OOC ☭ Some notes on language

The username

Raskolkolkolnik has so many levels of meaning that even I sometimes lose track of them. The important thing is that the 'kol kol kol' should make it obvious that this is a Russia journal, but for those who would like to know what the rest of it means, here you go!

Raskol: the Russian word for 'split' or 'schism'. This is both in reference to Russia's split personality, and an event in Russian history called Raskol during which the Russian Orthodox Church split away and became its own religion. It's also an admittedly vague reference to Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov from the novel Crime and Punishment, who is also Russian and a bit crazy.

Kol kol kol: This is Russia's menacing call that essentially means shit is about to go down. You know how when a cat is angry, it starts hissing? This is pretty similar. As for what it literally means, there are several possibilities since the word has several meanings. One is impalement, which, unfortunately, Russia's history is filled with. Traumatizing. Another is the onomatopoeia for the sound of a bell chiming, kind of in a "this bell is tolling for you because you are about to die" way. And there are several more which really don't make entire sense, like the grade 'kol' which is equivalent to an 'F'. If Russia was your teacher, you would see a lot of kol kol kol on your report card...

-nik: This is a slavic suffix roughly equivalent to the English suffix '-er'. It basically adds a person to the meaning of the word, so in this case, raskol becomes raskolnik, which is 'one who schisms' or 'one who is a schism'. It's also a suffix actually used in the English language sometimes, even if it's usually used wrong, it's still amusing. More on that can be found here.

Vodkas: Russians drink a lot of vodka. Russia himself drinks it all the time, as though it were water.

What the hell did Russia just say to my character?

I avoid Cyrillic because people can't read it. Romanized words may not make sense to you or your character, but at least this way, you can have a rough idea of what it sounds like. I try to avoid abusing Russian words whenever possible, but a few seem to fit in nicely, usually words like yes and no, as well as basic greetings and interjections. Here's a few of the most commonly used ones. If I used something that isn't here and you don't understand, feel free to drop me a note on this post and I'll be glad to explain!

Da: Yes
Nyet: No
Privyet: Hello
Dosvidaniya: Good-bye (formal)
Poka: Bye (informal)
Spasibo: Thank you

What the hell did Russia just call my character?

Russians have ten million ways of making nicknames out of any given name. Go and try to read a Russian novel, I can just about guarantee that each character will have a handful of names people call them. It can get confusing if you don't keep an eye out for it when reading. But mostly, I have Russia give nicknames to very young people, girls and people he is being condescending toward (so pretty much everyone).

Example:

Momo ► Momochka
Ivan ► Vanya
Rodion ► Rodya
Alexander ► Sasha (don't ask me why this one exists I don't get it either)

While they vary, some of the most common ones are to add '-chka' for girl names and '-chik' or '-ya' for boy names.

Video ☭ № 3

[Did you miss this creepy yet somewhat adorable yet very fucking creepy guy? Well it would seem that your prayers have been answered, because here he is on the Dreamberry network once again, and in his hands, he holds a book. It's not a real book, unfortunately. He couldn't find the story he was looking for, so he got a blank fancy journal and filled in the story from memory.]

Privyet! Who would like to hear wonderful story?

Once upon a time, there lived old man and woman. They were impoverished and lacking the most basic of resources due to harsh economic conditions and lack of work but managed to scrape up small bits of remaining flour and butter until there was enough to make small kolobok.

[He turns the book around so that it's facing the Dreamberry and everyone can see the little bread ball he drew -- aww, it even has a smiling face and rosy cheeks.]

Kolobok was left on windowsill to cool. He jumped off to escape. Soon, he ran into hungry rabbit. Rabbit asked where Kolobok was running to, and Kolobok answered with song:

I was scraped from cabinets
fried in butter
chilled on window
fled from grandpa
fled from grandma
and will now flee from you.

[The story then continues in a very similar fashion, and Kolobok runs into a hungry wolf and a bear. Each time, he repeats the song, adds a line about the last foe he managed to escape, and flees.]

...Then Kolobok ran into hungry fox. Fox asked, "Where are you running to, little Kolobok, my sweet friend?" Kolobok answered again:

I was scraped from cabinets
fried in butter
chilled on window
fled from grandpa
fled from grandma
fled from rabbit
fled from wolf
fled from bear
and will now flee from you.

But fox was very clever. He told Kolobok, "I cannot hear you! Come sit on my snout and say again." Kolobok did so, but fox claimed to not hear again. "Come sit on my tongue and say again," he suggested. Kolobok did so...

And he was eaten.

[...Russian folk tales tend to not end well.]

So! What was moral of story?