"Мочить в сортире"

[Robert A. Rothstein]

Alex wrote:

>Is there English
>(maybe American English) expression  which is
>close to "мочить в сортире" (literally - "to kill in the bathroom").
>As I see it should be some inmates' slang or so.
>
>
>

I can't answer Alex's question, but "mochit'" can mean "beat" as well as
"kill," and the Mokienko and Nikitina's _Bol'shoi slovar' russkogo
zhargona_ (SPb., 2000) glosses "mochit' v sortire" (or "u parashi") as
"zhestoko, besposhchadno raspravliat'sia s kem-l."

It has been suggested that when Putin used the now-famous phrase in
enunciating his approach to Chechen terrorists, he was thinking of the
incident in May 1972 when Israeli forces stormed a hijacked Sabena
Airlines jet at Ben Gurion Airport.  In the operation five Israeli
soldiers and one passenger were killed, as were all four hijackers,
including one who was hiding in the bathroom.

Bob Rothstein

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