recent Russian slang

[Gary Toops]

This year's participants in the IREX Summer Exchange of Language Teachers
at Petrozavodsk Gosuniversitet (Karelia) read a text ("...A shnurki v sta-
kane" = "...And my parents are in the apartment" which appeared under the
rubric "Molodnjak" in the Feb. 9, 1992, issue of _Pravda_) in which the
word _vanderlogi_ appeared:

Na vole kruto poshlo na minus, nikto ne tusuetsja.  V "Sajgone" odni
vanderlogi sh'jutsja pod bol'shix.  Da i voobshche toska:  za zavtrak
turista raskololi na chirik, a na kapustu neurozhaj.

Translation offered:

Na ulice sil'no poxolodalo, poe`tomu molodezhnyx kompanij net.  V kafe
na prospekte Lenina tozhe odna obez'janichajushchaja molodezh', kotoraja
podrazhaet ljudjam solidnym i preuspevajushchim.  Vpechatlenie grustnoe,
tem bolee, chto za skudnuju i nepritjazatel'nuju edu prishlos' zaplatit'
desjat' rublej, a s den'gami u menja negusto.

Originally, _vanderlogi_ meant something like 'Lilliputians', then,
by extension, very young people ("malen'kie obez'janki") trying to be
cool.  (This from my class notes of Friday, June 30, 1995).


Gary H. Toops                               TOOPS at TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU
Associate Professor                         Ph (316) 689-3180
Wichita State University                    Fx (316) 689-3293
Wichita, Kansas 67260-0011 USA