Russian catchphrases and their origin. The delay of death is like

The Russian language is rich and powerful with its long history. And each era brought something of its own to this language. And such expressions have come down to us that absolutely everyone knows, for example, to freeze stupidity or point the horns, and everyone knows what they mean, but only a few know where they came from. About the origin of these and other catchphrases in this article further ..

Freeze stupidity

This expression appeared thanks to the gentlemen of the gymnasium. The fact is that the word "moros" in translation from Greek just means "stupidity". The teachers said this to negligent students when, out of ignorance of the lesson, they began to talk nonsense: “You are carrying a frost.” Then the words were rearranged - and it turned out that the gymnasium students “froze stupidity” out of ignorance.

Big boss

Do you remember the picture "Barge haulers on the Volga", how barge haulers drag a barge with all their might? important place in this strap is the place of the first barge hauler. He initiates, he directs the others. Therefore, this place was occupied by the strongest person. This man in a burlatsky strap was called a “bump”. This means that a “big bump” is a big and important person.

Alive Smoking Room

In the old days in Russia there was such a game: everyone sat in a circle, someone lit a torch - and then it was passed around the circle from hand to hand. At the same time, all those present sang a song: “The Smoking Room is alive, alive, alive, not dead ...”. And so on until the torch burns. The one who had the torch in his hands went out lost. and sometimes to things that, it would seem, should have disappeared a long time ago, but in spite of everything continued to exist.

And prove that you are not a camel

This phrase became very popular after the release of the next series of the zucchini "Thirteen Chairs". There was a miniature where Pan Director talks with Pan Himalayan about a camel recently brought to the circus. The accompanying documents said: "We are sending a two-humped camel to your circus and Himalayan”, i.e. the surname of Pan Himalayan was written with a small letter. Fearing bureaucratic checks, Pan Director demands a certificate from Pan Himalayan that he is not really a camel. This so vividly ridiculed the role of the bureaucratic machine in our country that the expression very quickly went to the people and became popular. Now we say this when we are asked to prove obvious things.

Not at ease

In French, "asiet" is both a plate, and a mood, a state. They say that at the beginning of the 19th century, a certain translator, while translating a French play, translated the phrase "buddy, you're out of sorts" as "you're not at ease" Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov, who was an avid theater-goer, of course, could not pass by such a brilliant blunder and put an illiterate phrase into Famusov's mouth: "My dearest! You are not at ease. Sleep is needed from the road. light hand Alexander Sergeevich, the crazy phrase found meaning and took root in the Russian language for a long time.

Pour in the first number

In the old days, schoolchildren were often flogged, often without any fault of the punished. If the mentor showed special zeal, and the student got especially hard, he could be released from further vices in the current month, up to the first day next month. This is how the expression "pour on the first number" arose.

And a no brainer

The source of the expression "And a no-brainer" is Mayakovsky's poem ("It is clear even a no-brainer - / This Petya was a bourgeois"). The use of this phrase in the Strugatskys' story "The Country of Crimson Clouds" contributed to the widespread use, and it also became commonplace in Soviet boarding schools for gifted children. They recruited teenagers who had two years left to study (grades A, B, C, D, E) or one year (classes E, F, I) The students of the one-year stream were called “hedgehogs”. When they came to the boarding school, two-year students were already ahead of them in a non-standard program, so at the beginning of the school year, the expression "no brainer" was very relevant.

give the go-ahead

In the pre-revolutionary alphabet, the letter D was called "good." The flag corresponding to this letter is in the code of signals navy has the meaning “yes, I agree, I allow.” This is what caused the expression “give the go-ahead” to appear. The expression “Customs gives the go-ahead” derived from this first appeared in the film “White Sun of the Desert”.

Fly like plywood over Paris

It would not be an exaggeration to say that everyone heard the expression “Fly like plywood over Paris”. The meaning of this phraseological unit can be conveyed as a missed opportunity to do or get something, to be out of work, to fail. But where did this saying come from? In 1908 Auguste Fanier, a famous French aviator, making a demonstration flight over Paris, crashed into the Eiffel Tower and died. After that, the famous Menshevik Martov wrote in Iskra that "the tsarist regime is flying to its death as quickly as Mr. Fanier over Paris "". A Russian person took this maxim a little differently, changing the name of a foreign aviator to plywood. Hence the expression "fly like plywood over Paris

Russians idioms

Russian popular expressions

And Vaska listens and eats

Quote from the fable by I. A. Krylov (1769–1844) “The Cat and the Cook” (1813). Used when talking goes man, who is deaf to reproaches and, despite any exhortations, continues to do his job.

And you, friends, no matter how you sit down,
You're not good at being musicians

Quote from I. A. Krylov's fable "Quartet" (1811). It is used in relation to a poorly functioning team, in which things are not going well because there is no unity, harmony, professionalism, competence, an accurate understanding of each of his own and common tasks.

And the casket just opened

Quote from I. A. Krylov's fable "Casket" (1808). A certain "mechanic sage" tried to open the chest and was looking for a special secret of his castle. But since there was no secret, he did not find it and “left behind the casket.”

And how to open it, did not guess,
And the casket just opened.

This phrase is used when talking about some business, an issue, in the resolution of which it was not necessary to look for a complex solution, since there is a simple one.

And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms!

Quote from the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov (1814-1841) "Sail" (1841).

And who are the judges?

Quote from the comedy by A. S. Griboedov (1795–1829) “Woe from Wit” (1824), words by Chatsky:

And who are the judges? - For the antiquity of years To a free life their enmity is irreconcilable,

Judgments are drawn from the forgotten newspapers of the times of Ochakov and the conquest of the Crimea.

The phrase is used to emphasize contempt for the opinions of authorities who are no better than those they are trying to teach, blame, criticize, etc.

And happiness was so possible
So close!

Quote from the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" by A. S. Pushkin (1799–1837), ch. 8 (1832).

Administrative delight

Words from the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881) "Demons" (1871). An ironic expression meaning the rapture of power.

Hey Moska! know she's strong
What barks at an elephant

Quote from I. A. Krylov's fable "Elephant and Pug" (1808). It is used when it comes to someone's senseless attacks on someone who is obviously superior to his "opponent" (criticism, detractor, aggressor, etc.).

Alexander the Macedonian hero, but why break the chairs?

A quote from N. V. Gogol's (1809–1852) comedy The Inspector General (1836), Gorodnichiy's words about the teacher:

“He is a learned head - this can be seen, and he has picked up a lot of information, but he only explains with such fervor that he does not remember himself. I once listened to him: well, while he was talking about the Assyrians and Babylonians - still nothing, but how I got to Alexander the Great, I can’t tell you what happened to him. I thought it was a fire, by golly! He ran away from the pulpit and, that he had the strength, to grab the chair on the floor. It is, of course, Alexander the Macedonian hero, but why break the chairs?

The phrase is used when someone goes overboard.

Afanasy Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna

The heroes of N.V. Gogol's story "Old World Landowners" (1835), elderly spouses, kind and naive inhabitants, leading a calm, measured, serene life, limited by purely economic concerns. Their names have become household names for people of this type.

Oh my god! What will Princess Marya Aleksevna say

A quote from A. S. Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit" (1824), the words of Famusov, with which the play ends. Used to denote cowardly dependence on walking, sanctimonious morality.

Ah, evil tongues are worse than a gun

Quote from A. S. Griboedov's comedy "Woe from Wit" (1824), words by Molchalin.

Ba! All familiar faces

Quote from A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” (1824), Famusov’s words:

Ba! familiar faces!
Daughter, Sofia Pavlovna! Shame!
Shameless! where! with whom!
Give or take, she
Like her mother, the dead wife.
I used to be with the better half
A little apart - somewhere with a man!

The phrase is used to express surprise at an unexpected meeting with someone.

Grandma said in two

So they say that it is not known whether it will come true. The expression is formed by truncation of the proverb "Grandmother said in two: either rain or snow, either it will or not."

Bazarov. Bazarovshchina

By the name of Bazarov, the hero of the famous novel by I. S. Turgenev (1818–1883) "Fathers and Sons" (1862). Bazarov is a representative of a part of the Russian raznochinstvo students of the 60s. XIX century, which at that time was fond of Western European materialistic philosophy in its simplified, primitive interpretation.

Hence "Bazarovism" - a collective name, meaning all the extremes of this kind of worldview, namely, passion natural sciences, gross materialism, emphasized pragmatism of behavior, rejection of traditional art and generally accepted rules of behavior.

The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life!
To the madness of the brave we sing a song

Quote from The Song of the Falcon (1898) by M. Gorky (1868–1936).

Beat the thumbs

The expression is used in the meaning: to spend time idly, to engage in trifles, to mess around. Baklusha - a piece of wood processed for dressing various items(spoons, cups, etc.). AT handicraft production to beat the buckets - to chip off chocks from a log for making wooden crafts. Figurative meaning This is explained by the fact that the production of baklushas was considered by the people to be an easy task that did not require effort and skill.

beat with a forehead

The word "chelo" in Old Russian means "forehead". In ancient Russia, the "brow", that is, the forehead, beat on the floor, falling before the nobles and kings in prostration. This was called "bowing with great custom" and expressed the utmost degree of respect. From here came the expression “to beat with a forehead” in the meaning: to apply to the authorities with a request, to intercede. In written requests - “petitions” - they wrote: “And for this, your little serf Ivashko beats you with his forehead ...” Even later, the words “beat with his forehead” began to simply mean: “greet”.

Do we all know about the expressions we use all the time? Sometimes too little. But behind each of them is a whole story, sometimes fascinating, and sometimes tragic.

Ivan who does not remember family
Fugitives from tsarist hard labor, serfs who fled from the landowner, soldiers who could not bear the burden of recruitment, sectarians and other "passportless vagabonds", falling into the hands of the police, carefully concealed their name and origin. They answered all the questions that they were called “Ivans”, and they did not remember “their kinship” (that is, their origin).

Black on white


Until the middle of the 14th century, books in Russia were written on parchment, which was made from the skin of young lambs, calves, and kids. The skin in the process of processing acquired a white color. Since the 12th century, a mixture of ferrous sulphate with an ink nut has been used as ink. A solution of such ink dried on the surface with a clearly visible layer. The labor-intensive process of production and the high spiritual significance of books at that time created a high exclusive authority for everything that is written "in black and white."

And there is a hole in the old woman

Original Russian folk expression. In some regions of Russia, a “hole” is called an unfortunate mistake, a mistake, and this saying, as it were, confirms that even the most experienced and skillful person can have oversights.

Pound water in a mortar
Now only aliens, probably, have not heard sectarian arguments about the miraculous properties of water. How she allegedly remembers information, crystallizes into amazing stars and polygons - all the Japanese told and the film was shown. Our people have not gone far from the Japanese: since ancient pagan times they whispered water, in anticipation of further miracles. With a minus sign - if you talk bad, purely positive - if you wish good. But suddenly someone blurted out something over the source? Especially when he slipped or dropped the jug. But water remembers everything! And priests with shamans invented a way to remove unnecessary information from liquids. To do this, the water was pushed and ground for a long time and persistently in a vessel hollowed out of a tree trunk. And after several days of torment, it was already possible to whisper all sorts of spells and change the charmed drink into skins or embroidered belts there. But, apparently, this low-budget potion did not always work. Therefore, gradually the expression became a symbol of a completely useless occupation.

a fool

The character of the European medieval theater, the jester wore a striped suit, a cap with donkey ears, and in his hand he held a rattle - a stick with a bull bladder filled with peas tied to it. (By the way, the expression “striped jester” recorded in Dahl’s dictionary came from the mentioned two-color suit.)

The performances of the jester in public always began with the sound of this rattle, and during the performance he even beat the other characters and the audience. Returning to the peas: Russian buffoons decorated themselves with pea straw, and on Maslenitsa a straw jester of a pea was taken through the streets.

pull the gimp
What is a gimp and why should it be pulled? This is a copper, silver or gold thread used in gold embroidery for embroidering patterns on clothes and carpets. Such a thin thread was made by drawing - repeatedly rolling and drawing through ever smaller holes. Pulling the gimp was a very painstaking task, requiring a lot of time and patience. In our language, the expression to pull the gimp is fixed in its figurative meaning - to do something long, tedious, the result of which is not immediately visible.

Sharing the skin of an unkilled bear

It is noteworthy that back in the 30s of the 20th century it was customary in Russia to say: “Sell the skin of an unkilled bear.” This version of the expression seems closer to the original source, and more logical, because there is no benefit from the “divided” skin, it is valued only when it remains intact. The original source is the fable "The Bear and Two Comrades" by the French poet and fabulist Jean La Fontaine (1621-1695).

Ate the dog
Few people know that initially this expression originally had a pronounced ironic character. The full saying sounds like this: he ate the dog, and choked on his tail. So they said about a man who did a difficult job, but stumbled over a trifle.

The idiom ate the dog is currently used as a characteristic of a person who has a wealth of experience in any business.

Scream all over Ivanovskaya


In the old days, the square in the Kremlin, where the bell tower of Ivan the Great stands, was called Ivanovskaya. On this square, clerks announced decrees, orders and other documents relating to the inhabitants of Moscow and all the peoples of Russia. So that everyone could hear well, the clerk read very loudly, shouted all over Ivanovskaya.

Take rubbish out of the hut
Again, a case of so-called witchcraft. It is not clear to us now - where to put this same rubbish then, to save up in the house or something? And before it was customary to burn it in a furnace. Firstly, garbage trucks had not yet been invented, and secondly, magical influence was one of the main methods of suggestion after brute force. And a connoisseur of subtle magical matters, according to legend, could, moving his nose over the garbage, find out all the ins and outs of his owners. Well, to harm by itself, and to bury it in the cemetery, which is generally fraught with terrible consequences. Gradually, people stopped believing in these passions, but they continue to express themselves about rubbish - there is nothing, they say, to make their secrets public.

Cause time and fun hour

In the 17th century, falconry was the most popular entertainment, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself was a passionate admirer of this leisure: he went to it almost every day, except only for the winter months, and even issued a decree on compiling a collection of rules for falconry.

By decree of the tsar in 1656, a guide to fun was even compiled and it was called “The Book of the Commander: a new code and arrangement of the rank of the falconer's way.”

Hunting was praised in every possible way in the "Sergeant", contributing to overcoming various adversities and sorrows, which was prescribed to be done often and at any time. However, Alexei Mikhailovich decided that the too obvious preference for hunting-fun harms state affairs, and made a handwritten postscript at the end of the preface. It said: "... never (do not) forget the military system: it's time for business and an hour for fun."

Where Makar does not drive calves


One of the versions of the origin of this saying is as follows: Peter I was on a working trip to Ryazan land and communicated with the people in an “informal setting”. It so happened that all the men he met on the way called themselves Makars. The king was very surprised at first, and then he said: “From now on, all of you will be Makars!” Allegedly since then, "Makar" has become a collective image of the Russian peasant and all peasants (not only Ryazan) began to be called Makars.

Good riddance
In one of Ivan Aksakov's poems, one can read about the road, which is "straight, like an arrow, with a wide smooth surface that the tablecloth lay down." So in Russia they saw off on a long journey, and they did not put any bad meaning into them. This original meaning of the phraseologism is present in explanatory dictionary Ozhegov. But it is also said there that in the modern language the expression has the opposite meaning: "An expression of indifference to someone's departure, departure, as well as a wish to get out, anywhere." An excellent example of how ironically stable etiquette forms are rethought in the language!

dance from the stove
To dance from the stove means to act according to an approved plan once and for all, without using any of your knowledge and ingenuity. This expression became famous thanks to the 19th century Russian writer Vasily Sleptsov and his book “ Good man". This is the story of Sergei Terebenev, who returned to Russia after a long absence. The return awakened childhood memories in him, the most vivid of which are dance lessons.

Here, he stands by the stove, legs in third position. Parents, yard servants are nearby and watch his progress. The teacher gives the command: "One, two, three." Seryozha begins to make the first “pas”, but suddenly he loses time, his legs tangle.

- Oh, what are you, brother! - Father says reproachfully. “Well, go about five to the stove, start over.”

Find out all the ins and outs
In principle, the phrase is not something that has lost its meaning, but has lost its sinister connection with its source. And it originated not just anywhere, but in a torture chamber. When the suspect came across strong and morally stable, and did not admit to his deed, the executioner said: “You won’t tell the real truth, you’ll tell the inside story.” After that, it was possible to say goodbye to the nails. There were other variants of torture, no less painful. Apparently, they were quite effective, because the expression was preserved, only people hastened to forget about its scary true meaning.

Nick down
With this expression, on the contrary - it somehow gives self-mutilation and aggression. The unfortunate schoolboy, in front of whose nose the formidable finger of the teacher sways, probably imagines how the ax is brought over the protruding part of his face. In fact, the nose is a small wooden plank. Illiterate peasants made notches on it so as not to forget some important matter, or scratched drawings explaining the essence of this matter.

play spillikins
In the village, this game captured entire families. The main thing is that it did not require any investment. He took straws, poured a bunch and with a stick you take out one at a time so that the others do not disturb. Kind of like Tetris in reverse. Then this occupation required the same money. Brisk entrepreneurs began to produce sets of sticks and special hooks for pulling. And later, the sets began to be made up of tiny figures: teapots, ladders, horses. Even had such a toy royal family. And it is not clear after that how this expression became synonymous with a stupid, useless activity. What about fine motor skills?

Hot spot
The expression "hot spot" is found in the Orthodox prayer for the dead ("... in a hot place, in a resting place ..."). So in the texts Church Slavonic called paradise.

The meaning of this expression was ironically rethought by the raznochintsy-democratic intelligentsia of the time of Alexander Pushkin. The language game was that our climate does not allow growing grapes, therefore in Russia intoxicating drinks were produced mainly from cereals (beer, vodka). In other words, green means a drunken place.

Seven Fridays in a week


In the old days, Friday was a market day, on which it was customary to fulfill various trade obligations. On Friday, the goods were received, and the money for it was agreed to be given on the next market day (on Friday of the next week). Those who broke such promises were said to have seven Fridays a week.

But this is not the only explanation! Friday was considered to be a free day from work before, therefore, a loafer was characterized by a similar phrase, for whom every day is a day off.

Write with a pitchfork on the water
There are two interpretations, one "more serious" than the other. Firstly, mermaids were called pitchforks in Russia. It is not clear where the river maidens would be able to write from, but, having seen their predictions inscribed on the water, one could be sure that everything would come true.

Also, the pitchfork was a tool of the Magi, and only after that a mundane agricultural tool. Three tips meant the essence of the god Triglav, and there were both large pitchforks, like a staff, and small ones - bone, the size of a palm. And with these things, the priests, tired of whispering, cast spells on the water. Perhaps she was even pushed beforehand. But what's the point? All the same, they forgot about their labors, and they only scoff at the written pitchfork.

cut off hunk


The full proverb sounds like this: “You can’t stick a cut off chunk back.” Daughter issued to foreign lands; a son separated and living his own home; a recruit whose forehead was shaved - all these are cut off chunks, it’s no wonder to see each other, but you won’t heal with one family.

There is one more important point: in the old days, bread, which personified a prosperous life, was by no means cut, but only broken by hand (hence the word hunk). So the phrase "cut off slice" is a real historical oxymoron.

Not at ease
This saying arose from a misunderstanding. "Not at ease" is a mistranslation of the French "ne pas dans son assiette". The word assiette ("state, position") has been confused with its homonym - "plate". It was no coincidence that Griboedov chose this proverb for the triumph of “a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod” in his work “Woe from Wit”. “My dear, you are not at ease,” Famusov says to Chatsky. And we can only laugh!

Goal like a falcon
“Goal like a falcon,” we say about extreme poverty. But this proverb has nothing to do with birds. Although ornithologists say that falcons really lose their feathers during molting and become almost naked!

"Falcon" in the old days in Russia was called a ram, a tool made of iron or wood in the form of a cylinder. It was hung on chains and swung, thus breaking through the walls and gates of the enemy's fortresses. The surface of this weapon was even and smooth, simply speaking, bare.

The word “falcon” in those days was used to refer to cylindrical tools: iron scrap, a pestle for grinding grain in a mortar, etc. Sokolov was actively used in Russia until the advent of firearms at the end of the 15th century.

Raven count
This is how the bumpkin appears, which, while the black birds are pecking garden crops, counts the thieves, instead of grabbing the drin. But the fact is that the raven was considered a sinister bird. Since these birds do not disdain carrion, a clear formula of superstition has developed among the people: people + raven \u003d dead. So, for example, if a raven sat on the roof of a house and croaked, then someone in the house would die. And if the winged devil sat on a church cross, then expect trouble for the whole village. So people looked with fear in their souls - where the arrogant birds settled there. With the adoption of Christianity, fear diminished. A raven, for example, fed the prophet Elijah in the wilderness. So, again, great - an empty lesson - counting croaking signs!

shabby look

This expression appeared under Peter I and was associated with the name of the merchant Zatrapeznikov, whose Yaroslavl linen manufactory produced both silk and wool, which were in no way inferior in quality to the products of foreign factories. In addition, the manufactory also made very, very cheap hemp striped fabric - mottled, "shabby" (rough to the touch), which went to mattresses, bloomers, sundresses, women's headscarves, work dressing gowns and shirts.

And if for rich people such a dressing gown was home clothes, then for the poor, things from shabby clothes were considered “going out” clothes. The shabby appearance spoke of the low social status of a person.

leavened patriotism

The expression was introduced into speech by Peter Vyazemsky. Leavened patriotism is understood as a blind adherence to obsolete and ridiculous "traditions" of national life and peremptory rejection of someone else's, foreign, "not ours."

Sealed book


The history of this saying begins with the Bible. In the New Testament, in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, it is said: “And I saw in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne a book written inside and outside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open this book and break its seals? And no one could, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, open this book, nor look into it.

Bring under the monastery
The origin of this turnover is questionable. Perhaps it arose because people with serious troubles in life usually left for the monastery. Perhaps because the Russian soldiers led the enemy under the walls of the monasteries, which turned into fortresses during the war. Perhaps this saying symbolizes the hard life of women in tsarist Russia. After all, only the presence of noble relatives could once save a woman from beating her husband. Relatives in such cases went to seek protection from the patriarch and the authorities, and if she was found, then the wife “brought her husband to the monastery”, i.e. sent him "to humility" for six months or a year.

They carry water on the offended


There are several versions of the origin of this saying, but the most plausible seems to be the one connected with the history of St. Petersburg water carriers. The price of imported water in the 19th century was about 7 kopecks of silver per year, and of course there were always greedy merchants who inflated the price in order to cash in. For this illegal act, such unfortunate entrepreneurs were deprived of a horse and forced to carry barrels in a cart on themselves.

Retired goat drummer
In the old days, among wandering troupes, the main actor was a learned, trained bear, followed by a “goat” dressed up with a goat skin on its head, and only behind the “goat” was a drummer. His task was to beat a homemade drum, calling the audience. Surviving by odd jobs or handouts is rather unpleasant, and here also the “goat” is not real, retired.

Like a zyuzya drunk


We find this expression in Alexander Pushkin, in the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", when it comes to Lensky's neighbor - Zaretsky:

Falling off a Kalmyk horse,
Like a drunk zyuzya, and the French
Got captured...

The fact is that in the Pskov region, where Pushkin was in exile for a long time, "zyuzey" is called a pig. In general, “drunk like a zyuzya” is an analogue of the colloquial expression “drunk like a pig.”

Promised three years waiting
According to one version - a reference to the text from the Bible, to the book of the prophet Daniel. It says: “Blessed is he who waits and reaches a thousand and thirty-five days,” that is, three years and 240 days. The biblical call to patient waiting was jokingly rethought by the people, because the whole proverb sounds like this: “The promised three years are expected, and the fourth is denied.”

Sharashkin's office
The office got its strange name from dialect word"sharan" ("trash", "bad", "rogue"). In the old days, this was the name given to a dubious association of swindlers and deceivers, but today it is simply a undignified, unreliable organization.

Put in a stash
In the old days in Russia, there were no rubber bands in Russia. Therefore, the trousers at the waist were held by a special rope - the “gashnik”. When someone hid something in the belt of his pants, they said: "hid it in the gas pocket."

…from the work of A. S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit"

happy hours are not watching. (Sofia's words

I would be glad to serve, it is sickening to serve. (Chatsky's words)

Fresh legend, but hard to believe. (Chatsky's words)

Houses are new, but prejudices are old. (Chatsky's words)

And who are the judges? (Chatsky's words)

Ah, evil tongues are worse than pistols. (Molchalin's words)

Ba! familiar faces! (Famusov's words)

Where is better? (Conversation between Sofia and Chatsky)

Where we are not.

…from the fables of I. A. Krylov

And Vaska listens and eats. ("The Cat and the Cook"

And the casket just opened. ( "Larchik")

The trouble is, if the cobbler starts the pies,

And boots to stitch a pieman. ("Pike and Cat")

Take care of what you belong to

If you want to have a successful end in business. ("Starling")

Yes, only things are still there. ( "Swan, Pike and Cancer")

How many find happiness

Only the fact that they walk well on their hind legs. ("Two dogs")

When there is no agreement among comrades,

Their business will not go well. ("Swan, Pike and Cancer")

Even though you're in new skin

Yes, you have the same heart. (“The Peasant and the Snake” (“The Snake crawled into the Peasant ...”)

Do not spit in the well - it will come in handy

Drink water. ("The Lion and the Mouse")

The strong always blame the powerless. ("The Wolf and the Lamb")

Like a squirrel in a wheel. ("Squirrel")

Disservice. ("The Hermit and the Bear")

Snout in fluff. ("The Fox and the Marmot")

A helpful fool is more dangerous than an enemy. ("The Hermit and the Bear")

…from poems by K. N. Batyushkov

O you who know how to love,

Be afraid to anger love with separation!

("Elegy from Tibullus")

There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!

("Memories")

O memory of the heart! you are stronger

The mind of a sad memory.

("My genius")

Pray with hope and tears...

Everything earthly perishes... both glory and crown...

("Dying Tass")

…from the poems of N. M. Karamzin

Nothing is new under the sun. ("Experienced Solomon's Wisdom, or Selected Thoughts from Ecclesiastes")

…from the works of A. S. Pushkin

You cannot harness a Horse and a quivering doe into one cart. ( poem "Poltava")

Love for all ages. ("Eugene Onegin")

We all learned a little

Something and somehow. ("Eugene Onegin")

Broken trough. ("Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish")

From the ship to the ball. ("Eugene Onegin")

Reading is the best teaching. (quote from a letter from A. S. Pushkin to his brother)

…from the works of I. S. Turgenev

Great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language. (poem in prose "Russian language")

… from the works of A.P. Chekhov

Twenty-two misfortunes.( play "The Cherry Orchard"

To the grandfather's village. (story "Vanka")

Everything should be beautiful in a person: face, clothes, soul, and thoughts. (play "Uncle Vanya")

… from the works of L. N. Tolstoy

Living Dead. (drama "The Living Corpse")

…from the works of M. Yu. Lermontov

Forget and fall asleep! (poem "I go out alone on the road")

And boring, and sad, and there is no one to give a hand to. (poem "And boring and sad")

All this would be funny

When would not be so sad. ("A. O. Smirnova")

…from the works of N. V. Gogol

And the rope on the road will come in handy. ( comedy "The Inspector"

…from poems by A. A. Blok

And fight again! Rest only in our dreams. (poem "On the Kulikovo field")

…from poems by N. A. Nekrasov

How did you get to this life? ("Miserable and elegant")

You may not be a poet

But you have to be a citizen. (poem "Poet and Citizen")

…from the works of M. Gorky

One who is born to crawl cannot fly. ("Songs about the Falcon")

…from poems S. A. Yesenina

Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees. ("I do not regret, do not call, do not cry…")

…from the poems of F. I. Tyutchev

Oh, how deadly we love

As in the violent blindness of passions

We are the most likely to destroy

What is dear to our heart! ("Oh, how deadly we love")

Love is a dream, and a dream is a moment,

And early or late, or awakening,

And a person should finally wake up ... (“In separation there is high value»)

Russia cannot be understood with the mind,

Do not measure with a common yardstick:

She has a special become -

One can only believe in Russia. (“You can’t understand Russia with the mind”)

Often we use the 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 Greek legends about the Trojan War ... But many words have become so close and familiar that we don’t even think may come 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 a live goat, thereby, as it were, shifting the sins of the whole people onto him. After that, the goat was driven out into the wilderness. Many, many years have passed, and the rite no longer exists, but the expression lives on ...

Tryn-grass
The mysterious "tryn-grass" is not at all some kind of herbal drug that is drunk 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, indifferent to everyone.

Sour soup master
Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food: some water and sauerkraut. It wasn't hard to prepare them. And if someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, it meant that he was not good for anything worthwhile. Balzac Age

The expression arose after the publication of the novel by the French writer Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) The Thirty-Year-Old Woman (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, delivers triumphs to captives.
However, such a lucky man is less likely to be a white crow.

put a 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 imperceptibly put pork meat in his food, then his faith was defiled by this.

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

Paper endures everything (Paper does not blush)
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” - “The letter does not blush”, that is, in writing you can express such thoughts that you are 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. Field (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 inside they are ravenous wolves."

In borrowed plumes
It arose from the fable of I.A. Krylov "Crow" (1825).

Pour in the first number
You won't believe it, but... old school where students were flogged every week, regardless of who is right and who is wrong. And if the mentor overdoes it, then such a spanking was enough 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 in known places of negligent students strongly looked like this letter. So to prescribe Izhitsu - teach a lesson, punish, it's easier to flog. And you still scold the modern school!

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

Goal like a falcon
Terribly poor, beggar. Usually they think that we are talking about a bird. But the falcon has nothing to do with it. In fact, the “falcon” is an old military wall-beating weapon. It was a completely smooth ("bare") cast-iron blank, fixed on chains. Nothing extra!

Orphan Kazan
So 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. Mirzas (Tatar princes), being subjects of the Russian Tsar, tried to beg him for all sorts of indulgences, complaining about their orphanhood and bitter fate.

unlucky person
In the old days in Russia, "the way" was called not only the road, but also various positions at the prince's court. The falconer's path is in charge of princely hunting, the trapping path is dog hunting, the equerry's path is carriages and horses. The boyars, by hook or by crook, tried to get a way from the prince - a position. And those who did not succeed, spoke of those with disdain: an unlucky person.

Was it a boy?
In 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 a hole. Klim gives Boris the end of his gymnasium belt, but, feeling that he is being pulled into the water, he releases the belt from his hands. Children are drowning. When the search for the drowned begins, Klima is struck by "someone's serious incredulous question: - Was there a boy, maybe there wasn't a boy." The last phrase has become winged as a figurative expression of extreme doubt about anything.

twenty two misfortunes
So in the play by A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard" (1903) they call the clerk Epikhodov, with whom some kind of comic trouble happens every day. The expression is applied to people with whom some kind of 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 imposing a tax on public latrines, Vespasian brought the first money received from this tax to his nose and asked if they smelled. To the negative answer of Titus, Vespasian said: "And yet they are from urine."

Draconian measures
This is the name given to exorbitantly harsh laws named after the Dragon, the first legislator of the Athenian Republic (VII century BC). Among the punishments determined by its laws, a prominent place seemed to be occupied by the death penalty, which was punished, for example, such an offense as stealing vegetables. There was a legend that these laws were written in blood (Plutarch, Solon). In literary speech, the expression "draconian laws", "draconian measures, punishments" became stronger in the meaning of harsh, cruel laws.

Inside out
Now it seems to be quite a harmless expression. And once it was associated with a shameful punishment. In the time of Ivan the Terrible, the guilty boyar was put back to front on a horse in clothes turned inside out and in this form, disgraced, was driven around the city to the whistle and ridicule of the street crowd.

Retired goat drummer
In the old days, trained bears were taken to fairs. They were accompanied by a dancer boy dressed up 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, the American graphic artist Richard Outcault placed 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 child in a yellow shirt, to whom various amusing statements were attributed. Soon another newspaper, the New York Journal, began printing a series of similar drawings. A dispute arose between the two papers over the title 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 the two competing newspapers "yellow press." Since then, the expression has become catchy.

finest hour
An expression by Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) from the preface to his collection of historical short stories The Starry Clock of Mankind (1927). Zweig explains that he called historical moments the finest hours "because, like eternal stars, they invariably shine in the nights of oblivion and decay."

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

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

To make mountains out of molehills
The expression is ancient. It is cited by the Greek writer Lucian (3rd century AD), who ends his satirical “Praise of the Fly” as follows: “But I interrupt my word, although I could say a lot more, so that someone would not think that I , according to the proverb, I make an elephant out of a fly.

Zest
The expression is used in the meaning: something that gives a special taste, attractiveness to something (dish, story, person, etc.). originated from folk proverb: "Kvass is not expensive, the zest in kvass is expensive"; became popular after the appearance of Leo 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 say? There was no zest, - you know, is there a zest in kvass? - there was no game in our life. And I had to forget. And without the game you will not forget ... "

lead by the nose
It can be seen that trained bears were very popular, because this expression was associated with fairground entertainment. The gypsies led the bears by wearing a nose ring. And they forced them, the poor fellows, to do various tricks, deceiving them with the promise of handouts.

Sharpen laces
Lyasy (balusters) are chiseled curly columns of railings at the porch. Only a real master could make such beauty. Probably, at first, “sharpening balusters” meant having an elegant, bizarre, ornate (like balusters) conversation. But craftsmen to conduct such a conversation by our time became less and less. So this expression began to denote empty chatter.

a swan song
The expression is used in the meaning: the last manifestation of talent. Based on the belief that swans sing before death, it arose in antiquity. Evidence of this is found in one of Aesop's fables (6th century BC): "They say that swans sing before they die."

Flying Dutchman
Dutch legend has preserved the story of a sailor who swore strong storm round the cape that blocked his path, even if it took him an eternity. For his pride, he was doomed to forever rush on a ship on a raging sea, never touching the shore. This legend, obviously, arose in the age of great discoveries. It is possible that historical basis it 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 dated to several Dutch captains, which is reflected in its name.

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

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 used after him by Phaedrus, La Fontaine and other fabulists.

The moor has done his job, the moor can go
Quote from the drama by F. Schiller (1759 - 1805) "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa" (1783). This phrase (d.3, yavl.4) is spoken by the Moor, who turned out to be unnecessary after he helped Count Fisco organize an uprising of the Republicans against the tyrant of Genoa, Doge Doria. This phrase has become a saying that characterizes 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 went through the desert to the promised land (Exodus, 16, 14-16 and 31).

Disservice
The expression arose from the fable of I. A. Krylov "The Hermit and the Bear" (1808).

Honeymoon
The idea that the happiness of the first period of marriage is quickly replaced by 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 sagebrush month.

We have a road for young people 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
The expression of the Pope (1294-1303) Boniface VIII 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?”

Flour Tantalum
AT Greek mythology Tantalus, king of Phrygia (also called king of Lydia), was a 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, thrown into Tartarus (hell), he always 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. Hence the expression "Tantal's torment" arose, which means: unbearable torment due to the inability to achieve the desired goal, despite its proximity.

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

I don't want to study, I want to get married
Mitrofanushka's words from D. I. Fonvizin's comedy "Undergrowth" (1783), d.3, yavl. 7.

New is well forgotten old
In 1824, the memoirs of the milliner Marie Antoinette, Mademoiselle Bertin, were published in France, in which she said these words about the queen's old dress she had renovated (in fact, her memoirs are fake, their author is Jacques Pesche). This thought was perceived as new, too, only because it was 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 The Folk Songs of Southern Scotland.

Nick down
In this expression, the word "nose" has nothing to do with the organ of smell. "Nose" was called a commemorative plaque, or a tag for records. In the distant past, illiterate people always carried with them such boards and sticks, with the help of which all kinds of notes or notches were made as a keepsake.

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 the hunt can be jinxed. Feather in the language of hunters means a bird, fluff - animals. In ancient times, a hunter going fishing 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 hunting pit!” To which the miner, in order not to jinx it, also replied: “To hell!”. And both were sure that the evil spirits, invisibly present at this dialogue, would be satisfied and leave behind, would not plot during the hunt.

Beat the thumbs
What are "backcloths", who and when "beats" them? For a long time handicraftsmen have been making spoons, cups and other utensils from wood. To cut a spoon, it was necessary to chip off a chock - a baklusha - from a log. Apprentices were entrusted with preparing buckwheat: it was an easy, trifling matter that did not require special skills. Cooking such chocks was called “beating bucks”. From here, from the mockery of the masters over the auxiliary workers - "bucketers", our saying went.

About dead or good or nothing
An expression frequently quoted in Latin, "De mortuis nil nisi bene" or "De mortuis aut bene aut nihil," seems to derive from Diogenes Laertes (3rd century AD): "Life, Doctrine, and Opinions famous philosophers”, which contains the saying of one of the “seven wise men” - Chilo (VI century BC): “Do not slander about the dead”.

O 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 ingenuous religious zeal threw the brushwood she brought into the fire of the fire. However, Hus's biographers, based on eyewitness accounts of his death, deny the fact that he uttered this phrase. The ecclesiastical writer Turanius Rufinus (c. 345-410) in his continuation of Eusebius' 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 of the law of retribution: “A fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth: as he did damage to the human body, so it must be done to him” (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 told 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-Francois Marmontel (1723-1799) in the fifth volume of his works (1787): "In general, the funny comes into contact with the great."

Language will bring to Kyiv
In 999, a certain Kievan Nikita Shchekomyaka got lost in the boundless, then Russian, steppe and ended up among the Polovtsians. When the Polovtsy asked him: Where are you from, Nikita? He replied that from the rich and beautiful city Kyiv, and so painted the wealth and beauty of his native city to the nomads that the Polovtsian Khan Nunchak attached Nikita by the tongue to the tail of his horse, and the Polovtsians went to fight and rob Kyiv. So Nikita Shchekomyaka got home with the help of his tongue.

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

bastard
This is an idiomatic word. There is such a river Voloch, when the fishermen sailed with their catch, they said ours from Volochi came. There are several more tomological meanings of this word. To drag - to collect, drag. It is from them that the word originated. But it has become 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 old torture, in which the accused were driven under the nails of needles or nails, seeking a confession.

Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh's hat!
A quote from the tragedy of A. S. Pushkin “Boris Godunov”, the scene “The Tsar’s Chambers” (1831), Boris’s monologue (Monomakh in Greek is a wrestler; a nickname that was added to the names of some Byzantine emperors. In ancient Russia, this nickname was assigned to the Grand Duke Vladimir (beginning of the 12th century), from whom the Muscovite tsars originated. Monomakh's cap is the crown with which Moscow tsars were crowned to the kingdom, a symbol of royal power). The above quotation characterizes some difficult situation.

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer
The Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) in his work "Phaedo" attributes to Socrates the words "Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth." Aristotle in his work "Nicomachean Ethics", arguing with Plato and referring to him, writes: "Let friends and truth be dear to me, but duty commands me to give preference to truth." Luther (1483-1546) says: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but the 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", formulated by Cervantes in the 2nd part, ch. 51 Don Quixote novels (1615).

Dancing to someone else's tune
The expression is used in the sense: to act not according to one's own will, but according to the arbitrariness of another. It goes back to the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who in the 1st book of his “History” tells: 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 flutist, seeing fish in the sea, began to play the flute, expecting that they would come out to him on land. Deceived in hope, he took the net, threw it over and pulled out a lot of fish. Seeing the fish fighting 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
Rusichi - ancient ancestors Russians - honored among their gods the main god - the god of thunder and lightning Perun. One of the days of the week, Thursday, was dedicated to him (it is interesting that among the ancient Romans, Thursday was also dedicated to the Latin Perun - Jupiter). Perun offered prayers for rain in a 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 apply to everything that is not known when it will be fulfilled.

Get into a loop
In dialects, binding is a fish trap woven from branches. And, as in any trap, being in it is an unpleasant business. Beluga roar

Beluga roar
Mute like a fish - you have known this for a long time. And suddenly roar beluga? It turns out that we are not talking about a beluga here, but a beluga whale, as the polar dolphin is called. Here he is really roaring very loudly.

Success is never blamed
These words are attributed to Catherine II, who supposedly put it this way when A. V. Suvorov was brought to court martial for the assault on Turtukai in 1773, which he undertook contrary to the orders of Field Marshal Rumyantsev. However, the story about Suvorov's arbitrary actions and about bringing him to trial is refuted by serious researchers.

Know yourself
According to the legend reported by Plato in the Protagoras dialogue, the seven wise men ancient greece(Thales, Pittacus, Byant, Solon, Cleobulus, Mison and Chilo), coming together in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, they wrote: "Know thyself." The idea of ​​self-knowledge was explained and spread by Socrates. This expression is often used in the Latin form: nosce te ipsum.

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

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

smoke rocker
In old Russia, the huts were often heated in black: the smoke did not escape through the chimney (it did not exist at all), but through a special window or door. And the shape of the smoke predicted the weather. There is a column of smoke - it will be clear, dragged - to fog, rain, rocker - to the wind, bad weather, and even a storm.

Out of court
This is a very old sign: both in the house and in the courtyard (in the yard), only the animal that the brownie likes will live. And if you don't like it, you'll get sick, get sick, or run away. What to do - not to the court!

Hair on end
But what kind of rack is this? It turns out that to stand on end is to stand at attention, on your fingertips. That is, when a person is frightened, his hair stands on tiptoe on his head.

Throw on the rampage
Rozhon is a sharp pole. And in some Russian provinces, the four-pronged pitchfork was called that. Indeed, you don’t really trample on them!

From ship to ball
An expression from "Eugene Onegin" by A. S. Pushkin, chapter 8, stanza 13 (1832):

And travel to him
Like everything in the world, tired,
He returned and got
Like Chatsky, from the ship to the ball.

This expression is characterized by an unexpected, abrupt change in position, circumstances.

Combine pleasant with useful
An expression from the "Art of Poetry" by Horace, who says about the poet: "The one who combines the pleasant with the useful is worthy of all approval."

Wash your hands
Used in the meaning: to be removed from responsibility for something. Arising from the Gospel: Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd, handing over Jesus to them for execution, and said: “I am not guilty of the blood of this righteous man” (Mat. 27:24). The ritual washing of hands, which serves as evidence of the non-participation of the person washing to something, is described in the Bible (Deuteronomy, 21, 6-7).

Vulnerable point
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: weak side person, business.

Fortune. Wheel of Fortune
Fortune - in Roman mythology, the goddess of blind chance, happiness and misfortune. Depicted with a blindfold, standing on a ball or wheel (emphasizing her constant variability), and holding a steering wheel in one hand, and a cornucopia in the other. The steering wheel indicated that fortune controls the fate of a person.

upside down
Tormashit - in many Russian provinces this word meant to walk. So, upside down - it's just walkers upside down, upside down.

Grated roll
By the way, in fact there was such a kind of bread - grated kalach. The dough for him was kneaded, kneaded, rubbed for a very long time, which is why the kalach turned out to be unusually magnificent. And there was also a proverb - do not grate, do not mint, there will be no kalach. That is, a person is taught by trials and tribulations. The expression came from a proverb, and not from the name of bread.

Output to clean water
Once they said to bring the fish to clean water. And if the fish, then everything is clear: in the thickets of reeds or where snags drown in the silt, a fish caught on a hook can easily cut off the line and leave. And in clear water, above a clean bottom - let him try. So is an exposed swindler: if all the circumstances are clear, he cannot escape retribution.

And there is a hole in the old woman
And what kind of hole (mistake, oversight by Ozhegov and Efremova) is this, a hole (i.e. flaw, defect) or what? The meaning, therefore, is this: And a wise person can make mistakes. Interpretation from the mouth of a connoisseur ancient Russian literature: And on the old woman there is a ruin Poruha (Ukrainian f. colloquial-decreased. 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 the morality of the Jesuits, was borrowed by them from English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).

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