Idiot's Neck

[chomiji]

See, "it's snowing" in Russian is roughly "id'zyawt snyeg" - but you have to de-voice the g at the end of snyeg ("snow") until it's almost a "k." So ... "idiot's neck." It really means "Snow comes" or "Snow is coming."

Except by now it's really id'zyawt dozhd - rain. Or maybe sleet, but I never learned that in Russian. In any case, it's too much cold icy stuff on the ground, already!!! Winter is not my time of year - I like spring.

I should be able to say "it was snowing," but I forget even the simple imperfect past, and "go/come" is irregular anyway, as in most Indo-European languages. Maybe it's "shyol snyeg" - I think I remember that "ya shla" was "I went" for me ('cause I'm a female person) and I think the masculine/neuter for "shla" was "shyol."

I could just call up my friend K and get a real answer, you know - she speaks beautiful fluent Russian - but sometimes it's more fun just thrashing around ...

Spohkaineh nochi, rebyata! ("G'night, kids!")