"provincial" expressions

Mon Feb 19 20:41:48 UTC 2007

Sorry for the delayed response, but I would not say that "provincial'nyj" is the same with "low-brow" or "ghetto" (!). Sometimes this means old-fashioned, sometimes  -  not flexible enough, especially if it comes to new tendencies of all imaginable sorts. 

With "ghetto" it has nothing to do at all. Ghettos are forming in the former USSR only now, and as far as I can see it, in big cities, but not in "provincija", at least in Ukraine. I hope they will be more like those in Europe, but not like they are in the USA because in the USA they are really scary... All our people usually say one and the same phrase when they first see just an ordinary American downtown: "You just look, and we thought it was our propaganda..." Although I can't say that our TV showed poor areas very often, and if it did, the only thought which visited me personally was kind of :"Is it difficult for people living there to organize smth like our "subbotnik" and make the area clean and cozy?.." Now I don't have such questions...

And if you hear "tikhij provincial'nyj gorodok", be sure, this is what nearly everybody from a big city normally dreams about. Probably because many still have them in their memories, me including because I used to spend my summers-off in such a place: nice, quiet, clean, all in flowers. All people knew each other and greeted even strangers if they met them in the street. Teachers and school principals were the most respected persons. The only crime I can recall the folk was talking about was committed by a new... priest (happens sometimes...). He was transferred from another place, quickly found himself a girlfriend among the locals, wanted to visit her one day, found another man in her house and overreacted... which means "pobil ej okna". His girl-friend was no fool and called "militia". Militia posadila ego na 15 sutok (I experience difficulty translating "posadit' na 15 sutok"). But it was the Easter time. "Prikhozhane" sent a delegation to militia asking to give them
 "batiushka" back at least for one day. Sure, they got him.

By the way, all those talks that _all_ churches were ruined by communists, that all were forced to be atheists, etc, etc. belong to the nonsenses all those enjoying "freedom of press" in the West implanted into the heads of their naive fellow-citizens. And I myself probably have to thank those representing this "free western press" for the first questions I was asked by my first high school students here in Germany. They asked me if I like vodka and believe in God. And one commented immediately: "_We_ believe in God". So I was supposed to be a militant atheist... Still can't figure out if I look like an alcoholic... 

Not long ago I came across one interesting article about one "provincial'nyi gorod" called Zarechnyj. From one side, it is _not_ a typical "provinzial'nyj gorod". From the other side, it managed to preserve  all those features that used to be typical of "provinzial'nyj gorod".  Sure, now it is different, although the life in Ukrainian "provincija" is in many respects the same no matter that quite alien artifacts spoil the whole picture nowadays. 

Here is the link to the article "Schast'e za "koliuchkoj"": http://www.aif.ru/online/aif/1364/13_01#

Best regards,
Maryna Vinarska

Josh Wilson <jwilson at ALINGA.COM> wrote: No, it really has nothing to do with geography anymore and is really much
more another way of saying "low-brow" or even something like "trailer park"
or "ghetto" in English. 

When I was in high school, we used to use "trailer park" as an adjective
(E.g. Yeah, she's cute, but a bit trailer park). It would mean uneducated
and coarse in character. "Ghetto" is more commonly used in this context in
English slang - but we didn't have many ghettos in Idaho. :) But I
digress... and am now rather self-conscience that I ever used any these
expressions in such a way... sigh... how trailer park. :) 

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at listserv.cuny.edu] On Behalf Of Anne Lounsbery
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 7:54 PM
To: SEELANGS at listserv.cuny.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] "provincial" expressions

I'm re-posting the query below with a different subject line, in case it was
missed by anyone not following the cell phone jargon thread.  Please forgive
the duplication.

I'm curious about the use of the term "provincial" in the discussion of cell
phone jargon.  What exactly do people see as the connotations of calling
something (a locution, a behavior, whatever) "provintsial'nyi" in
contemporary Russian context?   Is it perceived to have have anything to do
with geography really, or not?

As in:

>>"It's colloquial and slightly sloppy, if I may put it like that, but not
expressly provincial."
and
>>"SMSKI" a provincialism?  Gosh.  It's pretty much standard here in Moscow"

If anyone has thoughts on this I'd appreciate hearing them off-list at
anne.lounsbery at nyu.edu.  Thanks.

Anne Lounsbery
Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Study
Department of Russian and Slavic Studies
New York University
19 University Place, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10003

(212) 998-8674

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