The other morning my 3-year old asked if we could «украсить дом капустой» [decorate the house with cabbages]. Now, the suggestion comes from a wonderful book we are reading to him now. Particularly, from a story about five bunny rabbits who get bored on one of the cold winter days and decide to decorate their house with everything cabbage – drawings, clay cabbage, etc.
While it was very cute to hear my «малявка» [little one] call himself «крольчонок» [little bunny] and reenact the story, I couldn’t keep from laughing at the use of the word «капуста» [cabbage]. You see, in Russia, it is one of the slang words for «деньги» [money]. I immediately imagined covering the living room walls with money wallpaper and making coasters out of loose change.
While the official name of Russian currency is «рубль» [ruble, from the word «рубить» - to chop], the Russian language is full of euphemisms for money as well as for processes of making and paying money:
«Капуста» [cabbage] – refers to the green color of dollars.
Example: «Хотите рубить капусту в сети?» [Would you like to make money on Internet?]
«Бабки» – this one is tricky. It is not related to «бабы» [women], whether old or young. Instead, in Old Russia tall stacks of hay in the fields were called «бабки». Peasants had to «собирать» [gather] or «снимать» [lit: take off] «бабки» from the fields in order to sell them for money.
Another version of this word’s origin is from a once-popular game called «бабки», somewhat similar to the game of marbles.
Example: «Поехал в Москву на пару дней, бабок потратил – жуть!» [I went to Moscow for a couple of days and spent a ton of money!]
«Бабло» – when «бабки» passed from the old Russian into criminal slang, it morphed into «бабло». There’s a joke now that the word was derived from the initials of the prominent Russian oligarch and now a political refugee «Борис Абрамович Березовский» [Boris Abramovich Berezovsky].
Example: «Бабло побеждает зло!» [Bablo defeats evil!] – Title of the third album of the Russian group «Ундервуд» and also the title of the album’s opening song. The lyrics, if you are interested are (in my translation):
«Чей-то голос мне угрожает в трубкуТам что-то про кэш и про мясорубкуBang-bang, свежий стейк, чья-то песенка спетаБольшие деньги любят тишинуБольшие деньги любят тишинуБольшие деньги любят тишинуКабинетовБабло победит зло»
[Someone’s voice is threatening me on the phone
Something about cash and a meat grinder
Bang-bang, fresh steak, someone finished his song
Big money love quiet
Big money love quiet
Big money love quiet
Of office environment.
Bablo will defeat evil…]
«Грины» [greens] and «баксы» [bucks] – once again, references to American dollars. There is an entertaining theory that the colloquial name of the American dollar, buck, was borrowed by Americans from the «исконно-русского» [original Russian] word «бабки» (see above and yes, this theory doesn’t appear to hold much water).
Example: «Потратил 46 баксов на два домена с PR=4.» [I spent 46 rubles on two domains with Google Page Rank of 4.]
«Тугрики» [tugriks] – from the name of the Mongolian currency.
Example: «Идемте в закрома… где Вы храните свои тугрики.» [Let’s go to the granary… where you keep your money.] from «Золотой Телёнок» [Golden Calf], a wonderful book by Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov.
Other money words include «бобы» [beans], «фишки» [tokens], «фарш» [ground meat], «хрусты» [crunchies], «маники» [diminutive plural of “money”], «жатва» [harvest], «зелень» [greens].
Depending on how you pay for your purchases, your бабки might be «нал» [cash; short for «наличные»] or «безналичка» [credit].
And, if you find yourself amongst more or less Americanized Russians, say in New York, San Francisco, or Chicago, you can hear a wonderful Rusglish phrase
«У меня нала нет за паркинг заплатить. Надо зайти в банк, окэшить чек.» [I don’t have cash to pay for parking. Must stop by the bank to cash a check.]
If this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. There’s folks wisdom aplenty to provide you some financial advice and guidance. Some of the really good «поговорки» [proverbs] for all tastes and situations include:
«Деньги – не грибы – и зимой растут.» [Money aren’t like mushrooms; they grow even in winter.]
«На деньги ума не купишь.» [Money won’t buy smarts.]
«Здоровье дороже денег.» [Health is more valuable than money.]
«Копейка рубль бережёт.» [A penny saves a dollar.]
«Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей.» [Having 100 friends is better than 100 rubles.]
«Деньги не пахнут.» [Money don’t smell.]
«Главное не в деньгах.» [It’s not the money that’s most important.]
«Главное не в деньгах, а в их количестве.» [It’s not the money that’s important, but their quantity.]
P.S. Let me clarify the proper stress in words «деньгам», «деньгами», «о деньгах»:
The proper way of placing the stress is on the second syllable: «деньгам», «деньгами», «о деньгах».
Placing stress on the first syllable, as in «деньгам», «деньгами», «о деньгах» is acceptable, but old-fashioned. Yet in the above-mentioned proverb the stress is preserved on the first syllable! File that one under “exceptions from the grammar rules that drive me crazy”.
5 Comments
For being post-Commie, I think they ironically have more words for money in Russian than they do in English!
The Romans were the first to say that money doesn’t smell: Pecunia non olet!
A wonderful, informative post; thanks,Yelena. Another interpretation of ‘bobki’ (from http://rt.com/Russia_Now/History_of_Russia/Here_come_the_Romanovs.html ):
“… a popular rumour says the Russian slang word for money – “babki” (literally “old women”) – originated from Catherine’s (the Great) portrait on the pre-Revolution 100-rouble banknote.
John, thanks for the link. I’ve not heard this version before, but it is very interesting and as likely as the other versions.
have more words for money in Russian than they do in English!