So this week President Vladimir Putin of Russia was quoted in the New York Times as complaining about "boorishness."
This was not the most noteworthy quote in the NYT this week (I am striving not to use profanity since reading about J.D. Vance's Mamaw in his Hillbilly Elegy, so I won't repeat the other quote). It was, however, named the "Quotation of the Day."
Not many Americans use the word "boorishness." In fact, I may never have heard it spoken aloud in my entire life. Nonetheless, as often happens when reading translations, I had to back-translate and realized immediately what Putin must have said in Russian.
I checked on the Russian internet, and I was right: Putin called the new sanctions being imposed on Russia by the U.S. Senate "boorishness and cynicism" -- or khamstvo i tsinizm.
The word khamstvo, or boorishness, seems like the kind of thing you might fling about if you were, say, about to challenge someone to a duel. (Oh, right, that almost happened this week in the U.S. Senate as well. What times we live in!)
But really. Insults like these imply that there are gentlemen's agreements about behavior, codes of honor, and lines that cannot be crossed. Which out of the mouth of Russia's president--who may or may not know anything about cybercrime, but certainly doesn't have much respect for internationally recognized state borders--is simply surreal.
I have my own story of khamstvo from back in the days of the Soviet Union. Indulge me for a moment. It represents a perfect example of learning language and culture from context.
When I arrived for a year-long study abroad in Moscow in 1988, we were housed in a dormitory of the Pushkin Institute for Russian Language and Culture.
It had been a long journey, and all we wanted to do was unpack and go explore the city as soon as possible. But we couldn't. First we had to get access to the items left behind by other students affiliated with our program, students who had left tons of goodies--hot plates, and dictionaries, and pillows, and other random items--for their successors.
All those goodies were stored in a storage room, but the room seemed abandoned--no attendant in sight.
College students are nothing if not eager, especially when starting a new adventure. Several of us barged into the storage room and recognized a trunk and some boxes labeled with the name of our program. We began to sort through them, claiming what we needed, and to drag them out into the hallway.
Soon an elderly woman appeared, and frankly, I thought she might have a heart attack. Nu i khamstvo!! she shouted. What boorishness! How dare you go through these items?!
It was the storage room attendant, and no matter how much we explained that we had waited, that we were in a hurry, that these really were our things, she could not recover her equanimity. Muttering and practically spitting in anger and frustration, she drove us away, and we were left utterly perplexed at her reaction.
Not as perplexed as I was about six weeks later, though, when standing on a bus stop outside the institute. A woman in a warm coat, shawl wrapped firmly around her head and several bags dangling from her arms, hustled up to me to chastise me. "Sweetheart," she said, "put your scarf on your head. Where are your mittens? Button up your coat. It's nearly winter."
It was the same woman. Suddenly concerned for my health and welfare. She didn't even recognize me as one of those targeted by her acrimony back in early September.
My conclusion at the time was, I thought, an insight into the Soviet person. The storage room was this woman's kingdom, and access to the goods there was her only power. In the rest of her life she could be a sweet grandmother, but at work she was fierce. Protecting her realm from the American khams was for her a way to claim the high ground, to demonstrate her knowledge of good, proper behavior, politeness, order. She was fighting boorishness as any noble person would.
So now back to Putin. Was his complaint a cry of frustration at American senators' violating his sacred space? Is this about noble Russian behavior in the face of the American traits of cynicism and boorishness? Are we really not fit for the honorable world inhabited by Russians/Soviets?
Is that code of honor Putin claims to value merely a reflex, a nineteenth century leftover? Or even worse, is it a sham? "I'm shocked, just shocked that you could retaliate in the face of our illegal behavior?!"
In any other week I guess I'd be surprised to see a headline featuring the word "boorishness." But politics have gotten weird, both here and internationally. Regardless, I still won't be expecting sweetness and light the next time Vladimir Putin's word choice makes headlines.
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| Photo credit: Mauri Ratilainen/ European Pressphoto Agency for the NYT |
Not many Americans use the word "boorishness." In fact, I may never have heard it spoken aloud in my entire life. Nonetheless, as often happens when reading translations, I had to back-translate and realized immediately what Putin must have said in Russian.
I checked on the Russian internet, and I was right: Putin called the new sanctions being imposed on Russia by the U.S. Senate "boorishness and cynicism" -- or khamstvo i tsinizm.
The word khamstvo, or boorishness, seems like the kind of thing you might fling about if you were, say, about to challenge someone to a duel. (Oh, right, that almost happened this week in the U.S. Senate as well. What times we live in!)
But really. Insults like these imply that there are gentlemen's agreements about behavior, codes of honor, and lines that cannot be crossed. Which out of the mouth of Russia's president--who may or may not know anything about cybercrime, but certainly doesn't have much respect for internationally recognized state borders--is simply surreal.
I have my own story of khamstvo from back in the days of the Soviet Union. Indulge me for a moment. It represents a perfect example of learning language and culture from context.
When I arrived for a year-long study abroad in Moscow in 1988, we were housed in a dormitory of the Pushkin Institute for Russian Language and Culture.
 |
| A stamp featuring the Pushkin Institute and its 50th anniversary in 2016 |
All those goodies were stored in a storage room, but the room seemed abandoned--no attendant in sight.
College students are nothing if not eager, especially when starting a new adventure. Several of us barged into the storage room and recognized a trunk and some boxes labeled with the name of our program. We began to sort through them, claiming what we needed, and to drag them out into the hallway.
Soon an elderly woman appeared, and frankly, I thought she might have a heart attack. Nu i khamstvo!! she shouted. What boorishness! How dare you go through these items?!
It was the storage room attendant, and no matter how much we explained that we had waited, that we were in a hurry, that these really were our things, she could not recover her equanimity. Muttering and practically spitting in anger and frustration, she drove us away, and we were left utterly perplexed at her reaction.
Not as perplexed as I was about six weeks later, though, when standing on a bus stop outside the institute. A woman in a warm coat, shawl wrapped firmly around her head and several bags dangling from her arms, hustled up to me to chastise me. "Sweetheart," she said, "put your scarf on your head. Where are your mittens? Button up your coat. It's nearly winter."
 |
| Moscow bus stop |
It was the same woman. Suddenly concerned for my health and welfare. She didn't even recognize me as one of those targeted by her acrimony back in early September.
My conclusion at the time was, I thought, an insight into the Soviet person. The storage room was this woman's kingdom, and access to the goods there was her only power. In the rest of her life she could be a sweet grandmother, but at work she was fierce. Protecting her realm from the American khams was for her a way to claim the high ground, to demonstrate her knowledge of good, proper behavior, politeness, order. She was fighting boorishness as any noble person would.
So now back to Putin. Was his complaint a cry of frustration at American senators' violating his sacred space? Is this about noble Russian behavior in the face of the American traits of cynicism and boorishness? Are we really not fit for the honorable world inhabited by Russians/Soviets?
Is that code of honor Putin claims to value merely a reflex, a nineteenth century leftover? Or even worse, is it a sham? "I'm shocked, just shocked that you could retaliate in the face of our illegal behavior?!"
In any other week I guess I'd be surprised to see a headline featuring the word "boorishness." But politics have gotten weird, both here and internationally. Regardless, I still won't be expecting sweetness and light the next time Vladimir Putin's word choice makes headlines.
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