a quick question about gift wrap in Russia

[Josh Wilson]

In reference to the "souvenir bag" suggestion - I would argue that might be not quite accurate. The bags they are referring to are not to remember the event - they are still rather cheap things. Although they are much more durable than shopping bags, they don't usually hold any more sentimental value than a shopping bag. 

These types of bags are actually still popular in Russia - although I would say that having a brand name on the front is much more common than the random gaudiness that was popular in the 80s, 90s. 

Looking online, it seems that the English for these is "convention bags" or "plastic tote bags" (of the cheaper variety). 

You can see pictures of what usually occurs in Russia here: http://www.conventionbags.com/plastic-tote-bags.html

Of course, you probably don't want or need to convey this subtly to your readers - I would probably just refer to what is on the woman's walls as "gifts still in the plastic bags they arrived in" or something along those lines. Assuming that it is pointing out that she is a hoarder of random things and probably a bit crazy. 

Best, 


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




-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Paul B. Gallagher
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 6:31 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a quick question about gift wrap in Russia

Lakhtikova, Anastasiya V wrote:

> Andrea,
>
> They are a certain kind of a plastic bag. It's a shopping bag but it's 
> very different from American shopping bags. Neither is it a gift bag.
> It’s about the size of an American shopping paper bag or even bigger, 
> configured in the same way, with plastic handles. It’s usually 
> plastic, opaque, with some gaudy photograph (a model, an auto, a 
> landscape, or
> fruit) on white background.
>
> Here, if you scroll down you will see a slightly more modest version 
> of what I am describing.
>
> <http://www.kznportal.ru/photoreports/id6156/ >

If you're referring to the one that says "Олимпиада-80," I'd call that a "souvenir bag" (to remember the event). I agree it's not fancy enough to call a "gift bag"; I definitely deducted points for the use of plastic.

For gift bags, see the images here:
<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gift+bag%22&tbm=isch>

And those look an awful lot like these:
<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22пакет%22&tbm=isch>

--
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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