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Bardak

 
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Already my country contributed such important words as pogrom, sputnik, vodka, perestroika to the world civilisation. But all those were involuntarily contributions, while I want to make a voluntarily one.
Here it is:
Bardak
My dictionary translated it as "disorder, confusion, muddle, mess, complete chaos" and at the background there is "brothel".
Basically, it means "the mess", but where one would not expect it -- you cannot call just any mess "bardak", it must be a result of human activity.
Not that there are no good words for it in English, but some words have special energy in them. Like "chutzpah" - sure thing, you can find an English word for it, but it won't feel the same!
I tried to track bardak word origin, but strangely all my dictionaries refused to give this information. I do not think the word is Russian or even remotely Slavic, it was probably borrowed from Tatar language when Russia was occupied by Tatars several hundred years ago.
 
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Could you use it in a sentence?
Would, "My life is bardak." be appropriate?
 
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Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
...it was probably borrowed from Tatar language when Russia was occupied by Tatars several hundred years ago.
Were these Tatar's decendants of King Edward?
 
mister krabs
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Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
...it was probably borrowed from Tatar language when Russia was occupied by Tatars several hundred years ago.

Were the children of the tatars called "tatar tots"?
 
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Well, the US military uses the term cluster-?uck. Might not be quite the same thing but it does have a certain aroma about it....
 
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Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
Bardak
My dictionary translated it as "disorder, confusion, muddle, mess, complete chaos" and at the background there is "brothel".


Fascinating how the same exact concepts transcend time and culture. Although I have no Slavic roots, my mother used to express the same idea using two word's; "whore's nightmare" ; usually used in reference to my room.
 
frank davis
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Originally posted by Alfred Neumann:
Well, the US military uses the term cluster-?uck. Might not be quite the same thing but it does have a certain aroma about it....


Speaking of the US military, and its current pre-occupation, perhaps Map mentioned this word at this time because it rhymes well with another word...
 
whippersnapper
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My dictionary translated it as "disorder, confusion, muddle, mess, complete chaos" and at the background there is "brothel".
I tried to track bardak word origin, but strangely all my dictionaries refused to give this information. I do not think the word is Russian or even remotely Slavic, it was probably borrowed from Tatar language when Russia was occupied by Tatars several hundred years ago.
My understanding is that the primary/original meaning was indeed brothel/whorehouse and that the chaos meaning was an outgrowth of that.
The chairwoman (that's how she liked to describe herself) of the department of Slavic language and literature where I studied Russian used to refer to the department as her bardak. (She was a bit of an eccentric. Used to smoke a pipe in her office until smoking was banned in university buildings. Gave a speech to the regents or some board of administators criticizing some new policy, using an extended metaphor of vomiting up her lunch in biology class as a child upon first learning about digestive processes.)
When I come across "bardak" I do get the image of chaos, mess, etc. that Map mentions. But when I think of brothel or whorehouse in English, I get images of the old west and a sassy madame who knows how to make money, but also how to keep her girls in line. So two very different images.
I think the military expression Alfred brings up (also often heard as Mongolian cluster-?uck) captures some of "bardak" pretty well -- but it's much more vulgar.
I'm not much into etymology at all, but Turkic origin doesn't seem out of the question for this one. (A wild stab also would be Hungarian.) So in this case I won't have to trot out that Russians are always assuming any word in their language that "doesn't seem Slavic" is of Turkic origin. (Trouble is it's correct just enough of the time to make them think it's correct much more of the time.)
 
Al Newman
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Another pair of acronyms dating from WWII:
SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fouled Up)
FUBAR (Fouled Up Beyond All Repair)
Bardak seems more homey and comfortable though. SNAFU comes close but is too official.
 
Wanderer
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Bardak
This probably means something in Klingon too.
My dictionary translated it as "disorder, confusion, muddle, mess, complete chaos" and at the background there is "brothel".
Interestingly, a similar pairing of meanings occurs in Italian. A "casino" is (origially) a brothel - but the word has evolved the more common idiomatic meaning of a mess. Neither of whic corresponds to the meaning an English-speaker would assume on hearing it (or speaking it), of course. Which can lead to some interesting conversations...
SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fouled Up)
FUBAR (Fouled Up Beyond All Repair)

Where "Fouled" is often something else, naturally...
 
Al Newman
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Well yes, Jim. There is an alternate form of course. But not with ladies present....
 
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Wasn't there a composer named Bella Bardak?
 
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Wasn't there a composer named Bella Bardak?


B�la Bart�k.
 
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The mess - army slang for the place/food to eat.
Cockney barrakin, barrikin 'gibberish, a jumble of words'.
 
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