Talk:Ni-be-ni-me-ni-cucurigu

Latest comment: 18 years ago by Dennis Valeev in topic Comment

Comment edit

Isn't it from Russian "ни бе, ни ме, ни кукареку" (to understand nothing on the subject), as in the following example: "Он в математике ни бе, ни ме, ни кукареку" (He doesn't understand even a simple thing in mathematics).

The combination of seemingly nonsensical words makes sense in Russian, inasmuch as it is a quite famous idiom with the following word-by-word translation: "not baa, not maa*, not cock-a-doodle-doo", 'maa' here means another cry produced by sheep, apart from baa. This said, if a person lacks basic knowledge in something, you can easily use the idiom in hand to say that about her. --Dennis (1 Oct 2005)

Seems likely to me. I was unfamiliar with that Russian expression (I have only the most minimal knowledge of any Slavic languages). I'll trust you on the explanation and get it into the article. -- Jmabel | Talk 19:24, 1 October 2005 (UTC)Reply
Twas me. --Dennis Valeev 09:45, 2 October 2005 (UTC)Reply