Day 81 of 125

Day 81: Cringe at the Dinner Table

At a family dinner in Moscow, a teenage son reacts to his father's joke, and the father, a professor of philology, and the grandfather join in.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title.
  2. Read the dialogue and its translation. The audio for this lesson is coming soon.
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Russian audio, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.

Dialogue

Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.

Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day

  1. A

    Пап, умоляю, хватит. Шутка про родительный падеж, в котором родители падают, это такой кринж, что мне физически больно.

    Dad, please, stop. That joke about the genitive, the "parents' case" where the parents fall over, is such cringe it physically hurts.

  2. B

    Погоди-погоди, это же прелесть. «Такой кринж», значит, мужской род. А во множественном числе как будет, «кринжи»?

    Hold on, hold on, this is delightful. "Such cringe", with "such" in the masculine, so it's a masculine noun. And what's the plural, "cringes"?

  3. A

    Да никак не будет, пап, это тебе не диссертация. Кринж и кринж, это когда стыдно за другого.

    There isn't one, Dad, this isn't a dissertation. Cringe is just cringe, it's when you're embarrassed for someone else.

  4. C

    Стыдно за другого, значит. А мы в молодости говорили «лажа», и никакие профессора у нас падежей не спрашивали.

    Embarrassed for someone else, eh. When I was young we said "lazha", and no professors asked us about cases.

  5. B

    И зря не спрашивали, пап. Смотри: «кринж», «кринжовый», «кринжануть», язык переваривает англицизм за пару лет, как удав кролика.

    And more's the pity, Dad. Look: "cringe", "cringey", "to cringe", the language digests an English loanword in a couple of years, like a boa constrictor digests a rabbit.

  6. A

    Всё, началось, сейчас будет лекция на полтора часа. Пап, если ты скажешь «кринж» студентам, это будет полный зашквар.

    That's it, here we go, now we'll get a ninety-minute lecture. Dad, if you say "cringe" to your students, it'll be total social suicide.

  7. C

    Мне в шестьдесят седьмом тоже шестнадцать было, и мы с ребятами хиляли по Броду, так улицу Горького звали.

    I was sixteen too, back in sixty-seven, and the lads and I used to "khilyat" along the Brod, that's what we called Gorky Street.

  8. A

    Дед, погоди, «хилять» это что? И «чувак», выходит, тоже от вас пошёл?

    Grandpa, wait, what's "khilyat"? And "chuvak", dude, that came from you lot too?

  9. C

    Хилять значит гулять, фланировать. «Чувак» от нас, и «клёво» тоже, а старики ворчали, что поколение у нас пропащее.

    "Khilyat" means to stroll, to saunter. "Chuvak" is ours, and so is "klyovo", cool, and the old folks grumbled that we were a lost generation.

  10. A

    Серьёзно? Я думал, «клёво» из девяностых. Получается, дед, ты у нас главный по вайбу.

    Seriously? I thought "klyovo" was from the nineties. So, Grandpa, you're the real master of vibes around here.

  11. B

    Вот вам три поколения сленга за одним столом, живая диахрония. Напишу, пожалуй, статью, с благодарностью сыну и отцу за предоставленный материал.

    There you have it, three generations of slang at one table, living diachrony. I think I'll write an article, with thanks to my son and my father for the material provided.

  12. C

    Пиши, пиши. Слова меняются, а отцы всё так же несмешно шутят, и сыновья всё так же за них краснеют.

    Go on, write it. Words change, but fathers still tell unfunny jokes, and sons still blush for them.

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