Posted on July 29th, 2011

Hi and welcome to the Russian Slang and Idioms Lesson 37! Have fun!

Ворошить прошлое [va-ra-SHIT’ PROSH-la-ye ] = reminiscence about the past.
Example:
Не думай об этом, не вороши прошлое.
[ni DOO-may ab E-tam, ni va-ra-SHEE PROSH-la-ye]
Don’t think about this, don’t reminiscence about the past.

Из кожи вон лезть [ees KO-zhee VON LYEZT’] = to try very hard to accomplish something. If you translate it literally from Russian, it means “to try so hard that it makes you break out of your skin”.
Example:
Кэрол из кожи вон лезет, учит русский язык.
[KE-ral is KO-zhee VON LYE-zyet, OO-cheet ROOS-keey ya-ZIK]
Carol is trying very hard to learn Russian.

Деловая колбаса [dee-la-VA-ya kal-ba-SA] = very busy and important.
“деловая” is an adjectives and it means “business” or “business-like”, and “колбаса” means “sausage”. If translated from Russian literally, “деловая колбаса” means “business-like sausage”… A little unusual, and I’m not sure where it came from, it sounds funny, and you’ll hear it in Russian a lot!
Example:
Он всегда работает, деловая колбаса.
[ON vsig-DA ra-BO-ta-yet, di-la-VA-ya kal-ba-SA]
He is always working, delavaya kalbasa.

Test:
1.    What idiom if translated from Russian literally means “to try so hard that it makes you break out of your skin”?
2.    Which idiom talks about a sausage?
3.    What does “ворошить прошлое” mean?

Great job!

I’ll see you soon! Bye-bye!

Viktoria.

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• 20 Words & Expressions from the Conversational Russian Video Course
• The Story behind the Conversational Russian Video Course
• Days of the Week in Russian Video Lesson
• Learn Romantic Phrases in Russian
• How Valentine’s Day is Celebrated in Russia

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