December 05, 2019

"Yo" is for Yolka


"Yo" is for Yolka
A memorial to the letter ё near some ёлки (pine trees) in Ulyanovsk. Travelask.ru

Quote of the Week

“The letter ё (yo) exists in very few languages, which makes it a unique and distinctive phenomenon of the Russian language and Russian culture.”

– One of many impassioned arguments in a petition to rejuvenate the use of a letter usually replaced with “e” (yeh) in written texts

 

The New Year’s Tree and the New Me

1. Russians aren’t just quietly pining away for their New Year’s trees: they put them up early and take them down late. A Russian psychologist attributes the former to fighting depression in the cold, dark Russian winter, and the latter to laziness. But she admits this might be barking up the wrong tree: Russians just like their yolki (pine trees). It made national news in at least 15 outlets that the Kremlin yolka has been selected from sixty contenders: a 90-year-old, 82-foot specimen from local Moscow Forests. Nearby Red Square, however, might outshine all other attempts prolong New Year’s tree,  by leaving them up until they can stick suns on top and transform them into Maslenitsa trees… in March. 

New Year's tree in Cathedral Square in the Kremlin
This year’s tree will be on display starting December 15. / Ramil Sitdikov | RIA Novosti

2. Here’s some news worth toasting to: in spite of stereotypes, Russians have cut alcoholism in half over the past 20 years, according to a report by the World Health Organization. A French newspaper Le Monde, noting that now Russians drink less than the French, praised Russia as an example that can help teach other countries how to reduce alcoholism. Some changes that gave Russia a shot at making such a transformation were laws like bans on advertising alcohol and selling at it night, as well as a cultural shift to cut back on shots of hard liquors in favor of beer or wine. This reduction in drinking has helped increase Russian life expectancy, and narrow the difference in life expectancy between men and women. That’s the (non-alcoholic) spirit! (PS: We totally called this story back in 2000).

3. This Thanksgiving, Moscow could be grateful for a lot. On Thursday, the Russian capital was named the world’s best tourist destination, beating out cities like New York and Paris, a distinction the mayor equated to winning an Oscar. Meanwhile, Moscow school children ranked third in the world in reading skills and second in math, according to the international testing organization PISA. They may have “only” ranked sixth in natural sciences, but the Moscow region is nevertheless making progress in environmental conservation: the governor announced that old trash processing centers can be closed thanks to better recycling. Looks like the city met their New Year’s resolutions early!

 

In Odder News

  • Everyone thought the successful landing of Putin’s plane in Bishkek was just pie in the sky given extremely dense fog, and were arguing to re-route to Almaty. But the pilot said “I will land,” and was rewarded with cherry pie. 
Putin's plane in fog
Russians may not celebrate Thanksgiving, but at least they appreciate pirog (pie). / Aleksei Nikolovskii | RIA Novosti
  • A doctor in a Moscow Health Department advertisement says that the only reasonable explanation for why people would not vaccinate their child is… protection from vampires. To whom sucking unvaccinated blood is apparently dangerous. 

The debate between scientists and anti-vaxxers has become a blood feud. / Health Department of Moscow | YouTube

  • Homeless cats in Zelenogradsk are getting an official veterinarian, in addition to the “cat chef” currently responsible for feeding them. These new hires sound like pretty cool cats. 

 

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955