LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.04.21 (01) [E]

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From: Mike Morgan <Mike.Morgan at mb3.seikyou.ne.jp>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.04.15 (01) [E]


As Ian Pollock <ispollock at shaw.ca> noted, штука is indeed the Russian for
"thingy, thingamabob, etc".

However, starting sometime early in the 90s (at least that's when I first
remember hearing it), there was an additional meaning that sprung (sprang?)
up, that could potentially (at least in my world of what-if semantics) cause
ambiguity ... at least when the speaker was a woman. To wit, штука = 1000
rubles.

I had thought this usage had all but died out with the erasing of three
zeros from the currency, but recently I ran across this sentence from
internet chat-room chatter from November 2003:


 Ну дома то я платила штуку в месяц, а теперь - халява :-))).

Which would be (spoken with a woman's voice, pitched about a major fifth
higher than is natural, as it "normal" for women there ... and here in Japan
as well):  "Well, at home I used to pay 1000 rubles a month, but now I don't
pay (diddly)-squat." (okay, maybe "diddly-squat" is not a female idiom;
can't say I ever remember my wife using it ... but you gte the picture: "not
a red cent".)

Now, MY (related) question: "Thingy, etc" are used (mainly) when we need to
refer to something that we (temporarily, at least) can't pull up the
appropriate noun for. Can anyone out there come up with anlaogous verbs, or
adjectives? Other than English, that is, which seems capable of using
practically any noun as a verb: "Yesterday I was going downtown to
whatchamacallit", etc.

I remain, how do you say, ... uhh, ... whatever,

Mike Morgan
Kobe City University of Foreign Studies

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