And then it’s that time of the year again - «осень» [fall], which equals «сезон гриппа» [flu season] in all countries located in the more northern part of this our splendid globe. The object of our common affection - «Россия» [Russia], officially known as «Российская федерация» [Russian Federation], or why not call it old-school by «Русь» [Rus'], or perhaps keeping it not-so-short and but-oh-so-sweet with the words «территория бывшего Советского союза» [the territory of the former Soviet Union] - is just such a country. A country located «на севере» [in the north]. This year, «этой осенью» [this fall] we «северяне» [northerners; plural form of: «северянин»] have a new flu to be worried about, the so-called «свиний грипп» [swine flu]. In an effort to illustrate how this new threat to public health is dealt with «в русской провинции» [in the Russian province] I will post «два объявления» [two notifications] on the blog today that I’ve photographed in the Russian reality around me.

«Грипп снова диктует вам моду?» [Is the flu telling you (lit. dictating) what to wear (lit. fashion) once again?] «Прививка - лучшее средство для борьбы с гриппом!» [Vaccination - the best way to fight (lit. for a fight) the flu (lit. with the flu)!].

Here we find the interesting verb «диктовать» [impf.: dictate] Perhaps you can see that it shares a common root with the noun «диктатор» [dictator]? And how to use this verb, you might wonder? Well, have a look at this:

You should combine the verb «диктовать» with an indirect subject in dative: «кому?» [lit. to whom?] and the direct object in accusative: «что?» [what?]. Here’s an example of what a sentence might end up looking like:

«Он всегда диктует мне как жить» - [lit. He's always dictating me how to live, though a better translation would be: ‘He's always telling me how to live'.]

«Внимание» [Attention]. «Убедительная просьба всем проживающим в общежитии, не желающим прививаться против гриппа, написать отказ на имя ректора в свободной форме и сдать оный заведующей общежитием» [A persuasive request for all those living in the dormitory who do not wish to take the vaccine against the flu to write a refusal to the principle in free form and give it to the manager of the dormitory].

The note above I found hanging on the wall next to the elevator on the first floor in the dormitory where I live yesterday. I didn’t know that all people at our university have to «прививаться» [refl. impfv.: (of a vaccine) to take] against the new «свиний грипп» [swine flu]. Today I read that «Вакциной от нового вида гриппа будет привить каждый третий житель России» ["Every third inhabitant in Russia will be vaccinated against the new type of flu"]. I hope they won’t include foreigners though! I’m very afraid of needles. I think I just might have to sit down and write one of those «отказ на имя ректора в свободной форме» [a refusal to the principle in free form] and try to explain my enormous fear of everything having to do with hospitals in general… You could also make of note of the rare use of the pronoun «оный» which is old and used very rarely in modern Russian. It means «тот» [that] and «тот самый» [the same] and is made from pronoun «он» [he; it].

New words today - and excellent words to use this season - are as follows:

«грипп» - [flu].

«прививка» - [graft; vaccination, inoculation; jab].

«вакцина» - [vaccine; animal lymph].

But don’t get me wrong - «я же желаю вам всем здоровья!» [I really wish all of you health!]