Re: Speaking about languages...

On 29 Sep, 20:55, "santak...@xxxxxxxxx" <santak...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sep 29, 1:08 pm, Dmitry <dmitrijsfedot...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:





Yes, but it doesn't take long for imports to become local. And such
processes are much faster today than they were in the past.

OK, OK. But I have no problem distinguishing that a Lithuanian song
and folk-dance festival should be a higher priority, and I hope LRT
(Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija) has no trouble doing the
same. And that filming a new Lithuania television drama series should
take precedence over producing more voiced-over episodes of Baywatch
or God knows what.

I've seen similar things on Latvian TV, tedious American soap
overdubbed in Russian and over-overdubbed in Latvian.

It's an interesting example of certain things that Australia still did
as late as the 1980s just because they were first done to copy the way
things were done in "Mother England". For example, it took that long
for people to admit that most of Australia does not have a climate
suitable for nice green lawns and the amount of precious water that is
wasted to keep them green is just criminal, given the state of
Australia's environment (practically permanent drought since the
greenhouse effect started relly kicking in seriously). The sensible
folk have moved on to eco-friendly alternatives (e.g. front yard
covered with bark chips with just a drought-resistant shrub sticking
out here and there), but some people still stubbornly want their
English-style lawn, regardless.

Long time indeed. I hope that "the sensible" are the majority.
I couldn't help to spot some analogy with Latvian Russians. Sensible
ones integrated into Latvian society, stubborn ones still dream that
they live in "Mother Russia" (to put it bluntly).

Good observation. I guess the principle involved is that in any
situation of a society evolving in certain ways, there will always be
a % of the society who cling to the past, insisting that it was
better. Time cures that ailment they die out. I am so glad that the
worst of the Soviet-era ball-tearer bitches that used to work as shop
assistants are all dead or retired by now. Some of them had only one
word in their vocab: NIET. {Which non-Russophones need to have
pointed out to them means not only 'NO' but also 'There isn't any.'}

The word for 'There isn't any' is NIETU. At some point one could
sense "nietu" by simply registering the absence of the queue.

And the reason that there wasn't any so much of the times was that
those bitches had picked the eyes out of it (meat, vegetables, milk
products, whatever) and put it 'under the counter' to be sold to
'special customers' only at premium prices.

This is exactly how it was. Shop assistants had many friends. Never
mind shop assistants - I've seen school dinner ladies returning from
work 6 days a week carrying more than needed to feed their family
every day. Corruption at all levels was the integral part of Soviet
society.

So, in the Baltics, most
of those pining for the past are precisely those who were themeselves
the bitches (or bastards) described and their 'special customers'.
Every notice the similarity between 'blat' and 'blet'?

What's "blet"?

Coincidence?

Maybe you would transliterate the latter 'bliat'.

I see what you mean. Apparently, in old Russian this word meant
"prostitute", later it became a swear word. I don't know the origin
of "blat", but somehow I don't think these two are connected.



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