Still Alive, Smoker?

Но дым отечества нам сладок и приятен.
But the smoke of our native land is sweet and pleasant .
From Alexander Griboyedov’s play, Woe from Wit

Okay, okay, we know that America is virtually a non-smoking country now, but not so Russia – here a pack of cigarettes is a vital accessory. Ever since Peter the Great started forcing tobacco on his countrymen, they’ve been unable to go without.

Indeed, plenty of Russian leaders, including Peter, have been turned into chain smokers by the pressure of office. Stalin is renowned for his famous pipe, filled with Gertsegovina Flor (Flowers of Herzegovina) tobacco, Brezhnev for his cheap and nasty Novost cigarettes, and now General Alexander Lebed with his world-famous cigarette holder (in Russian мундштук – directly from the German, for “mouthpiece”).

Of course, simple mortals here also smoke like crazy – to calm the nerves, to stay awake, and, of course, after eating. Some even recommend smoking as a remedy for toothache. It should therefore come as no surprise that smoking-related idioms are deeply rooted in the Russian language. So, even if you prefer to stick to an American, non-smoking lifestyle, you should learn some tobacco-laden proverbs and phrases if you are serious about your interest in all things Russian.

Most Russians over 30 have heard the famous lyrics from Klavdiya Shulzhenko’s wartime ballad, “I’ll remember the infantry and my beloved company, and you for sharing your tobacco with me” – “Вспомню я пехоту и родную роту, и тебя за то, что дал мне закурить.” Tobacco – or rather махорка (the cheapest type) was precious in the army back then, so sharing your ration made you many friends.

A more contemporary bard, Vladimir Vysotsky, sang of smoking as a signal element of friendship and even existence: “Друг, оставь покурить, а в ответ – тишина, это он не вернулся из боя.” “Friend, let me finish your cigarette, but no one answered – he was the one who didn’t return from battle...”

Speaking of battles, writers and movie directors employ another tobacco idiom when recalling how the Soviets дали прикурить (gave a light to) Hitler’s troops near Stalingrad – even though the Nazis didn’t necessarily ask for it... To give somebody a light in this sense means to give them a hard time.

Yet tobacco does not have only positive linguistic connotations. Even in today’s press you may see the idiom Дело – табак! in a headline. It could be translated as “the deal is doomed.”

Take note also of tobacco-oriented proverbs: when two friends argue over something – especially sharing profits or any other argument of a material nature, Russians say, “Дружба дружбой, а табачок врозь” (literally, “Friendship is friendship, but to each his own tobacco,” i.e. friends can be friends and yet have different interests).

If you are one of those rare inveterate Western smokers, bear in mind some sacred formulae borrowed from Russian smokers’ parlance. When they run out of cigarettes Russians say, “курево закончилось” (“the tobacco’s gone”), stop passers by and ask, “Закурить не найдётся?” (“I don’t suppose you would find a smoke on you?”). Fifteen-year-old Russian girls, though, might prefer the magic words, “У Вас сигареточки не будет?” (“You don’t happen to have a little cigarette, do you?”)

During shortages, instead of finishing a cigarette, Russians would make a бычок (butt) out of it and finish it later. There’s even a special verb – забычковать. When smokers have no matches or their lighter (зажигалка) is empty, they ask, “У Ваc не найдётся огоньку?” or “Разрешите прикурить?”

Anti-tobacco campaigns have had little impact on heavy smokers. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that the Soviet Ministry of Health started putting its equivalent of the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning on cigarette packs. It read: Минздрав СССР предупреждает – куренье опacно для Вашего здоровья! (The USSR Health Ministry warns – smoking is hazardous for your health). But cigarette brand names still encouraged people to go on smoking: e.g. Друг (friend) or Давай закурим (let’s have a smoke), a special brand produced for Victory Day.

So, most Russian smokers make fun of “say ‘No’ to cigarettes” campaigns. Sitting in a smoking room (курилка – the word originally meant a burning straw from a popular game) during a smoke break (перекур), they might quote famous light verse like “Куренье вред, а некурящих нет” (“Smoking is mean but non-smokers are nowhere to be seen”). Another cliche slogan, “Одна капля никотина убивает лошадь” (“One drop of nicotine can kill a horse”) prompts the reply: “Но мы то не лошади!” (“But, we’re not horses, are we?”) A third: “Куренье – медленная смерть” (“Smoking is a slow death”) would prompt smokers to say “А мы и не торопимся” (“But then, we’re in no hurry”). And so on...

Yet, not all Russians are so carefree about smoking. This is probably why sometimes they greet each other with the phrase: “Жив курилка?” (literally, “Still alive, smoker?”) a version of the more traditional “How’re things?” (“Как дела?”) This phrase is especially comforting for people who have had narrow escapes or been rescued after accidents. In fact, it may as well be applied to someone who has been smoking for years and just quit. It would not be a stretch to say he has just had a narrow escape.