Some funny and not so funny things

[Sanochka]

I agree, edubs.  Oftentimes, things happen that necessitate a shift in priorities.  In Wilson's case, it was the torpedoing of the Lusitania.

Meanwhile, this thread brought to mind an old Russian saying that came about during the Soviet era:  Floors are parquet, doctors are okay. 

I can't remember the Russian translation, which, interestingly, also rhymes.  ______ parketnye, _______ anketnye.  Does anybody know the full Russian version?

[wakas]

Does anybody know the full Russian version?

"Poly parketnye, vrachi anketnye" (in cyrillic: Полы паркетные, врачи анкетные)

[Kalafrana]

On the commemorative stamps.

'However, Karl is now the Blessed Karl, which will help with the Catholic vote.'

Ann

[Sanochka]

Does anybody know the full Russian version?

"Poly parketnye, vrachi anketnye" (in cyrillic: Полы паркетные, врачи анкетные)

Wow!  I can't say how many years I've looked for this.  Thank you, Wakas! 

[Превед]

Floors are parquet, doctors are okay. 
"Poly parketnye, vrachi anketnye" (in cyrillic: Полы паркетные, врачи анкетные)

What was the intended meaning behind this expression? Keep calm and carry on pretending / ignoring reality?

[Sanochka]

Actually, it's a cynical expression concerning the quality of a health care system mired down by state bureaucracy during the Soviet era.  I.E., in Russia, something as common as a floor is oftentimes spectacularly done in parquet, while the medical profession - which should be exalted - is mediocre at best.   

[Превед]

Actually, it's a cynical expression concerning the quality of a health care system mired down by state bureaucracy during the Soviet era.  I.E., in Russia, something as common as a floor is oftentimes spectacularly done in parquet, while the medical profession - which should be exalted - is mediocre at best.   

Ah, OK, thanks.

So анкетный is (slang for?) OK? I see it's derived from анкета, enquête. Is it because "OK" is / was a standard questionnaire answer?

[wakas]

Wow!  I can't say how many years I've looked for this.  Thank you, Wakas! 

You're very welcome:)

[Превед]

British nurse Sarah Broom Macnaughtan in the BBC series "14 - Diaries of the Great War" despairing faced with Imperial Russian ineffiecency and corruption: "If we weren't allied, I'd say that what Russia needs is two years of German occupation!"

[Inok Nikolai]

Actually, it's a cynical expression concerning the quality of a health care system mired down by state bureaucracy during the Soviet era.  I.E., in Russia, something as common as a floor is oftentimes spectacularly done in parquet, while the medical profession - which should be exalted - is mediocre at best.   

Ah, OK, thanks.

So анкетный is (slang for?) OK? I see it's derived from анкета, enquête. Is it because "OK" is / was a standard questionnaire answer?

Well, originally, the expression was coined in reference to the very exclusive Kremlin hospital for the inner circle of the Party.
The setting was sumptuous, and the doctors were politically reliable -- no blemishes in their personal file (anketka). They had been vetted very carefully and were under very tight supervision. They were not allowed much of a social life, and under no circumstances could they tell anyone where or for whom they worked.

Here is an account in Russian of someone who worked there:
http://www.e-reading.club/chapter.php/1026432/54/Moshenceva_-_Tayny_Kremlevskoy_bolnicy.html

[Sanochka]

Thank you, Inok Nikolai.  The saying makes perfect sense now.

[JamesAPrattIII]

I didn't say Grant was a great president. He is usually rated as one of America's worst presidents. it seems everything that made a great general made him a inept president. Eisenhower got ripped badly for many decades by some historians because the man he beat in 1952 and 1956 Stevenson a intellectual and it was a case of the revenge of the professors. Eisenhower didn't help matters by it seems spending the last few years of his presidency going from one golf course to another. In reality he did work hard and he had power well delegated so he could spend time playing golf.

The US got into WW I because Germany restarted unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann telegram which promised the Mexicans a part of the southern US both of which enraged Wilson and made war between the US and Germany inevitable.

Two Russian ex Chekist/ KGB officials discussing who should be on a WW I stamp
Chekist 1: We can't put Nicky Romanov or him and his family on a stamp
Chekist 2: Why not his daughters look pretty.
Chekist 1: Because he was a loser and he and his family were all shot by the Cheka it would look bad for government.
Chekist 2: In that case we have a real problem just about everybody in the last years of Czarist Russia in WW I is either inept, liquidated by the Cheka or Red Army, served on the White side during the Civil war, flees into exile or has a german surname.
Chekist 1: I didn't realize this would be such a problem but just wait until November 2017 then we can put out stamps of lenin and the early Bolshevik leaders except Trotsky on stamps. Then on 20 December 2017 we can commemorate the 100th anniversity of the founding of the Cheka by putting Felix Dzerzhinsky and the other early leaders of the Cheka on stamps. Of course, they were a bunch of mass murderers but no ones complained about this before.
Chekist 2: I hear the Poles are thinking of honoring Iron Felix.
Chekist 1: They are! why?
Chekist 2: Well he was Polish and did kill more Russians than any other Pole in history!
Chekist 1: We need to do some more research and delay sending in our recommendations.
Chekist 1 : A wise move the way things are going in Russia I don't think people would be too happy about any stamps commemorating Lenin the Bolsheviks or the Cheka.

[Превед]

LOL: Liz Windsor spotted canvassing for UKip in Bromley: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/30/queen-spotted-ukip-canvassing-bromley_n_6967578.html

[JamesAPrattIII]

Soviet period joke: Hitler and Stalin are in Hell Hitler is in blood up to his neck Stalin is in blood up to his waist
Hitler: Why am I deeper in blood than you are even thou you killed more people?
Stalin: I'm standing on Lenin's shoulders.

On Putin's divorce:
I see the Putin's divorce ended in a amiable manner Mrs Putin is still alive.

The Putin's split up their property equally He gets everything west of the Urals and she gets everything east of the Urals.

Stalin era joke: Roosevelt collects the jokes people tell about him. Stalin collects the names of people who tell jokes about him.

[Nictionary]

    Q: Will there be KGB in communism?

    A: As you know, under communism, the state will be abolished, together with its means of suppression. People will know how to self-arrest themselves.

    The original version was about the Cheka. This joke refers to an early Soviet practice called samooblozhenie ("self-taxation"): in addition to the standard taxation to which the peasants were subjected, they were often forced to deliver a normal amount of agricultural products, while prosperous peasants, especially those declared to be kulaks were expected to "voluntarily" deliver the same amount again; sometimes even "double samooblozhenie" was applied.

    Q: Is it true that there is freedom of speech in the Soviet Union, just like in the USA?

    A: In principle, yes. In the USA, you can stand in front of the White House in Washington, DC, and yell, "Down with Reagan!", and you will not be punished. Equally, you can also stand in Red Square in Moscow and yell, "Down with Reagan!", and you will not be punished.