In Russia, there is no distinction between the words for “barber” and “stylist;” the word “парикмахер” in Russian refers a person who cuts hair for both men and women. A person visits a парикмахерская (barbershop; where the парикмахер works) to подстричься (have his/her hair cut), although some people do стригут себя (cut their own hair). […]

Пхали (pkhali; ფხალიin Georgian), made from finely chopped and cooked vegetables mixed with spicy walnut sauce, is one of the most popular traditional Georgian dishes. It is usually garnished with pomegranate seeds and sometimes served alongside eggplant rolls that also feature spicy walnut filling. Almost any vegetable can be used to make пхали, meaning that there […]

Victory Day is celebrated every May 9th in many countries across the former Soviet space. This public holiday gives often multiple days off and celebrates the end of The Great Patriotic War (which is WWII as experienced in the USSR). Estimates vary, but about 37 million Soviet people died in the war from causes ranging […]

Very often, commonly used expressions in a language will have been in use for so long that their origins are now unclear. Sometimes there is clear origin. This new project from SRAS will help explain what some popular expressions mean in Russian and, where possible, where they came from. I. From the French The Russian […]