Friday, June 14, 2013

Tiftach peh - nafal banana

The Russian subtitled version of this video became a huge hit on YouTube - over 1.2M views. As the poster explains:
With 10 words in crappy Hebrew and 5 dirty Russian words - the following issues were clarified:
- Instant test of knowledge of memorial dates during 20th century
- The history of the Holocaust and the second world war
- Technologies for preparation of personal higiene by the Nazis
- Cultural Studies, Ethnography, National traditions and characteristics of the mentality of the peoples of North Africa
- Geography, Climatology and specificity of the natural reproduction of traditional agricultures in Morocco
- Use cases of personal-protective equipment by security guys
- Management techniques of hypersexuality in a limited number of members of the opposite sex
Of course, the charm of this video is lost in translation - it is the masterful way that the old Russian security guard curses at the Moroccan in Russian while abusing him in Hebrew. The classic Russian cursing style is the use the word blyat' every other word. Blyat' (or it's sloppily pronounced derivative blya) is an ancient Russian word derived from the word "to fornicate' but in common parlance it means slut. However, Russians will typically use it the same way that Americans, especially blacks, use the word motherf*cker, peppering their speech with the term and using it to somehow work themselves up... The other word we encounter often in this video is debil - a moron or imbecile. This most likely came to Russian from French, where it means weak (as in mentally). There are other random obscenities spread out throughout the video, including a truly untranslatable word - pizdetz. While it is impossible to figure out the true origin of this very versatile word, it is most likely a portmanteau of the word pizda (c*nt) and konetz (the end), meaning a truly f*cked up outcome. In this case, getting sprayed with pepper spray in the car would be a total pizdetz for the Moroccan. I have to admit that while the video was very entertaining, I was a bit puzzled by what would lead to such a confrontation. I even suspected that it was staged. However, after the Russian became a minor Internet celebrity, he gave an interview explaining the back story. Apparently, he works as a security guard at a school for children with developmental issues, and the Moroccan is a food delivery driver who has been taunting and provoking him for some time about his Russian ethnicity. That day he lost it - and the exchange was caught on a dashcam. The result is priceless.

2 Comments:

Blogger The back of the hill said...

Wow. And again, wow.

The 'pizd' praefix is one I've heard in a number of non-Slavic constructions.

The word 'debiel', pronounced exactly the same way and meaning precisely the same thing also exists in Dutch. Hence the wonderful coinage 'rand debiel' (borderline moron), which means, of course, that the person so addressed is on the further side of that border.

Wow.

It's blyat-eloquent.

June 14, 2013 2:59 PM  
Blogger Nechama said...

I swear, this guy's twin works as the parking lot supervisor at the Masada parking garage. He even looks like him! To the Masada guy's credit, there were no obscenities, but the attitude was all there. Both the video guy and the Masada guy I met in April likely were big shots in the old country (nachal'niki) and now they are in charge of their own albeit smaller fiefdoms. Hence the attitude. But I do agree, the video is quite fun to watch.

July 05, 2013 7:37 AM  

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