question about slang

[Josh Wilson]

"Chuvak" may imply a stranger by grammatical construction - but it is used
among youth to refer to friends. (Neither are "cool" things necessarily cool
or "bad" or "sick" things necessarily living up to their descriptors
either.)

Also, "bro" does not necessarily carry the meaning that the person referred
to is necessarily well known, simply accepted. 

Josh Wilson
Asst. Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor-in-Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
www.sras.org 
jwilson at sras.org

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Katya Jordan
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 3:53 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] question about slang

"Bratan" or "bratel'nik" (with the stress on the second syllable) would work

in this context, both when addressing someone and when talking about him. 
 Remember that in Russia the difference between a brother and a cousin is 
not huge, i.e. one is "rodnoi" and the other is "dvoiurodnyi," but most 
importantly they both are brothers.

"Chuvak" implies that the person is a stranger.


Katya Jordan
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Virginia
109 New Cabell Hall / PO Box 400783
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4783
Tel: (434) 924-3548   FAX: (434) 982-2744

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