Russian Sayings - Popular Phrases

Popular Phrases

Показать Кузькину мать. (Pokazát' Kuz'kinu mat'.)

"To show one Kuzma's mother", see above.

Есть человек, есть проблема. Нет человека, нет проблемы. (Yest' chelovék, yest' probléma. Net chelovéka, net problémy.)

"If there is a person, there is a problem. If there is no person, then there is no problem."

"Скандинавии это дерьмо России" English "Scandinavia is shit Russia"

This is commonly incorrectly attributed to Joseph Stalin, the political leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. In fact this phrase was used by Soviet writer Anatoly Rybakov in his novel Children of the Arbat.

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