xianhua Posted October 2, 2009 at 07:26 PM Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 at 07:26 PM (edited) The inside of my coat has something which I perceive to be in Russian. My assumption for it being Russian is based on an Aeroflot flight in which I spent a good few minutes flicking through the airline catalogue. It was here that I noticed a letter which looked rather like 中. Now obviously being a linguistic expert, I decided that Russia, being near to China, had borrowed a letter in ancient times to make up the numbers (I'm sure this is absolute nonsense but those flights can be boring and a little imagination passes the time). Anyway, the coat is quite military in it's appearance, so hopefully it says something tough like 'comrade general'. If it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, then karma will have been served, since I've spent many a good hour walking around the streets of China secretly sniggering at kids wearing T-shirts with random English words printed on the front. If it's offensive, then please contact the retailer. Edited October 2, 2009 at 09:50 PM by xianhua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanglu Posted October 2, 2009 at 10:37 PM Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 at 10:37 PM I'm pretty sure that letter is from the Greek letter phi, not Chinese. I think Russia only had contact with China from the 17th century when it started to expend out over Siberia, before then they were pretty much a European country and so wouldn't really have had any chance to borrow Chinese characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cababunga Posted October 2, 2009 at 11:48 PM Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 at 11:48 PM The letter is Ф and is close to English F in pronunciation. The set of characters on the picture is indeed from Russian alphabet, but is completely random. Couple letters are upside down. As fanglu correctly pointed out, Russian Фф [ef] came after Greek Φφ [phi], not in any way from Chinese. By the way, Russian equivalent of English saying "Greek to me" is something that literally means "Chinese grammar", that's how close the two languages are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiwang Posted October 3, 2009 at 02:54 AM Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 at 02:54 AM Is this coat made in China? If it is, perhaps койт (pronounced as "coit") is a bad transliteration for the English word "coat"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeyah Posted October 3, 2009 at 05:43 AM Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 at 05:43 AM The inside of my coat has something which I perceive to be in Russian. Oh, but you never know with them exotic languages ... Looks pretty much like Bulgarian to me ... Mongolian perhaps? ... Or Kazakh? ... They all use the same script, you know ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xianhua Posted October 3, 2009 at 06:25 AM Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 at 06:25 AM Is this coat made in China? Strangely enough, yes. Thankfully they put 只可专业干洗 in Chinese, just for me. So I have a coat which was manufactured in China, featuring random Russian letters but destined for the British highstreet. Oohh, those kids have had the last laugh here. Thanks all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Horhe Posted October 3, 2009 at 02:28 PM Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 at 02:28 PM It's not Bulgarian either. I think it's just random Cyrillic letters, which read out as "zdefkoytldkoyt" and then the same spelled backwards with mirrored letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pipas Posted October 20, 2009 at 10:17 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 at 10:17 PM not sure, but looks like "together with that kind of chick" (З ДЕФКОЙ ТЛДКОЙ Т = с девкой такой т...) I can only hope that the last "T" doesn't mean the beginning of the our F-word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atitarev Posted October 20, 2009 at 11:01 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 at 11:01 PM (edited) It is in Russian but I couldn't figure out at first what it says It says. ЗДЕФКОЙ Т ПАКОЙ Т... с девкой покой (s dévkoy pokóy) - with a gal (is) peace. It's a deliberately broken Russian text, similar to modern English chat language. There are no spaces between words Т (Cyrillic T is used as a space here). The last word is the reverse of the first word - viewed in a mirror, so the letters are incorrect. This style is from the Russian padonki (normally подонки - podónki - "scum", "scoundrels") PADONKI (podonki) It follows the pronunciation, ignoring all spelling rules. Worse, they deliberately distort words to achieve some effect (they write "превед" instead of standard "привет" - privét (hi, hello), which I find silly). The actual phrase sounds incomplete or strange. The word девка (girl, gal) is somewhat pejorative, so the meaning could be "it's fun to be with a girl". I am not sure it was created by Russians or maybe it's just a joke. -- EDIT: Greetings to Pipas, another Russian joining this forum! Edited October 20, 2009 at 11:44 PM by atitarev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pipas Posted October 21, 2009 at 09:41 AM Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 09:41 AM padonki indeed с девкой покой (s dévkoy pokóy) - with a gal (is) peace. The actual phrase sounds incomplete or strange. The word девка (girl, gal) is somewhat pejorative, so the meaning could be "it's fun to be with a girl". I am not sure it was created by Russians or maybe it's just a joke. a plausible etymology for "安" .. at last Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atitarev Posted October 21, 2009 at 11:37 AM Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 11:37 AM a plausible etymology for "安" .. at last Yeah, with a girl under the roof - peaceful and quiet?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pipas Posted October 21, 2009 at 12:48 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 12:48 PM Anyway, the coat is quite military in it's appearance, so hopefully it says something tough like 'comrade general'. heehee By the way, last month I bought a Coat because I was attracted.. by its manga-like label with these topless Super Heroes on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xianhua Posted October 21, 2009 at 04:23 PM Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 04:23 PM Well thanks to Pipas and atitarev for the native input. I don't think I'll be mentioning the fact that my coat has "it's fun to be with a girl" written inside to the wife just yet though. Well, now that you're here, maybe the outside of the coat does slightly better? Surely this time it says 'senior cadre'? Apologies for the poor picture but the writing is the same colour as the coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Horhe Posted October 21, 2009 at 05:14 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 05:14 PM It's the same "zdefkoyt" from above - with a girl. Are you sure your wife doesn't speak Russian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xianhua Posted October 21, 2009 at 05:48 PM Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 05:48 PM Are you sure your wife doesn't speak Russian? Well she does occasionally tell me to something-kov. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pipas Posted October 21, 2009 at 07:34 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 07:34 PM maybe the outside of the coat does slightly better? Surely this time it says 'senior cadre'? no, same here Maybe you have another coat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xianhua Posted October 21, 2009 at 08:09 PM Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 at 08:09 PM Maybe you have another coat? Yes, my other one's in Arabic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.