Michele A. Berdy
Michele Berdy has been writing a weekly column about Russian language for years for The Moscow Times. I have been enjoying my weekly date with her and collecting her writings almost since the beginning. Generally her column appears in the Friday edition of the paper. Here is her most recent column.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/07/28/007.html
Friday, July 28, 2006. Issue 3463. Page 8.
A Russian Take on the Common Cold
By Michele A. Berdy
Дохать: to have a hacking cough
Feeling a little out of sorts lately? Let down after the hoopla of the G8? Worried about the wars that are breaking out all over the world? Sad you can't drown your sorrows in wine because there hasn't been a decent bottle on sale within 10 kilometers of your apartment for a month now? Cheer up. It could be worse. You could have a summer cold.
Some day, someone should write a dissertation on illness and cultural differences. It doesn't surprise me that different nations perceive different causes for illness and believe in different cures. But it never fails to amaze me that different nations actually experience illness differently. For example, Americans experience two kinds of colds: the head cold and the chest cold. Russians don't. In fact, you can't even express the difference in Russian. For Russians, a cold (простуда) comes in just one variety.
If you've come down with a cold, you can say: У меня простуда, я простужен or я простудился. You can also say: Я простыл (literally "I've gotten a chill"). Then you list your symptoms: У меня ужасный кашель (I have a bad cough) or the less common, but more vivid я дохаю (I have a hacking cough). Then you continue your litany of cold woes: У меня высокая температура (I'm running a high fever); горло болит (I've got a sore throat); меня знобит (I've got the chills); голова болит (I've got a headache); я чихаю (I'm sneezing); у меня насморк, нос заложен, слезятся глаза (I've got a runny nose, a stuffed-up nose, runny eyes). When your nose is running like a faucet, you can say: у меня льёт из носа (literally "my nose is pouring") or я весь в соплях (literally, "I'm all sniffles").
Russian doctors know that the common cold is a virus, and простуда передается воздушно-капельным путём (a cold is passed around by droplets in the air). Russian patients know otherwise. As soon as you tell your friends that you're sick, you'll hear: Я же тебе говорил! (I told you!) Не надо было пить холодную воду в жару! (You shouldn't have drunk cold water on that hot day!) Не надо было есть мороженое на морозе! (You shouldn't have eaten ice cream on that cold day!) Ты перекупался и простыл. (You had a swim and got chilled.) Ты промочил ноги. (You got your feet wet.) Ты промок под дождём. (You got drenched in the rain.) Agree and look repentant. If millions of Russian doctors haven't convinced the population that colds are caught from people, not cold temperatures, you won't either.
Then your friends will suggest folk remedies. Here I keep an open mind: You never know when some laboratory will do a double-blind study proving the effectiveness of, say, grain alcohol as an antiviral drug. So when folks tell me: Выпей водки с солью и перцем (Drink vodka mixed with salt and pepper), hey -- I'll give it a go.
You may also be advised: Пей чай с мёдом или малиновым вареньем (Drink tea with honey or raspberry jam); Сходи в баню и попарься (Go to the bath house for a steam); Ешь чеснок (Eat garlic); Клади по дольке чеснока в каждую ноздрю (Put a clove of garlic in each nostril); Натирай виски, нос и грудь «звездочкой» (Rub mentholated cream -- called "star" for the picture on the label of the most common brand -- on your temples, nose and chest); Клади сваренное вкрутую горячее яйцо на переносицу (Place a hot, hard-boiled egg on the bridge of your nose); Дыши над паром от варёной картошки (Breathe in steam from boiled potatoes); Полощи горло водой с солью и йодом (Gargle with salt water and iodine); Парь ноги (Steam your feet).
This list is far from complete. There are also dozens of herbs that are recommended for each symptom.
I'd list more, but it's time to go inhale some potato steam.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based interpreter and translator.
posted by Kate @ 7:54 AM
2 Comments:
Kate, this is a hilarious article, so funny to read! I should consider a subscription there, too.
Hi Maxie,
You don't actually need a subscription. (I don't have one) All the Moscow Times articles are available to anyone for free for at least 24 hours, and the Friday articles, which Michele's are, are usually available until the Monday paper comes out (which is Sunday afternoon in USA) so you have a few days to remember to look for her. If it's legal, I'd be happy to post them all here on our blog. But no secret, I really think the woman should make a book of them all...It's quite a collection for those of us interested in Russian language...
By the way, I met Michele when I was in Moscow in 1980. She was was working for Novosti and was one of only a handful of Americans living there at that time...
Best wishes,
Katja
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