieved protection from the patriarch and the authorities. In this case, the wife “brought her husband to the monastery” - he was sent to the monastery “in humility” for six months or a year.

Plant the pig

Well, he has a nasty character: he planted the pig and is satisfied!

Meaning. Secretly set up some nasty thing, do some mischief.

Origin. In all likelihood, this expression is due to the fact that some peoples do not eat pork for religious reasons. And if such a person was quietly put pork in his food, then his faith was desecrated.

Get into trouble

The guy got into such trouble that even the guard screamed.

Meaning. Find yourself in a difficult, dangerous or unpleasant situation.

Origin. In dialects, BINDING is a fish trap woven from branches. And, as in any trap, being in it is not a pleasant thing.

Professor of sour cabbage soup

He is always teaching everyone. Me too, professor of sour cabbage soup!

Meaning. Unlucky, bad master.

Origin. Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food: water and sauerkraut. Preparing them was not particularly difficult. And if someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, it meant that he was not fit for anything worthwhile.

Beluga roar

For three days in a row she roared like a beluga.

Meaning. Scream or cry loudly.

Origin. “As dumb as a fish” - this has been known for a long time. And suddenly “beluga roar”? It turns out that we are not talking about the beluga, but about the beluga whale, which is the name of the polar dolphin. He really roars very loudly.

Breeding antimonies

That's it, the conversation is over. I have no time to create antimonies with you here.

Meaning. Chat, carry on empty conversations. Observe unnecessary ceremony in relationships.

Origin. From the Latin name for antimony (antimonium), which was used as a medicine and cosmetic, after first grinding it and then dissolving it. Antimony does not dissolve well, so the process was very long and laborious. And while it was dissolving, the pharmacists carried on endless conversations.

On the side of the bake

Why should I go to them? Nobody called me. It's called coming - on the side of the heat!

Meaning. Everything is random, extraneous, attached to something from the outside; superfluous, unnecessary

Origin. This expression is often distorted by saying “on the side.” In fact, it could be expressed with the words: “side bake.” For bakers, baked, or baked, are burnt pieces of dough that stick to the outside of bread products, that is, something unnecessary, superfluous.

Orphan Kazan

Why are you standing, rooted to the threshold like an orphan from Kazan.

Meaning. This is what they say about a person who pretends to be unhappy, offended, helpless in order to pity someone.

Origin. This phraseological unit arose after the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. The Mirzas (Tatar princes), finding themselves subjects of the Russian Tsar, tried to beg all sorts of concessions from him, complaining about their orphanhood and bitter fate.

Grated kalach

Like a grated kalach, I can give you practical advice.

Meaning. This is what they call an experienced person who is difficult to deceive.

Origin. There used to be such a type of bread - “grated kalach”. The dough for it was crumpled, kneaded, “grated” for a very long time, which is why the kalach turned out to be unusually fluffy. And there was also a proverb - “do not grate, do not crush, there will be no kalach.” That is, trials and tribulations teach a person. The expression comes from a proverb, and not from the name of the bread.

Tip on your tongue

What are you saying? Thump your tongue!

Meaning. An expression of dissatisfaction with what was said, an unkind wish to someone who says something that is not meant to be said.

Origin. It is clear that this is a wish, and not a very friendly one. But what is its significance? Pip is a small horny tubercle on the tip of a bird's tongue that helps them peck food. The growth of such a tubercle may be a sign of illness. Hard pimples on the human tongue are called pimples by analogy with these bird bumps. According to superstitious beliefs, pip usually appears in deceitful people. Hence the bad wish, designed to punish liars and deceivers. From these observations and superstitions, an incantatory formula was born: “Tip on your tongue!” Its main meaning was: “You are a liar: let there be a pip on your tongue!” Now the meaning of this spell has changed somewhat. “Tip your tongue!” - an ironic wish to the one who expressed an unkind thought, predicted something unpleasant.

Sharpen the laces

Why are you sitting idle and sharpening your swords?

Meaning. Talking idle talk, engaging in useless chatter, gossiping.

Origin. Lyasy (balusters) are turned figured posts of the railing at the porch; Only a true master could make such beauty. Probably, at first, “sharpening balusters” meant conducting an elegant, fancy, ornate (like balusters) conversation. And by our time, there were fewer and fewer people who could conduct such a conversation. So this expression came to mean empty chatter. Another version elevates the expression to the meaning of the Russian word balyasy - tales, Ukrainian balyas - noise, which go back directly to the common Slavic “tell”.

Pull the gimp

Now they’re gone, he’ll keep dragging his feet until we give up on this idea ourselves.

Meaning. To procrastinate, to delay something, to speak monotonously and tediously.

Origin. Gimp is the finest gold, silver or copper thread, which was used to embroider braids, aiguillettes and other decorations of officer uniforms, as well as priests' vestments and simply rich costumes. It was made in a handicraft way, by heating the metal and carefully pulling out a thin wire with pliers. This process was extremely long, slow and painstaking, so that over time the expression “pull the gimp” began to refer to any protracted and monotonous business or conversation.

Hit face in the dirt

Don't let us down, don't lose face in front of the guests.

Meaning. To make a mistake, to disgrace oneself.

Origin. To hit the dirt with your face originally meant “to fall on the dirty ground.” Such a fall was considered especially shameful by the people in fist fights - wrestling competitions, when a weak opponent was thrown prone to the ground.

In the middle of nowhere

What, should we go see him? Yes, this is in the middle of nowhere.

Meaning. Very far away, somewhere in the wilderness.

Origin. Kulichiki is a distorted Finnish word “kuligi”, “kulizhki”, which has long been included in Russian speech. This is what forest clearings, meadows, and swamps were called in the north. Here, in the wooded part of the country, settlers of the distant past constantly cut down “kulizhki” in the forest - areas for plowing and mowing. In old charters the following formula is constantly found: “And all that land, as long as the ax walked and the scythe walked.” The farmer often had to go to his field in the wilderness, to the farthest “kulizhki”, worse developed than those close to him, where, according to the ideas of that time, goblins, devils, and all sorts of forest evil spirits lived in the swamps and windfalls. This is how ordinary words received their second, figurative meaning: very far away, at the edge of the world.

Fig leaf

She is a terrible pretender and lazy person, hiding behind her imaginary illness like a fig leaf.

Meaning. A plausible cover for unseemly deeds.

Origin. The expression goes back to the Old Testament myth about Adam and Eve, who, after the Fall, experienced shame and girded themselves with fig leaves (fig tree): “And their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made girdles for themselves "(Genesis 3:7). From the 16th to the end of the 18th century, European artists and sculptors had to cover the most revealing parts of the human body with a fig leaf in their works. This convention was a concession to the Christian church, which considered the depiction of naked flesh sinful and obscene.

Filka's certificate

What kind of stupid letter is this, can’t you clearly express your thoughts?

Meaning. An ignorant, illiterate document.

Metropolitan Philip could not come to terms with the revelry of the guardsmen. In his numerous messages to the tsar - letters - he sought to convince Grozny to abandon his policy of terror and dissolve the oprichnina. Tsyuzny contemptuously called the disobedient Metropolitan Filka, and his letters - Filka letters.

For his bold denunciations of Ivan the Terrible and his guardsmen, Metropolitan Philip was imprisoned in the Tverskoy Monastery, where he was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov.

Grab the stars from the sky

He is a man not without abilities, but there are not enough stars from heaven.

Meaning. Do not be distinguished by talents and outstanding abilities.

Origin. A phraseological expression associated, apparently, by association with the award stars of military and officials as insignia.

That's enough of a prickle

He was in great health, and suddenly he got sick.

Meaning. Someone died suddenly or was suddenly paralyzed.

Origin. According to the historian S. M. Solovyov, the expression is associated with the name of the leader of the Bulavin uprising on the Don in 1707, Ataman Kondraty Afanasyevich Bulavin (Kondrashka), who in a sudden raid destroyed the entire royal detachment led by the governor Prince Dolgoruky.

Apple of discord

This ride is a real bone of contention, can’t you give in, let him go.

Meaning. What gives rise to conflict, serious contradictions.

Origin. Peleus and Thetis, the parents of the Trojan War hero Achilles, forgot to invite the goddess of discord Eris to their wedding. Eris was very offended and secretly threw a golden apple onto the table at which gods and mortals were feasting; on it was written: “To the most beautiful.” A dispute arose between three goddesses: Zeus’s wife Hera, Athena the maiden, goddess of wisdom, and beautiful goddess love and beauty Aphrodite.

The young man Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, was chosen as a judge between them. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite who bribed him; For this, Aphrodite made the wife of King Menelaus, the beautiful Helen, fall in love with the young man. Leaving her husband, Helen left for Troy, and in order to avenge such an insult, the Greeks began a long-term war with the Trojans. As you can see, the apple of Eris actually led to discord.

Pandora's Box

Well, now hold on, Pandora's box has opened.

Meaning. Everything that can serve as a source of disaster if you are careless.

Origin. When the great titan Prometheus stole the fire of the gods from Olympus and gave it to people, Zeus terribly punished the daredevil, but it was too late. Possessing the divine flame, people stopped obeying the celestials, learned various sciences, and came out of their pitiful state. A little more - and they would have won complete happiness.

Then Zeus decided to send punishment on them. The blacksmith god Hephaestus sculpted from earth and water beautiful woman Pandora. The rest of the gods gave her: some cunning, some courage, some extraordinary beauty. Then, handing her a mysterious box, Zeus sent her to earth, forbidding her to open the box. Curious Pandora, as soon as she came into the world, opened the lid. Immediately all human disasters flew out of there and scattered throughout the universe. Pandora, in fear, tried to slam the lid again, but in the box of all the misfortunes, only deceptive hope remained.

In this article we will look at some buzzwords and their meaning. Many of them are probably familiar to you. However, not everyone knows what they mean. We took the most from various areas of human knowledge.

Quintessence

Quintessence - in medieval and ancient alchemy and natural philosophy - the fifth element, ether, the fifth element. He is like lightning. This is one of the main elements (elements), the most accurate and subtle. In modern cosmology, quintessence is a model of dark energy (its hypothetical form, which has negative pressure and uniformly fills the space of the Universe). Quintessence in figurative meaning- this is the most important, essential, the main point, the purest and subtlest essence, extract.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a word that is an onomatopoeia that arose as a result of phonetic assimilation to various non-speech complexes. Onomatopoeic vocabulary is most often associated directly with objects and creatures - sources of sound. These are, for example, verbs such as “meow”, “croak”, “rumble”, “crow”, and nouns derived from them.

Singularity

Singularity - which represents a certain point at which the mathematical function in question tends to infinity or has some other irregular behavior.

There is also a gravitational singularity. This is a region of space-time where the curvature of the continuum turns to infinity or suffers a discontinuity, or the metric has other pathological properties that do not allow physical interpretation. - a short period of rapid technological progress assumed by researchers. The singularity of consciousness is a globally generalizing, expanded state of consciousness. In cosmology, this is the state of the Universe in which it was at the beginning of the Big Bang, it is characterized by infinite temperature and density of matter. In biology, this concept is used mainly to generalize the evolutionary process.

Transcendence

The term "transcendence" (the adjective is "transcendent") comes from the Latin word meaning "to step over." This is a philosophical term that characterizes something inaccessible to experimental knowledge. B was used together with the term “transcendental” to denote God, soul and other concepts. Immanent is its opposite.

Catharsis

“Catharsis” is a term from modern psychoanalysis that denotes the process of relieving or reducing anxiety, frustration, conflict through emotional release and their verbalization. In ancient Greek aesthetics, this concept was used to express in words the impact of art on a person. The term "catharsis" in ancient philosophy was used to designate the result and process of ennobling, purifying, facilitating the impact various factors per person.

Continuum

What other smart words should you know? For example, continuum. This is a set equal to the set of all real numbers, or a class of such sets. In philosophy, this term was used by the ancient Greeks, as well as in the works of the scholastics of the Middle Ages. IN contemporary works in connection with changes in the “continuum” itself, it is often replaced by the noun “duration”, “continuity”, “indissolubility”.

Nigredo

"Nigredo" is a term of alchemy that denotes the complete decomposition or first stage of the creation of the so-called philosopher's stone. This is the formation of a homogeneous black mass of components. The next stages after nigredo are albedo (the white stage, which produces the small elixir, which turns metals into silver) and rubedo (the red stage, after which the great elixir is obtained).

Entropy

“Entropy” is a concept that was introduced by the German mathematician and physicist Clausius. It is used in thermodynamics to determine the degree of deviation from an ideal real process, the degree of energy dissipation. Entropy, defined as the sum of reduced heats, is a function of state. It is constant in various reversible processes, and in irreversible processes its change is always positive. We can highlight, in particular, This is a measure of the uncertainty of a certain message source, which is determined by the probabilities of the appearance of certain symbols during transmission.

Empathy

In psychology, there are often smart words, and their designations sometimes cause difficulties in definition. One of the most popular is the word “empathy”. This is the ability to empathize, the ability to put oneself in the place of another (object or person). Also, empathy is the ability to accurately identify a particular person based on actions, facial reactions, gestures, etc.

Behaviorism

Clever words and expressions from psychology also include a direction in this science that explains human behavior. It studies the direct connections existing between reactions (reflexes) and stimuli. Behaviorism directs the attention of psychologists to the study of experience and skills, as opposed to psychoanalysis and associationism.

Enduro

Enduro is a style of riding on special trails or off-road, racing over long distances over rough terrain. They differ from motocross in that the race takes place on a closed track, and the lap length ranges from 15 to 60 km. Riders cover several laps per day, the total distance being from 200 to 300 km. Basically, the route is laid in mountainous areas and is quite difficult to pass due to the abundance of streams, fords, descents, ascents, etc. Enduro is also a mixture of city and motocross motorcycles.

They are easy to drive, like road vehicles, and have increased cross-country ability. Enduros are close in a number of characteristics to cross-country skis. You can call them jeep motorcycles. One of their main qualities is unpretentiousness.

Other smart words and their meanings

Existentialism (otherwise known as the philosophy of existence) is a movement in the 20th century in philosophy that viewed man as a spiritual being capable of choosing his own destiny.

Synergetics is an interdisciplinary area of ​​research in science, the task of which is to study natural processes and phenomena based on the principles of self-organization of various systems that consist of subsystems.

Annihilation is the reaction of the transformation of an antiparticle and a particle upon collision into some particles different from the original ones.

A priori (literal translation from Latin - “from what precedes”) is knowledge that is obtained independently of and before experience.

Modern smart words are not understood by everyone. For example, “metanoia” (from the Greek word meaning “rethinking”, “after the mind”) is a term that means repentance (especially in psychotherapy and psychology), regret about what has happened.

Compilation (otherwise known as programming) is the transformation by some compiler program of text written in a complex language into a machine-like, similar or objective module.

Rasterization is the conversion of an image, which is described in a vector format, into dots or pixels for output to a printer or display. This is a process that is the inverse of vectorization.

The next term is intubation. It comes from the Latin words for "into" and "pipe." This is the insertion of a special tube into the larynx in case of narrowings that threaten suffocation (with swelling of the larynx, for example), as well as into the trachea in order to administer anesthesia.

Vivisection is the performance of surgical operations on a living animal in order to study the functions of the body or individual removed organs, to study the effects of various drugs, to develop surgical treatment methods, or for educational purposes.

The list of “Smart words and their meaning” can, of course, be continued. There are a lot of such words in various branches of knowledge. We have highlighted only a few that are quite widespread today. Knowing buzzwords and their meaning is useful. This develops erudition and allows you to better navigate the world. Therefore, it would be nice to remember what smart words are called.

“If the mountain does not come to Mohammed”, “On a silver platter”, “And you, Brutus!” - how firmly these phrases have entered our lives. And each of them very briefly and accurately, in just a few words, can describe the current situation or convey the feelings experienced.

What it is?

Winged words or expressions are phraseological units that are drawn from historical events, folklore and various literary sources - artistic, journalistic, scientific. They often contain the names of literary characters, historical figures, geographical names. These can be quotes from speeches of famous people.

Most catch phrases lose their original meaning and are used in relation to current realities.

Winged words can have the features of an aphorism, or simply be figurative in nature, or used in a figurative sense. They, like proverbs, are known to many, are often and widely used, have special expressiveness and accurately convey ideas.

Where did this name come from?

The very phrase “winged words” belongs to Homer and has by no means the meaning that is attributed to it now. The Greek poet in his Odyssey had in mind loud speech. Later, however, the expression “winged words” acquired a slightly different meaning in the mouth of Homer. It has come to mean smooth speech, the words of which fly from the speaker’s mouth to the listener’s ear.

This phrase acquired its current meaning thanks to the publication in 1864 of a collection of popular quotes compiled by the German scientist Georg Buchmann. Since then, the expression has become a term used in stylistics and linguistics.

The history of the appearance of some catch phrases dates back to ancient times. Some of them relate to mythology, others - to historical events or the speeches of eminent figures and philosophers of the past. Translated from Latin and Greek language, catchphrases have firmly entered our lives, having, however, lost their original meaning. And expressions drawn from mythology are generally used only in a figurative sense.

Sources

A special place is occupied by winged words, the source of which is the Bible. Individual phrases or even entire sentences - biblical words - are often found in everyday speech and give it a special coloring and meaning. The most famous of them are “judge not, lest ye be judged”, “the book of seven seals”, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and many others.

In addition to biblical quotes, a separate niche is occupied by literary sayings found in the works of Russian and Ukrainian classics - N.V. Gogol, A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov. A huge source of popular expressions are the fables of I. A. Krylov and “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov. Much later, the collection of similar phrases was replenished with quotes from the works of Ilf and Petrov.

Losing their original meaning, partially changing under the influence of time, winged words, however, decorate our speech, making it richer and more interesting. Some expressions are instructive, others add a humorous spin to the words. Increasingly, popular expressions can be found in the titles of books and articles.

Conclusion

However, some phrases in different countries may have a slightly different meaning, although taken from the same source. There are expressions that have no analogues at all in another language, and when translated they will seem completely meaningless. This is worth knowing for people who want to show off their speech and knowledge abroad, so as not to get into an awkward position. It’s better to memorize several popular expressions that are actively used in a given country. This will be the best evidence of genuine interest in the culture and history of the host country.