The Russian song I am listening to, by the group DDT, is pointing out to me that “life is not sugar, and death is not to us as tea.” Well, I agree, I’m sure. What the heck does that mean? Still, this is my current favorite song, it’s very pretty. And I know very well that that last sentence is not grammatical, Microsoft Word grammar check, thank you very much, it was for stylistic effect. I do badly enough at Russian all day without being corrected in my native tongue.
Today in Baikal Studies Eddie gave a presentation that several times involved his use of air-quotes, to demonstrate that he was, well, quoting. After the report was over someone asked why air-quotes do not translate into Russian; Russians are generally very puzzled by the gesture. Pavel Alexandrovich explained that, basically, it is not only the use of air quotes that is unfamiliar to Russians but also the entire idea of crediting another person’s work. Citing sources is individualistic and promoting the idea of intellectual property, while plagiarism is part of the spirit of the collective. And it is good for the country if students cheat, too; sometimes, for instance, a boy who has to have his classmate write all his papers for him ends up being a good scholar, and what if he had failed his classes because the good students had selfishly refused to help him?
Well, this sanctioning of blatant plagiarism is certainly aiding me in the writing of my report on Megafauna extinctions of the late Ice Age, that’s all I have to say.
I tried to go running today, in the middle of the day when it was less cold. First this old woman who was walking home with her groceries just stopped and stared at me. Then after about 5 minutes this large group of Tajik construction workers yelled at me that I would freeze to death. By this time I had pretty much come to this conclusion independently, and was on my way home. Then, turning back onto the main road, I fell on the ice, to the great amusement of another group of construction workers. So now I just have scrapped knees and am living in the same state of constant calorie imbalance as ever. Or more so, since I brought home the jar of peanut butter that Joseph’s parents sent him and he didn’t want. I now have several peanut-butter-and-homemade-raspberry-jam sandwiches with every meal. Or peanut butter and honey- we now have the world’s largest jar of honey in the kitchen, in the row of Huge Jars with the pickled things, and there’s always a dish of it sitting on the table. As far as I can tell I’m the only one who eats it.
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2 comments:
And see, the Pavel Alexandrovich thing surprised me, because I actually expected him to be, like, a real teacher who would be upset (well, maybe not upset, but at the very least a bit irritated) that his students plagarized when writing their papers or cheated. In every other way he's like a nastayashii scholar.
Speaking of which, how do we cite in Russian? Do we think if I just use Turabian style footnoting he'll be okay with that?
we also have a lined up row of jars of various food items on our windowsill.
also, is natasha seriously worried about the turabian style of footnoting?
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