Are you feeling the crisis?

[peacetraveler22]

We see the word "crisis" constantly thrown around in text and news articles, but I want to know the reality of the situation for the average person living in Russia. I understand almost nothing about the financial markets, and my investments are all handled by stockbrokers with expertise in the area. Yet I go to the gas station each week and see the gas prices continually drop, which is great for me given that I commute a very long distance to work now. Travel is also less costly with the strength of the dollar, whereas many Russian friends no longer can afford to go abroad due to the continual decrease in the ruble. So, are all of these stories on LJ simply written by alarmists and pessimists, or do you feel there's a real crisis now in Russia as a result of sanctions and economics, which dramatically impacts your life? If so, in what way? Do you have hope for improvement in 2016?

Comments

[kichiro-sora.livejournal.com]

As they joke - Russian people never lived as bad as under Obama administration! :)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

What does the slang word "pizdets" mean?

[kichiro-sora.livejournal.com]

It's not slang, it's the most native word to the language! Called "mat" (loosely translated as swearing words) They won't teach you in school, but you need it often in life.
It's usually means very negative feeling about situation. Derivative from "mat" word for vagina - "pizda". Don't ask me why. Those dark ages russians just loved the use of those body parts :)

More full and pretty accurate description I found online (the guy above used it as in example #2):
1) Short description of a situation, usually negative. This particular use is probably the most widespread. A situation may be described as heavily negative by this sole word. For example, an answer „Pizdetz” to a question „Kak dela?” (How are you?) bears a meaning close to „Everything’s totally fucked up”.
2) A characteristic of an object. In this case the word also generally bears a negative meaning, though may occasionally be used in opposite, to describe something very good. For instance, „Pizdetz, a ne mashina!” („Pizdetz, not a car!”, something like „Hell of a car!”) generally means a total wreck, but may sometimes mean the opposite, a very fast or a very powerful car. The true meaning can only be defined by the intonation and overall context of the conversation.
3) An end to something or someone. „Yemu pizdetz” („Pizdetz to him”) means that the subject (a person or a subject – an item, a business, etc) is already or about to be dead/destroyed. For instance, „Vasye pizdetz” means „Vasya’s done for it”, „Vasya’s six feet under” or something. „Nashey organizatzii pizdetz” – „Pizdetz to our organization”, „Our organization is finished”. May also mean something negative that happened to a person or object, e.g. someone got fired from his job.

Most commonly used phrases with „pizdetz”:

1) „Pizdetz prishol” - „Pizdetz came to us”. Used to tell that a certain negative situation, circumstance, has arisen.
2) „Polniy pizdetz” – „A full pizdetz”, „Total pizdetz”. The word „polniy” (full) is used in this expression to further enforce the negative meaning of a characteristic. In English language, the closest similarity would be „FUBAR” (fucked up beyond all recognition) and „Total FUBAR”.

If Russian is not your native language, here are some basic rules for using „pizdetz”:

1) Use it only when you are sure that you know how to use it correctly. Inadequate usage of „pizdetz”, as well as „mat” in general, may turn out to be very insulting.
2) Don’t use „mat¨ when talking to women. It is considered extremely impolite.
3) Consider the situation. Correct attribution of „pizdetz” may raise you popularity amongst a group of Russian men in the army, when fishing or hunting, in private conversations with your male colleagues, perhaps, but NEVER say this word during official events, for instance.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Well, I know the word pizda to be slang for pussy, but I didn't recognize that "pizdets" was a variation of the term, or that it had so many meanings. Thanks for the language lesson! :)

[kichiro-sora.livejournal.com]

Russian mat is very rich, as you probably already guessed. You can see 7 more derivatives prom "pizda" here, all pretty much distinctly different meanings, so the root is just gives it general negative connotation. Wait, some of them, like "пиздато" are totally pozitive. Well, I'm no language specialist :)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pizdec

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I don't think English curse or slang words are so prolific. I mean words like "fuck" and "ass" can have dual meanings, but not to the same extent as all this Russian mat :))

[qi-tronic.livejournal.com]

Haha, what a lecture above!

Ok, let's raise the bar one level up.

When you cannot say pizdets you can use an euphemism "pesets" which is actually an animal, an arctic fox.

ru. wikipedia. org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%86

Also "polniy", "full" is also a polite word for "fat".

So when you say "polniy pesets" it can mean "fat arctic fox" or "total pizdets".

So don't be surprized when you see this image in a blog (as I did recently).
mdrevers. ru/silver7/img/31.jpg

:))

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

:)

[saccovanzetti.livejournal.com]

You had me pause for a moment to think of "non-slang" word for it. Too complicated for a Russian, really!