“It’s a no brainer” - this expression became famous thanks to Mayakovsky’s poem (“It’s even a no brainer - / This Petya was a bourgeois”). It appeared in Soviet boarding schools for gifted children. They recruited teenagers who had two years left to study (classes A, B, C, D, D) or one year (classes E, F, I). Students of the one-year stream were called “hedgehogs”. When they came to the boarding school, the two-year students were already ahead of them in the non-standard program, so at the beginning academic year The expression “no brainer” was very relevant.

In the 19th century, gamblers resorted to a trick: during the game, using a special adhesive composition, they applied additional points (red or black marks) from powder to the cards, and if necessary, they could erase these points. This is where the expression “to rub glasses” comes from, meaning to present something in a favorable light.

Whipping boys in England and others European countries XV - XVIII centuries called boys who were brought up with princes and received corporal punishment for the prince's offenses. The effectiveness of this method was no worse than direct flogging of the culprit, since the prince did not have the opportunity to play with other children except the boy with whom he established a strong emotional connection.

Tyutelka is a diminutive of the dialect tyutya (“blow, hit”), the name for an accurate hit with an ax in the same place during carpentry work. Today, to denote high accuracy, the expression “tail to neck” is used.

Previously, the nose was called not only a part of the face, but also a tag that was worn with oneself and on which notches were placed to record work, debts, etc. Thanks to this, the expression “hack on the nose” arose. In another meaning, the nose was a bribe, an offering. The expression “to stay with the nose” meant to leave with an unaccepted offering without reaching an agreement.

After ancient doctors discovered nerves in the human body, they named them by their resemblance to strings musical instruments the same word - nervus. This is where the expression for irritating actions- “play on your nerves.”

Today in French V everyday life the word assiette means "plate". However, earlier, no later than the 14th century, it meant “the seating of guests, their position at the table, that is, near the plates.” Then, with the expansion of the circle of connections, the assiette became the “location of a military camp” and then the city. In the 17th century the word absorbed all the “specifics” of possible “positions” and began to mean any “position” in general... In the same century, assiette also appeared figurative meaning- “state of mind.” Russian Bare, who spoke and even thought in French, apparently did not particularly care about the accuracy of the Russian language even in the 18th century. they “translated” the French phrase in their own way: instead of “position”, the Russian phraseological unit from the original language got... “at ease.” It was thanks to their negligence that such a beautiful figurative expression appeared in the Russian language!

After the capture of Kazan, Ivan the Terrible, wanting to bind the local aristocracy to himself, rewarded high-ranking Tatars who voluntarily came to him. Many of them, in order to receive rich gifts, pretended to be severely affected by the war. This is where the expression “orphan of Kazan” came from.

WALKING THROUGH THE RED THREAD

By order of the English Admiralty, since 1776, when producing ropes for the navy, red thread must be woven into them so that it cannot be removed even from a small piece of rope. Apparently, this measure was intended to reduce rope theft. This is where the expression “to run like a red thread” comes from main idea the author throughout literary work, and Goethe was the first to use it in the novel “Selective Affinity.”

In the pre-revolutionary alphabet, the letter D was called “good.” The flag corresponding to this letter in the code of signals navy means “yes, I agree, I allow.” This is what gave rise to the expression “give the go-ahead.”

Beluga The silent beluga fish has nothing to do with the expression “beluga roar,” which means to scream or cry loudly and strongly. Previously, beluga was the name given not only to fish, but also to the toothed whale, which today is known to us as beluga whale and is distinguished by its loud roar.

BLUE BLOOD

Spanish royal family and the nobility were proud that, unlike common people, they trace their ancestry back to the West Goths and never mixed with the Moors who entered Spain from Africa. Unlike the dark-skinned commoners, blue veins stood out on the pale skin of the upper class, and therefore they called themselves sangre azul, which means “ blue blood" Hence this expression for denoting the aristocracy penetrated into many European languages, including in Russian.

IN Ancient Rus' The rolls were baked in the shape of a castle with a round bow. Townspeople often bought rolls and ate them right on the street, holding them by this bow or handle. For reasons of hygiene, the pen itself was not eaten, but was given to the poor or thrown to be eaten by dogs. According to one version, about those who did not disdain to eat it, they said: they got to the point. And today the expression “reach the pen” means to completely descend, to lose human appearance.

SPREAD YOUR THOUGHT OVER THE TREE

In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” you can find the lines: “The prophetic Boyan, if someone wanted to compose a song, his thoughts spread across the tree, gray wolf on the ground, like a gray eagle under the clouds.” Translated from Old Russian, “mouse” is a squirrel. And because of incorrect translation in some editions of the Lay a humorous expression appeared: “to spread one’s thoughts over the tree,” which means to go into unnecessary details, to be distracted from the main idea.

"Skeleton in the Closet" - English expression, meaning a certain hidden biographical fact (personal, family, corporate, etc.), which, if made public, can cause significant damage to one’s reputation. The appearance of the expression is associated with medicine. Doctors in Britain were not allowed to work with dead bodies until 1832. And the only bodies available for dissection for medical purposes were those of executed criminals. Although the execution of criminals was by no means uncommon in 18th-century Britain, it was unlikely that a particular doctor would have had many corpses in his possession during his work history. For this reason, it was common practice for a doctor who had the good fortune to dissect the corpse of an executed criminal to preserve the skeleton for scientific research purposes. Public opinion at the same time, it did not allow doctors to keep the skeletons in sight, so they were forced to keep them away from prying eyes. For this reason, many suspected that doctors kept skeletons somewhere, and one of such places could be a closet.

Well, really, how can I explain what it means? "orphan of Kazan"? Its allegorical meaning is clear and understandable:

- Well, why are you whining like an orphan from Kazan?

I myself used to say this phrase to those who seem to have everything in order, they have everything, but they whine and beg for something else, pretending to be deprived and unhappy. He said something, but he didn’t know the origin of this expression, as I think many people still don’t know. So let's figure out where it came from and what it meant.

But first of all, let’s try to understand what the word “orphan” meant in ancient times. Now it is clear that this is a person, most often a child, left without the care of close relatives, as a rule, having lost one or both parents. But in ancient times this concept had another additional meaning - a poor, indigent person, left without a means of subsistence.

Let's try to travel back to the distant year 1552 from the Nativity of Christ. A huge Russian army besieged the capital of the Kazan Khanate, which continuously annoyed Rus' with its devastating raids. The strengthened Russian state needed to eliminate this fragment of the once powerful Golden Horde, which was preventing normal development.

Many Tatar squads also opposed their compatriots. As a rule, for the most part, such detachments were headed by numerous children of the Tatar Murzas, who, in their opinion, were deprived of the division of their parental property. There were many similar ones in the besieged city. The Russian Tsar, skillfully playing on the thirst for power and money, promised all those who would come over to his side princely titles, money, estates, in general, full honor and respect. This largely decided the outcome of the siege in favor of the Russian army.

Some of these newly minted Russian princes, the remnants of the Kazan elite, settled at the Russian court, where they so often complained about their unenviable life, begging for more and more favors for themselves, that they remained in history with the ironic nickname “Kazan orphans.”

And finally, let’s remember Karabas-Barabas from the beautiful feature film“The Adventures of Pinocchio,” especially the scene where he asked the police chief to help the unfortunate orphan. For me, this literary and film hero is the one who pretends to be offended and unhappy in order to pity someone for selfish purposes. This same Karabas-Barabas is one of the best illustrations of this curious concept - the Kazan orphan.

Well, now let's look from bottom to top:

- Well, you Versta Kolomenskaya, - this is how people often turn to someone tall man towering above the people around him.

What is a mile, we know there was one in pre-revolutionary Russia a measure of length, slightly more than a kilometer. But why Kolomenskaya and how a measure of length can be applied to a tall person - this is the question to which I want to get an answer.

Let's figure out where it came from. And it turns out that it was like this...

In ancient times, the word “verst” also meant concepts such as “line, row, order.”

So the Russian sovereign, the second representative of the Romanov family on the throne, Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed “The Quietest,” decided to restore order on all the main roads in the country, and to do this, install special pillars indicating the distances from Moscow. These pillars, so that they were clearly visible, were painted alternately black and white, so that the stripes are inclined, but the numbers are written on the hewn front surface. These pillars were placed strictly at a distance of one mile from each other, so they were called mileposts, which, after the transition to the metric system, began to be called kilometer pillars. And the roads on which the pillars were installed have since become called pillar roads.

This is all clear, isn't it? But, as with everything, a shortening of this phrase immediately appeared, because why pronounce “milestone” when it is much shorter to simply say “milestone”. Pushkin has the following stanza in his beautiful poem “Winter Road”:

No fire, no black house...
Wilderness and snow... Towards me
Only miles are striped
They come across one.

And this, it seems, is also clear, we have sorted it out. Well, where did this adjective “Kolomenskaya” come from, and how does this special mile differ from the usual, striped one?

The whole point is that both now and in the old days the mighty of the world This is why they loved to relax in their country estates, now such super-elite places are dubbed “Rublyovka”. (In many years, people will puzzle over what “Khrushchevka” and “rublevka” are; now it’s clearer, but in centuries, I think, the fundamental principle will be lost.) In those distant times, everything was exactly the same, and the Tsar of Moscow and All Rus', also having such a small dacha - the village of Kolomenskoye, ordered that everyone should know where this road from the Kremlin leads, and so that they stay away from it, to install milestones much higher than usual. That’s how the people called them - Kolomna, and later all the tall and thin people received the same nickname.

Now shut up and listen. Look at the trills coming from the bushes.

- Well, you are right Kursk nightingale“You’re getting excited,” they say about some particularly talkative talker.
- So, is it always only negative? - a particularly corrosive reader will ask.
“Of course not,” I answer immediately, “singers with an unusually beautiful voice are also called Kursk nightingales.”

The traditional question: what does the nightingale have to do with it, and what does the Kursk one have to do with it?

Everything is clear with the nightingale; it is the most songbird of all the songbirds living in the vastness of our, and not only our, country. I think this is a truth that everyone agrees with. But where did the epithet “Kursk” come from? Much here is shrouded in darkness.

There is only one explanation - this is what songbird lovers decided among themselves, comparing the voices of nightingales that grew up in different regions. If this is exactly what happened, then we can only agree. After all, in reality singing Kursk nightingale has from 8 to 24 knees, and in some of the most vocal ones it reaches up to 40 knees, while in nightingales from other regions it rarely exceeds 12.

So he soared high, becoming a symbol of the Kursk region.

The meaning of the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan” and its history What the expression “Kazan orphan” means, most likely, everyone knows, because in speech we very often use this phraseological unit. But what is the story, and why is the orphan from Kazan - we will try to find an answer to this question. The Russian language is rich in phraseological units. For example, a person who tries to evoke self-pity and shows himself to be unfairly offended and disadvantaged is often called the “Kazan orphan.” The meaning of the phraseological unit is very simple and understandable. It carries both pity and a share of mockery, irony at those who are trying to seem pitiful. Very often a person who constantly complains about his failures, but is to blame for them, is also called the “orphan of Kazan”. Now this phrase is so firmly entrenched in our speech that sometimes we don’t think about what the original meaning of this epithet is - “Kazan orphan”. The meaning and origin of phraseological units, meanwhile, are very interesting and have their roots in the distant past. A little history We all remember the numerous conquests of Ivan the Terrible. “Kazan took, Astrakhan took, Rhubarb took” - famous catchphrase from a comedy film. The meaning of the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan” and its history precisely refer to the valiant time of the capture of Kazan. Capture Khanate of Kazan Ivan the Terrible's warriors tried three times, but the attempts were unsuccessful. There was no order and coherence in the army. And so Ivan the Terrible came up with a cunning move, which consisted of besieging the city and gradually narrowing the “ring,” as a result of which the city was left without sources of food and help. The idea was a success, and Kazan was taken even faster than the most experienced warriors expected. The Crimean Khan did not have time to help, which also played into the hands of the Russian Tsar. What did Ivan the Terrible do with the captured Kazan princes? Tried to make them allies. He left them all their possessions, generously endowed them, bet on public service with a good salary - all so that the Kazan Khanate would have loyal subjects. The origin of the phrase “Kazan orphan” So we come to the most important thing: the meaning of the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan” was formed during the capture of Kazan. This is how they began to call those same Kazan khans, showered with all sorts of favors, but constantly complaining about their bitter fate and begging for more and more benefits for themselves. In their petitions to the Tsar, they often called themselves “orphans.” Russian boyars, seeing one of these would-be khans, said with a grin: “What a Kazan orphan!” The expression quickly spread, penetrated into all corners big country and through short time acquired a figurative meaning - exactly the one in which we use this phrase to this day. Another version There is another point of view that explains the phrase “Kazan orphan”. The meaning of phraseological units goes back to the same historical era- capture of the Kazan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible. The fact is that after the conquest of Kazan, many families were completely killed, and in some only small children survived. They were ordered to be raised by peasants, boyars and even nobles in various cities and villages of Rus'. Such children began to be called Kazan orphans. But the use of the phrase in this sense did not have an ironic meaning. Rather, it was sympathetic: the phrase was used in relation to a child left without parents and given into the care of strangers, in an alien culture. Phraseologism in our days Although many years have passed since those distant events, the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan” is firmly entrenched in speech and is actively used to this day. It can be heard in everyday communication, seen on the pages of works fiction. Although not everyone thinks about the historical meaning of the expression, they use it quite often. The meaning of the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan” is played out in the touching New Year’s film by Vladimir Mashkov, but the meaning put into it is more sympathetic than mocking. The film is about a Russian girl, a teacher, trying to find her father, who did not even know about her birth. Three men responded to her letter at once, each of whom could be the one she was looking for. This is how a girl, who until recently was considered an orphan, found three wonderful fathers at once!

Do you know, my dear readers, the meaning of the phraseological unit “Kazan orphan”? Surely you have heard this expression! Or maybe they themselves used it in speech, addressing someone with irony?

Let's find out together the origin of this phrase. After all, it sometimes happens that you know the meaning and meaning, you understand its definition and what it means. But it would be interesting to know what the exact historical origin the expression “orphan of Kazan”, where it came from.

If with the first word of this catchphrase Everything is more or less clear, but with the second it’s somehow not very good. Why is the orphan from Kazan, and not Moscow or, for example, Krasnodar? Are there some special orphans in Kazan, or what? 😆

Questions, questions... And there are answers to them too, and even several. And they are all connected with the history of the Russian state, with Russian rulers.

The first version is the most common and plausible. As a result of only the fifth attempt, Ivan-4 managed to take the city of Kazan, the capital of the Kazan Khanate. Even from the defeat, the defeated Tatar princes - the Murzas - decided to extract more benefits for themselves.

Having already once received material gifts from the king for their humility and obedience, some of them regularly sought a royal audience. Making yourself look very unhappy and impoverished, while complaining about your hard life, which was, of course, not true, they begged for additional favors.

Some openly flattered the king, and some voluntarily accepted Christianity, as this was encouraged by rich gifts and high positions. It was precisely such hypocritical “poor people” and such complainers who were mockingly nicknamed the Kazan Orphans.

From there it went: those who call themselves poor, disadvantaged, constantly complain about their hard lot in the hope of getting some benefit for themselves, but, in fact, are not, are called an orphan, and even an orphan from Kazan.

Most often, this expression is used with sarcasm.

Version No. 2. How they profited from someone else’s misfortune

There is another option for explaining this generally widespread phraseological unit. Here, too, we couldn’t do without Ivan-4. After the Russian Tsar managed to destroy the Kazan Khanate and capture its capital, he showed everyone his character. It’s not for nothing that Grozny was called formidable.

A few days after Kazan began to belong to the Russians, by order of the Tsar, an old cart or cart was rolled out into the central square of the city. The entire male population of the city was forced to pass by this cart.

The condition was this: anyone who was taller than the wheel of this cart, and therefore was already an adult who could easily take part in the battle against Russian troops and defend the city, was immediately executed and beheaded. The city was drowned in blood. The only survivors were women, old people, fatherless children and orphans.

And then the king ordered them to go and talk everywhere about the fall of the Khanate. So the children walked around in groups of several people, telling everyone about who they were and where they came from, begging for alms. This is how this expression appeared. Seeing poor, hungry children, people said: “This is the Kazan orphan.” Naturally, they took pity on the children, helped them, gave them food and clothes.

But over time, people began to speculate on this and, together with, indeed, Kazan orphans, everyone, both Kazan and non-Kazan, went and begged, while telling fictitious “compassionate” stories.

The people found out about this, and attitudes changed. After this, they began to say with mockery: “There comes the Kazan orphan,” which means a deceiver, a rogue. Does this remind you of our days? The world has changed little over the centuries... 😀

Version No. 3. Not the orphan of Kazan, but the Empress of Russia!

There is another version, something like a historical anecdote. Another crowned person is already participating here: Catherine-2. If you tell it briefly, you get the following story of the origin of this generally widespread phraseological unit.

When the Empress arrived in Kazan, she was greeted with numerous gifts and honors. To which she allegedly said: “You greet me with such pomp, as if I had nothing myself. It’s like I’m an orphan from Kazan.”

By the way, the memory of this visit to the royal person was preserved in Kazan for many centuries. There are still many objects in the city’s museums as reminders of this event.

One of these historical exhibits is the carriage of Empress Catherine II. The original is kept in the museum, but a life-size copy is now available to anyone. It is located on the famous pedestrian Bauman Street in Kazan, where everyone can feel like a king or queen by taking a photo while sitting in a “royal” place.

These are the options for what the expression means and why they say “Kazan orphan”. But choosing what to believe and what not is entirely up to you.

Well, if you are going to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, then you will definitely not regret the days spent here. will not leave anyone indifferent. There are a great variety of them here, and they can satisfy any tourist’s interests. The places I was able to visit are marked on this map.

Or maybe you have other information: where did this expression come from, what events preceded its occurrence. Write about it in your comments. I will be very happy and grateful.

Expression"Orphan Kazanskaya“Today it is quite common, but it is used rather in the form of good ridicule. A similar phraseological unit is used to those people who are always whining and complaining about their lives, pretending to be helpless, deprived and offended. These people with their complaints try to put pressure on their interlocutor, try to provoke sympathy, for some kind of own, most likely selfish, purpose.

Let's figure out where this phrase first appeared " Orphan Kazanskaya". If no questions arise with the word "orphan", then the word "Kazanskaya" causes bewilderment. Why "Kazanskaya", and not, for example, "Tula", "Voronezh" or "Vladivostok"?
It turns out that all the answers are hidden in the history of the Russian Empire. A long time ago, back in 16 century, when autocrat Ivan 4 ruled in Rus', the city of Kazan belonged to the Kazan Khanate. This rich city was ruled by special people who were called Murzas.
When Ivan the Terrible decided to deal with this small khanate near me and sent an army there, then the khanate was finished once and for all.
However, there remained the Murzas, who were accustomed to eating deliciously and sleeping sweetly. In the new conditions, when Kazan began to belong to the Russian Tsar, the Murzas needed to adapt and they hastened to express their affection to their new master. Most of them became subjects of Ivan the Terrible. Moreover, the Murzas constantly They went to the capital and begged for all sorts of benefits and other preferences, while constantly complaining about their poor life, about their bitter fate, about the fact that their children were starving. In this way they tried to evoke pity from the king and many of them succeeded.
The people quickly noticed all these begging and humiliation and gave these moraz an apt nickname " Orphan Kazanskaya".

About a hundred years after the events described in 17 century, when Alexei Mikhailovich ruled on the throne of the Russian state, most high-ranking Tatars changed their faith. It must be admitted that they changed not because they realized, but because they were quite generously rewarded for changing their faith. Researchers of Russian history find many examples of these nosy and cunning Murzas, ingratiating themselves with the trust, were rewarded with horses, velvet, satin, fur coats, cups, pearls, and so on. Such concern for an alien tribe is easily explained. First, it is worth mentioning flattery and fawning, which always makes a favorable impression on the interlocutor due to vanity Moreover, this policy made it possible to make the majority of noble Tatars loyal to the new government.

However, unlike democratic Western countries, which would cut out all Tatars at the root, politics Russian state in relation to small nations, which allows them to have their own faith and their own language brings much more benefit. That is why " Orphans of Kazan"who at first glance should be completely exterminated, now live in Russian Federation and do not experience any harassment.