Consultation about e-brigades and virtual squads

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Maria Dmytriyeva wrote:

> Dear Natalia,
> 
> I haven't seen any decent analysis of this phenomenon, but it has 
> been around for a while now. In the Ukrainian LiveJournal we first 
> encountered these guys (the so-called star-shouldered bloggers) on a 
> mass scale during the Orange Revolution. they were very similar to 
> each other and they all sang the same song. a friend of mine who is 
> an Internet-expert (I mean he is very knowledgeable about Internet 
> nuts and bolts and technicalities) wrote a post on them then -- based
> on his observations these people were appearing with either
> identical or very similar IPs.
> 
> they are usually called brigades. ...

Please note that "бригада" is a false friend for English speakers -- it 
often doesn't denote the very large military formation we have in mind 
when we hear "brigade." Rather, it often denotes what we would call a 
"team," "crew," "squad," etc. -- up to a couple of dozen people, and not 
necessarily military.

So if you mean to say these groups are usually called "бригады," that 
seems entirely reasonable, but if you are saying they are usually called 
"brigades" in English, that would be a mistranslation, not a natural use 
of our language.

The term "fire brigade" is a special usage in English, and has mostly 
fallen out of use in the U.S. in favor of "fire department." Nowadays, 
it conjures up the image of a fire company with a single truck sounding 
a bell instead of a siren.

References:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade>
The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 4,000 to 
5,000 troops. However, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go 
as high as 11,000 troops.

<http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0>
same as <http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/бригада>
В среднем в бригаде от 2 до 8 тысяч человек. В российской армии командир 
бригады, так же как и в полку, полковник.

<http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0_(%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F)>
same as <http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/бригада_(производственная)>
Производственная бригада — тип низового структурного подразделения в 
производственных организациях промышленности, строительства, сельского 
хозяйства и т. д. Бригада представляет собой постоянный или временный 
коллектив рабочих, выполняющих общее производственное задание и несущих 
совместную ответственность за результаты своего труда. Члены бригады 
могут иметь как одинаковую, так и различные профессии. В зависимости от 
этого различают специализированные или комплексные бригады.

<http://www.aferizm.ru/jargon/slovar.htm>
Бригада -- небольшая (как правило, до 30 человек) группа рядовых членов 
преступной группировки (бойцов). Во главе бригады стоит бригадир, 
который отчитывается перед вышестоящим «начальством». Бригада может 
заниматься определенным видом бизнеса, контролировать определенный 
объект, территорию. Бригадир уполномочен представлять свою группировку, 
сообщество на соответствующем уровне.

-- 
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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