You Deserve a Break

Are you fed up with the daily grind? Exhausted by the news? Sick of bad weather? You need a break – and Russian comes to the rescue.

Russian has a multi-purpose word for a break: перерыв. Перерыв can be long or short, take place by night or day, and allow you to do anything, from grabbing a bite to eat to taking a couple of years off from your job. During the work day, you might take обеденный перерыв (lunch break); перерыв на кофе (coffee break); перерыв на ужин (dinner break); not to mention небольшой перерыв, чтобы сходить в туалет (bathroom break). If you get sick of the word перерыв and work with Russian hipsters, you can say кофе-брейк (coffee break) instead.

On the way home, you plan to stop in at the shoe repair shop and pick up your boots, but when you arrive you see a handwritten sign: Технический перерыв. Your heart falls. The sign means a service break, but actually vendors stick it on the door of their shops for any sort of temporary closure, from a five-minute smoke break to a five-hour power outage. Plan to pick up your boots tomorrow.

In the evening, when you’re watching television, the host of the game show will announce: “Вернёмся после перерыва на рекламу.” (We’ll come back after a commercial break.) In the warm weather you’ll take a longer break: перерыв на летние каникулы (summer vacation). You can even take a break from your work life altogether: перерыв в работе or в карьере (career break).

A long перерыв is often announced officially: “Перерыв на месяц”, – объявляет судья (“Recess for a month,” the judge announces). But a short one – like the slangy diminutive перерывчик – is usually not declared, just taken, as in the commonly uttered: “Между первой и второй сделаем перерывчик небольшой.”(We’ll take a quick break between the first and second drinks.)

Some specific types of breaks have their own word, such as перекур (cigarette break), but this is sometimes just shorthand for any quick break from work.

Russian, like English, lets you pause to catch your breath or have a bit of breathing space between projects: “Он не может работать по пятнадцать часов без передышки.” (He can’t work 15 hours straight without a breather.) “Сейчас у меня двухнедельная передышка, а потом опять на работу.” (I’ve got a two week breather, and then – back to work.)

Educational institutions have their own slang for breaks. In grade school, it’s перемена. Маленькая перемена is the short period between classes, while большая перемена is a longer recess. Adults who teach at institutions of higher learning can take long breaks, too, but they are called академ or the slangier академка (academic leave): Надежда возьмёт академку на год (Nadezhda will be on academic leave for a year).

Russian theaters, not to be outdone, also have their own term for a break, from the French entracte: антракт (intermission).

Economists have professional argot, too: окно (window) is a pause in the market during which the clever investor can make a killing. “Дешёвый рубль для многих российских предприятий открыл окно возможностей для реализации экспортного потенциала.” (The cheap ruble opened up a window of opportunity for Russian factories to exploit their export potential.)

Finally, there is пауза (pause), which is more complex than you might imagine. “Умение держать паузу в отношениях – это на самом деле искусство.” (Knowing how to put a relationship on hold is actually an art form.)

Let’s pause to consider that.