Michele A. Berdy - A Spoonful of Sugar
Here is Michele Berdy's column from last Friday's Moscow Times.
Friday, September 15, 2006. Issue 3498.
A Spoonful of Sugar
By Michele A. Berdy
Сахарный песок: granulated sugar
You're sitting at the table with your sweet landlady, about to have tea. She pours you a cup, and then asks: С лимоном? (With lemon?) You nod affirmatively. Then she picks up the sugar bowl and asks, Положить песок? Your brain short-circuits. Put sand in my tea? Why would I want to do that?
Чудные люди, эти русские! (Odd people, these Russians.)
Foreigners who have been around a while know that she's offering to put сахарный песок (granulated sugar, literally "sugar sand") in your tea. If she had sugar cubes, she'd call them куски (lumps, pieces) and ask: Сколько кусков положить? (How many sugar cubes do you take?) Don't make the mistake of calling them кубики -- she might think you wanted to put either ice cubes or bullion cubes in your hot tea.
Чудные люди, эти иностранцы! (Odd people, these foreigners!)
You wouldn't think something as simple as sugar could get so confusing.
To further muddy matters, most people call sugar cubes кусковой сахар (literally "lump sugar"), but if you're searching in a store, you won't find it under that name. Look for the word рафинад on the box -- usually followed by the claim that it is быстрорастворимый (fast-dissolving).
Confectioner's sugar can also cause some problems. In Russian, it's сахарная пудра (literally, "sugar powder"), but it is often called just пудра (powder). If you are in the kitchen, chances are the cook isn't talking about face powder. For example, a cake recipe might end with the instructions: Когда торт остынет, его посыпают пудрой. (When the cake is cool, sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar.)
For a total linguistic meltdown, there's сахарная кость. It sounds like it's a bone made out of sugar -- something, say, to decorate your pooch's birthday cake. It's not, but your pooch would definitely like it. It's a marrowbone.
The adjective сахарный can be used in the figurative sense, too, although this usage is rather dated. Он соблазнил ее своими сахарными речами. (He seduced her with a lot of sweet talk). If you were feeling poetic, you might sigh: От его слов я растаяла, как сахар. (I melted like sugar when he spoke words of love.) Or, if you wanted to sound like the character in a Russian fairy tale: Поцелую тебя устами сахарными. (I'll kiss you with lips of sugar.)
If something is sickeningly sweet -- like sugary kisses -- you can use the very satisfying word слащавый, the very sound of which seems to hiss contempt. When used in reference to a person, it can mean either the person's appearance or his manner. Некоторым нравятся слащавые актёры. (Some people like pretty-boy actors.) Он слащавый -- постоянно говорит комплименты, целует ручку. (His manner is so saccharine -- he's always giving compliments and kissing your hand.)
When things are not sweetness and light, you can use the handy phrase не сахар (literally "not sugar"). Хорошая парочка. Она -- стерва, и у него характер не сахар. (They're a good pair. She's a shrew, and he's got a miserable personality.) Жизнь в деревне не сахар. (Rural life is no bowl of cherries.)
Another handy phrase to use when things aren't going well is чтобы жизнь мёдом/сахаром не казалась (literally "so that life doesn't seem like honey/sugar"). You use it to describe any irritation or misfortune that appears unexpectedly and that you are taking in stride. In English, we might exclaim: Great! Just what I need! Чтобы нам жизнь мёдом не казалась, накануне отъезда на дачу ребёнок заболел. Пришлось остаться в городе. (Life always throws you a curve. Just as we were ready to go to the dacha, my child got sick. We had to stay in the city.)
Actually, with a bit of poetic license the whole phrase could be encapsulated in four little words: Just my dumb luck!
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
posted by Kate @ 11:31 AM
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