In my post from last week, “On Free Magazines & Expats in Russia”, I used the verb «прикалываться» without thinking twice about it. I did so even after I searched for a proper translation of the word into English without finding one. My trusted Kenneth Katzner dictionary only translates «прикалывать» [impf, pf - «приколоть»] as either 1. to pin (to), or 2. colloq. to stab to death. Clearly, that was not the meaning I had intended when using the reflexive version of the same verb. I was going for the action that my Russian-Swedish dictionary translates as ‘joking’. Neither stabbing to death nor pinning intended, I assure you! But having come across the trouble of finding a proper English translation of this verb effortlessly for most readers, I had to find the real and true meaning of it. It proved a little harder than I had imagined, since this word is common slang in Russian (try googling ‘joking’ and you’ll see my point!).
Some things are hard to explain. Not only how this verb went from meaning ‘pinning’ to ‘joking’, but also what the picture above portrays. How would you sum it up in one sentence? «Множество сюжетов новой России»?
The first thing I found was this discussion on Gramota’s forum, where it says:
ПРИКАЛЫВАТЬСЯ, -аюсь, -аешься; несов. (сов. ПРИКОЛОТЬСЯ, -колюсь, -колёшься), над кем-чем, на что и без доп. Шутить, острить, разыгрывать кого-л., смеяться над кем-чем-л., весело реагировать на что-л.
Шутить – to joke, jest; to play (with); to make fun (of); to trifle (with).
Острить – to sharpen; to make jokes, to crack jokes.
Разыгрывать кого-либо – to play a trick (or a joke) on somebody.
Смеяться над кем-чем-либо – to laugh at somebody/something
Весело реагировать на что-либо - to react happily; merrily; ‘with great fun’ on something
But the best translation for the word – without making any kind of fuss about it whatsoever – I found in the «Толковый словарь для бестолковых взрослых» [Defining Dictionary for Stupid Grownups]. There it all is explained simply as:
Прикол – шутка, что-то интересное [a joke, something interesting].
Прикалываться – шутить [to joke].
Приколисты – шутники [jokers.
And now for a little bit of completely useless [I hope!] yet interesting information as a finishing touch to today’s post. While searching around ‘runet’ I also found that the meaning of «прикалываться» is explained in «Словарь воровского жаргона» [Dictionary of thieves' jargon] as «советоваться, делиться мыслями с осуждёнными» [to consult; seek the advice of; to share thoughts with convicts]. I doubt it will come in handy for any reading this but then again, who knows?
