shlyukha, kurva, shalava

[David Powelstock]

I have no expertise in Russian slang, but an English word that seems to come
close to fitting Alina's definition of 'shalava' is 'bimbo,' which, however,
also carries a strong connotation of stupidity. I've no idea whether that
fits with 'shalava.'

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Paul B. Gallagher
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:52 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] shlyukha, kurva, shalava

Alina Makin wrote:

> I am not sure that 'shalava' actually implies dirty appearance or a 
> lower socio-economic class. To me, this word would be used to describe 
> young and tarty-looking girls with loud clothes and equally loud 
> (flirtatious) behaviour. I would translate that as "a tart", not as "a 
> skank".

The dirty, low-class sense, with a strong element of sluttiness, is
definitely what "skank" means, but "tart" has largely fallen out of use in
modern American English (not so in British, from what I hear), so I can't
guarantee what people here will think it means. For me it has the
euphemistic feel of an upper-class person trying not to say a lower-class
word, whereas "skank" bars no holds.

--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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