Talk:Russian jokes/Archive 1

Rzhevsky Does not "Boink"

He is a cavalry man, a солдафон par excellence. He does not "boink," he fucks. Or, if you are of gentle ears, he can be said to "f---." Please stop bowdlerizing the jokes. --Woland (talk) 08:11, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Why do peeople keep messing with the Rzhevsky jokes? The word that is apopraite is an old, venerable Slavonic word that descended from the Ancient Sanskrit यभति (yabhati). Please, please stop changing it. 206.168.187.130 (talk) 19:14, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

And here is the reference for that: Утро. Ярко сияет солнце. Зеленеет трава на лужайке, слышен шелест ветерка, плеск воды в ручье, шебетание птиц. Из белой палатки, установленной на лужайке, вылезает поручик Ржевский. На нем белоснежная рубаха и начищеные как зеркало сапоги. Поручик оглядыв

- Господи, как же я не замечал раньше этой красоты?!?! - Мать... мать... мать... - по привычке отозвалось эхо.

See, even the echo expects "ебать" Woland (talk) 19:38, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

New Russian Jokes Cleanup

Changed some stuff, for instance it's not a 600th Mers should be 600 Merc since it's translated to english and does not refer to the 600th car made but rather the model and engine size and Mercedes is typically abreviated as Merc not Mers in english. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.163.146.47 (talk) 11:05, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Old talk

"A notable distinction of the Soviet humor is virtual lack of jokes on religious topics"

This sentence is plain wrong, there is a lot. However, most of them are not about priests or monks, but about Hell. Here is the most well-known example:

A Communist died and since he was a honest man, he was sentenced to spend one year in Hell, then one year in Heaven. One year passed and Satan said to God : Take this man as fast as possible, because he turned all imps into Young Pioneers, I should restore the order. Another year passed, Satan meets God again and tells him : Sir God, it's my turn now. The God replied : First of all, I'm not Sir God, but Comrade God, The second thing is there is no God, and the last thing - don't disturb me or I'll be late to the Party meeting.

Also as least 4 important series are omitted :

1. English gentlemen. This is closely related to the jokes about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson because they both appeared after the movie "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson" and were inspired by it. Another wave of English gentlemen jokes appeared after the great success of "Gentlemen from Odessa" KVN team. The whole series is relatively large and contains some translated jokes, but most are original and even untranslatable.

2. Animation film heroes: Winny Pooh, Piglet, Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena.

3. Russian "fairy tale" heroes

4. Drug addicts. This one appeared recently, borrowed some jokes from the "Drunkards", but some are new inventions.

Abstract Jokes

The joke about the woman crying because she had an apple was used by borat once. Someone may have been up to mischief by adding this, but then again I know nothing about Russian jokes. Valkotukka 23:51, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Politics

"Since the election of Vladimir Putin as president, all jokes about Vovochka should be considered political."

Is this really true? Vivacissamamente 12:21, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

No it is just another example of joke, yet it was made unclear –Gnomz⁰⁰⁷(?) 17:54, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Fine points in translation

Mikkalai, a few questions on your revertions:
1.) "... riding the bus, and I am the black sheep..." -> "... riding bus, and I am a black sheep..."
In my experience, the term "black sheep" is pretty much always used with the article "the", since it is usually implied that the person is the black sheep of a group, with "black sheep" being a unique identifier, for example: Osama was the black sheep of the Bin Laden family. Thus, if the Bin Laden family would have more than one black sheep, Osama would be one of the black sheep of the family. Compare 640 Google search results for "a black sheep of" [1] with 20,500 results for "the black sheep of" [2]. Also, "are riding bus" is simply bad grammar, so unless the joke is implying that the child is incompetent, would be wrong.
2.) "from where I'm standing to the next oak" -> "from me to the next oak"
Even though I can't seem to pinpoint the grammatical rule that would make the latter wrong, it just doesn't sound right, mainly becuse "me" isn't used as location descriptor in English in the same way it does in Russian. However, if the joke is implying that the sargeant is the "oak" (since oak can be used as a derogatory term in Russian) preceeding the "next oak", than your translation would be more valid, and certainly more funny.
3.) salo || cured lard || lard || bacon ?
I strongly believe that "bacon" is a very inaccurate way to translate "salo" into English, especially since the word "бекон" (bacon) exists in Russian. The term "cured lard" means exactly what "salo" is, thus making "lard" a preferable choice in translation to "bacon".
Since this is the second time you've reverted my translation for some of the above, could you try to justify your changes? --Aramգուտանգ 23:25, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

• Your guess is correct about the "oak" thing. But your "me" isn't used as location descriptor in English in the same way it does in Russian... excuse me: "come to me", "go away from me" -- what is this but location descriptors?
• "There's a black sheep in every flock" goes one of the original sayings (BTW, I've just noticed that the black sheep article is very poor). But here I will not particularly insist; both ways would be correct. the joke is not based on a specific interpretation.
• "To ride bus" is an abstract term for the way of transportation; "to ride the bus" is to ride a specific bus.
• Salo is both "lard" and "bacon". Please look up wikipedia or some other English dictionaries to see the difference. Ukrainians love bacon, not lard. Your name suggests, you are not one of them :-).

Mikkalai 03:28, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

• There's actually a very subtle difference in English when talking about one's general location and the point on the ground where they're standing. For example, it wouldn't be correct to say "the grass field stretched out from me to the river" (поле растилалось от меня до реки) or "he kicked the ball from me to the other end of the field" (он пнул мяч от меня до другого конца поля).
  • The same difference exists in Russian language as well, and it is a difference between the actual position and the marker of the position. And the joke is based exactly on this difference. And "I" is as valid marker as "you" or "flagpole". Tis is how boy scouts are taught to measure the height of a tree: "The distance from you to the tree is now the same as the height of the tree" Mikkalai 04:13, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
• Of course "there's a black sheep in every flock", but it's the black sheep of the flock, not a black sheep of the flock. Consider using the word leader instead of "black sheep" to clarify. Thus, there's a leader in every army, but no one is "a leader of an army", he/she is "the leader of an army". What the article "the" implies is that he/she is the leader of the specific army, not just a random leader, and helps omit adding "of the army" to the sentence. When used with a term with dual meaning, such as "black sheep", the article "the" becomes even more important, additionally implying that the term is used in its metaphorical, not literal meaning.
  • I have to agree with you there, although unlike the leader, there may be several "black sheep", but still "they are the black sheep". Mikkalai 04:13, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
• I'm afraid you are simply wrong on this one. In fact, "to ride the bus" is the abstract term for the way of transportation. When one says that they ride the bus or the train to work, they're implying that they use a bus or a train as their method of getting to work, without implying any specific bus or train. A specific bus or train is only implied when an adjective is added to that sentence (or if there was only one bus/train they could possibly take), such as "I ride the 8:30 bus to work" or "I ride the evening train to get back" (and the verb "ride" would usually be replaced with "take" in such cases). I'm 100% sure on this one.
  • I am afraid that Russian schools fail to properly notice the tendency away from usage of the definite article in many cases. I (and you) better consult native English speakers. Where I live (Silicon Valley), people "drive car", "ride bus", and "take train". And believe me, they are not illiterate morons. Mikkalai 04:13, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
    • Interesting. I'm British, and have never heard "ride bus", even from an American. (We tend to say "take the bus" in Britain, anyway.) Maybe the version without the article is local to your area? Loganberry 14:51, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)
    • I am not a native speaker of either English or Russian, but I have never heard anyone say "drive car", "ride bus" or "take train" without any article. Are you sure they actually say it exactly like that? I would guess they use the indefinite article, like "drive a car", "ride a bus" or "take a train", or use the definite article "the". I understand Russian doesn't use articles, neither does Finnish, but I have studied English in school a great deal and I think I know a bit about the use of articles in English. To me, "drive car", "ride bus" or "take train" is simply ungrammatical, i.e. wrong. 193.167.132.66 09:49, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
      • Loganberry above got it right. The phenomenon of dropping "the" from modes of transportation as Mikkalai had proposed is a known, fairly recent dialectal variation in (I believe) some parts of California -- I actually remember this variation being discussed at length in my syntax class (in the UC Berkeley linguistics department). However, English speakers from most places will indeed consider "ride the bus" more grammatical (for both the generic activity and the riding of a specific bus), so that version is the one that should probably stand here. Zyqqh 20:15, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • In English, there is a fine difference between "ride a bus" and "ride the bus." The latter implies that the person to ride a bus rides a certain bus or bus route with regularity, and the former implies that getting on the bus (or bus route) being discussed is an unusual occurrence. Some examples:

"How did you get here? I thought you were in Maryland!"

"I rode a bus."

"How do you get to work every day?"

"I ride the bus."

"How did you get to work today? I thought your car was broken!"

"I rode a bus," or even "I rode the bus." The latter could be used here if the speaker subconsciously realizes that the specific bus route could take em to work every day but e just never takes it. The former would probably be used if the speaker thinks of the bus route as a foreign means of transportation for getting to work.

Gemini6Ice 2 July 2005 20:18 (UTC)

• So, to confirm, the salo that the Ukrainians like has actual meat in it besides the fat? Because the salo I've seen is all fat, with no significant traces of anything red or pink in it. If so, then I guess bacon would be the more appropriate term.
  • You missed the most important differense: lard is fat melted out of bacon. Bacon is "flesh of hog". Unfortunately, English have no exact analog for "salo" or German "Speck" (шпик). Flesh without meat is fat. But "fat" is bad for this joke. Mikkalai 04:13, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
    • "Salo" is in 99% cases fat only, it looks nothing like bacon and tastes very differently as well. It is usually frozen in the refiregerator and then sliced thinly and consumed with "black" bread + pepper and/or onion. In Russia we also have "Speck" (spelled шпек), which is similar to cooked bacon sliced in cubes, the most common use is in speck cakes (пирожки со шпеком).

Please let me know if you believe I'm wrong. You see, I often start arguments so that I can learn something new, or make sure my knowledge is accurate, rather than to prove a point. --Aramգուտանգ 06:40, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

pejorative diminutives etc.

Just a few notes about this subject

-ka is really sounds a little offensive (Vovka, Seryozhka ,Sashka, Van'ka)(Vladimir,Sergey,Alexander,Ivan)

1: Adults referring to young children... (5-10 years old, +/- a few years)(rarely). 2: Especially referring to those (especially children) who are mischevious or who cause problems. 3: Among close friends (in the same way that Americans sometimes use insulting terms for each other as a sign of friendship).

This one is a little different -enka -echka -ochka Vovochka, Seriozhenka, Sashenka, Vanechka

This one (if pronounced properly) sounds sweet and flattering

1: Adults referring to young children... (5-10 years old, +/- a few years).

I guess at this pace of filling in all those fine points, this article would not survive and will get eventually broken into numerous Russian grammar pages :)

Ethnic stereotypes

Why don't Russians make ethnic stereotype jokes about Finns? Finns do make such jokes about Russians! 193.167.132.66 09:02, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Good question. While we're at it, does anybody know where the expression Горячие финнские парни comes from? Gian Giorgis 22:42, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Maybe if I knew what it meant I would be able to theorise. All I know is it has something to do with Finland. 193.167.132.66 13:39, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It means "hot Finnish lads/guys". Some suppose it comes from "the national art of hunting" (or whatever the exact title of the film is), but it was never a sure answer. (And I guess I won't find a copy of the movie where I am.) Gian Giorgis 14:43, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The exact title of the film is "Peculiarities of the National Hunting". The sequel names are "Peculiarities of the National Fishing", "Peculiarities of the National Hunting in Winter Period" and "Peculiarities of the National Politics".Michagal 09:17, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

"where comes from" are you asking who invented it or what is it talking about? I can give an answer to the second one. An ethnic stereotype of Finns and Estonians is that they are calm, slowly thinking and slowly acting, "in cold blood". For example, they don't wave arms franticaly while speaking, like, e.g., Italians. As for the film, I can check this, whether the expression is used there. But in fact, surprisingly, the attitude to Finns was mostly positive in late Soviet Union, despite known surge of anti-finnish propaganda wuring WWII. The thing is that they made themselves kind of laughing stock because of drinking: Finns used to come to Russia (e.g., in Leningrad) and got drunk (it was kind of prohibition in Finland, afaik). But despite this, there was never a stereotype in Russia that Finns are drunkards: an average Russian guy knows perfectly well what does this mean, to be deprived of drinking :-(.

Well I don't know exactly how far the prohibition goes in Finnland. At least alcohol is supposed to be damn expensive (and there is also quite some home made one). It is actually a friend of mine who was confronted several times to the sentence (mainly about pretty drunk Finns), and if we understood pretty well what you explained, we couldn't figure the source. And all Russians I asked couldn't either (but liked the expression).Gian Giorgis 22:36, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Partially confirmed: the surge of the usage is after the Russian film "Особенности национальной охоты" (1995) (Peculiarities of the National Hunting). One of the characters, General Ivolgin, says amid a quarrel: "Вы ещё подеритесь, горячие финские парни!" (my lousy translation would be: "The next thing for you is to start fighting, you hot Finnish lads!"). Please keep in mind that the here term "hot" (горячие) means "hot-tempered", and the humor of the phrase "Hot Finnish lads" is that it is perceived as an oxymoron. Mikkalai 23:56, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

There are a number of other memorable expressions in the movie. My favorite one is the following dialog:

- Semyonov, do you want some vodka?

- Nnno!

- But will you <have some>?

- Yes!

Mikkalai 00:04, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Спосибо большое. (Ja paljon kiitoksia.) Gian Giorgis 01:12, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

About Горячие финнские парни . Actually, it was a very old joke about "hot-tempered Estonian guys". The phrase in film is just an allusion to this joke. Vervin 14:55, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Tell the joke! Don't be a tease! mikka (t) 20:23, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

OK, I'll try it: There are sitting three Estonians on the bank of a lake: two young and an old one. Suddenly something splashes in the water. An hour later the young one says: - Iiiit waaass a piiike. An hour later the second young one says: - Nooo, iiiit waaas a zander! The old one an hour later: - Juust dooon't start fighting, hot Estonian guys! Vervin 08:14, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

There is a Finnish joke! At least I know one:

• Two Finns are sitting in a bar, drinking. An hour and several bottles of vodka go by. All of a sudden, one of the Finns says, "Sooo, howww havvve you beeen, annnyways?"

Another hour goes by. More vodka. And yet another hour. Three hours later, the second Finn says, "Soooo, you here to drink or you here to talk?"

--VonWoland 08:13, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

There are a lot of anekdotes (jokes) about Finns, just type "анекдот финн" in search engine. For example http://www.polinafromspb.narod.ru/simplefinnanekdot.html Alexandre Koriakine (talk) 21:52, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Stirlitz

• (L) "Stirlitz! You are a Jew!", suddenly barks Müller. "No way, I'm a proud Russian one," briskly retorts Stirlitz, and Müller responds: "Well, I'm a German one." (The meaning of this joke is that both are supposed to be Jews: German one and Russian one. It was an allusion to that a lot of Jews changed their 'offical' nationalities).

  The meaning of the joke is lost in translation, and probably the joke must be removed. In Russian language Stirlitz says "Ya russki!" ("I am Russian!") which may mean both "I am of Russian blood" and "I am the Russian one" whatever this could mean. On the other hand, Muler answers "A ya nemecki!", which unambiguously means the ambiguous "And I am a German one." ("I am of German blood" would be "A Ya nemec" in Russian). So in the original it is Muller who turns out to be Jew, i.e., the original joke is even more anti-Semitic than its translation. mikka (t) 20:15, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree. This joke has been annoying me for a while. There are tons of Shtirlitz jokes, many of them perfectly translatable. Let's pick one that works. Ornil 20:28, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

"Stirlitz! You are a Jew!", suddenly barks Müller. "No way, I am Russian!" briskly retorts Stirlitz, and Müller responds: "Gotcha." Alexandre Koriakine (talk) 21:55, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Move to Wikibooks?

This article is indeed very good and informative, but it is a bit long in my eyes. Maybe we should move this article to Wikibooks and just keep parts of it here on Wikipedia, like they did with the You have two cows article. We could instead have a link to the article in Wikibooks. Please note that it has already exceeded its size limit... What do you guys think?

--Konstantin 13:29, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Well, the main objection that comes to mind is that, unlike the two-cows debacle, this is not intended to be a compilation of Russian humor (let alone an exhaustive one, like the two-cows page seems to be trying for). On the contrary, Mikkalai, who seems to have been very energetically working on this article, has been adhering to the policy that for any given category, there should not be more than the 2-3 jokes necessary to give an illustrative set of examples. I think this is entirely reasonable. Certainly a separate wikibooks project can be started to actually compile Russian humor, but I think this article as it stands has its place on wikipedia proper. In my view, the primary utility of this article is a maximally concise introduction to the various archetypes of Russian humors to enable non-Russians to appreciate most typical Russian jokes in translation, and this seems to require both a brief introduction to the characters and some examples. Another option is splitting the various subsections off into per-topic pages a la "Stirlitz (Russian humor)", "Vasiliy Ivanovich (Russian humor)", etc., but I'm not sure that would be an improvement over the current format.

Of course, should a wikibook get started, this article would carry links to sections thereof wherever relevant. -- Zyqqh 07:27, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Guess you're right. Lets just hope Mikkalai other users could contribute with even more jokes, so that we could get a real, big, collection of translated Russian jokes on Wikibooks... I would really be interested in jokes related to biases towards the different ethnic groups in the USSR, Kazakis, Latvians, Central-asians, Finns (yes I KNOW Finland was never a part of the USSR, but still there where a pretty large group of Finns living in the former Finnish area of Karelia). Having jokes about small minority group living in Siberia but not about one of the biggest (and THE biggest growing ethnic group towards the end of the USSR:s existence) seems to be pretty strange. I am talking about the people in Soviet Central asia now... --Konstantin 20:35, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The number of published Russian jokes is **H*U*G*E**, man. Quite a few series were published by a harvesting trick: by setting up an anecdote site that invited people to send them jokes. Therefore today it is nearly impossible to distinguish whether a joke was genuinely Russian or simply carried over onto a Russian soil. Also, during the soviet times it was believed (not without reason) that most political jokes were crafted by CIA, Voice of America, or Radio Liberty. Here is the joke on the topic, by the way:

• A drunkard lies in a the middle of a huge puddle and repeats: "This is Voice of America from Washington speaking...". A militsioner drives to, unwilling to get wet calls his superior, explains the situation and asks what to do. The annoyed superior barks: "Act according to the instructions, you moron!" The militsioner sighs deeply, wades into the puddle, lies beside the drunkard and proceeds: "Uuuuu-iiiii! Uuuuu-iiiii!" (for those who are happy not no be born in the Land of Soviets: this is an immitation of the jamming noice generated against VofA and RL stations by Soviets). Mikkalai 23:31, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Reasoning for some small reverts

I've looked through the recent changes by User:Mikkalai; while many were for the better, I've decided to revert some of them. Since these were in part of reverts of edits I made, I'm listing my reasons here, individually for each change that I'm un-reverting:

Poruchik joke #3

"I beg your beauty" is, I'm all but certain, not idiomatic English or, at best, a really archaic turn of phrase that would look unidiomatic to well over 99% of modern speakers. "I beg your pardon" carries the gist of the meaning of the Russian expression without damaging the humor value.

Poruchik was begging to excuse, not the pardon to excuse. There is nothing archaic here. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Alright, I'll agree that the current formulation was still contorted. I again rephrased it, preserving the faux-Victorian courtesy syntax. FWIW, unlike in Russian, English, not even the most flowery Victorian variety, does not admit metonomous usage of "one's beauty" and most other similar abstract quantities for the referent themselves. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Poruchik joke #3

"Is it rainy?" is unidiomatic as an inquiry about the current state of the weather (as opposed to "it" having a concrete antecedent as in "I don't know much about Seattle weather. Is it rainy?"). I assume that you specifically wanted to preserve the parallelism in the syntax, so I changed it to the not-all-that-idiomatic-but-reasonable "Is the weather rainy?"

Wrong. Antecedents, especially in the direct speech, may be implied. Try google. The question was "Is it rainy?" Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Antecedents may be implied, but weather expressions in English are by and large frozen into idiomatic form. For one thing, note that the Google hit count for "is it raining?" is almost 2 orders of magnitude higher. For another, a large number of the hits you are seeing either (1) have an explicit antecedent, (2) are part of a specific children's song (which is more free to take such poetic license than we should be here, I assert), or (3) come from countries where webpages are likely written by non-native English speakers. Run this question by some other native English speakers and see what they think. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

"Class '4-B'" vs "Fourth graders"

I realize that you're trying to preserve the authentic Russian setting but, since anglophone countries largely lack a Russian-style "tracking" system in school, there're precious few English speakers who would understand the allusion and, switching this to a slightly-Americanized "Fourth graders" will make it much more understandable without detracting from the meaning almost at all. In any case, I've "compromised" by just replacing it with "your class", which I also believe to not detract from the meaning. In general, since these jokes are transmitted by word-of-mouth and small alterations are likely to appear throughout a joke's lifetime, I strongly feel that it is entirely reasonable, in the course of translating to English, to make some changes that make the context more familiar to an anglophone audience without impacting the humor value. As both I and User:Mikkalai seem to agree, the idea is to explain Russian joke culture to an anglophone culture, not to gather a large collection of raw joke material for folklore research or whatnot, so such changes seem to me entirely reasonable.

I don't see why "class 4-B" is less clear than, say "appartment 34-D". As for changing the context without serious reason, I strongly disagree. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

That's because you're used to the Russian tracking system. I got part of my secondary education in the U.S. and I am quite certain that "class 4-B" would sound jarring to the English ear. Ask some other native English speakers. And I didn't mean to say we should be changing the context without any reason -- here I do think there's a reason. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

He's right. I lived in Russia for a while in high school, and the Russian system is very different from the North American systems. We have only one 4th grade, with smaller classes divided by teachers (Mrs. Stevens' class, Mr. Winslow's class, etc.) in America. UK, Australia, New Zealand could be different from America, but I couldn't tell you that. The actual phrase "class 4-B" sounds odd to Americans.

Well, I guess in current state there is no problem. Actually I've wonderd why not 4-Г (Russian alphabet) a usual designation for the worst class. The farther the letter down the alphabet the more mischievous children. Gnomz007 02:00, 27 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Asshole philosophy

Per Manual of Style, 15.3, "Use HTML markup sparingly and only with good reason." I don't see a good reason to have commentary in small. In this case, I reformatted it into a small paragraph following the joke. By the way, my five-year-old inner child somehow found it quite funny that you pointedly linked to Asshole. I suppose wiki syntax/conventions themselves can be funny too =)

Vovochka was specifically speaking about a single asshole available in any human body. Plural form removes this distinction. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This is an English language issue. "The asshole" not only risks being misread as a vulgar reference to a person, but also unnecessarily connotes universally-quantified uniqueness (c.f. "the sun"). For the exact same meaning where Russian would use the singular ("Ж..а есть"), English uses the indefinite plural. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Felon vs bandit

I think you're misled by the English word "bandit". Its Russian cognate "бандит" is closer in meaning to the English word "felon" than to "bandit" in English. Compare the primary meanings from the American Heritage Dictionary: bandit - "A robber, especially one who robs at gunpoint." vs felon - "One who has committed a felony". The former is much more specific than the Russian cognate, the latter being probably even closer to "gangster" in generality, but "gangster" is used already a couple of lines above.

Felony is any kind of "serious crime". "Bandit" is a violent criminal; that's the intended match of the meanings. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I still suspect your perception of the English meaning of "bandit" is tainted by that of the Russian cognate, but your response suggests a reasonable compromise, so I now changed it to "violent criminal". Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Israel-Shmisrael

I realize shm- is of Yiddish origin. However, (1) it's now quite widespread among American English speakers who are neither Yiddish speakers nor Jewish, and (2) the vast majority of Americans are unfamiliar with the Georgian form. Given that changing it from M- to Shm- does not detract from the humor value (and only a bit from the authenticity, for the tiny sliver of English speakers who'd recognize the authentically-Georgian version), I am convinced that this is a reasonable change to make in course of the translation. Unless of course you want to write the Emphatic reduplication in Georgian morphology article and link the "-Misrael" form to that for an explanation -- but I'm sure you have plenty things higher on your priority list. I was tempted to also translate genatsvale, but decided to clarify it with a parenthetical above instead (also to exemplify Georgian speech pattern replication or something).

There is nothing unclear in "Misrael". Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Not unclear, unfamiliar. But, OK, since I caved in and added the genatsvale parenthetical, I'll do the same here.

"Labor-camps-ful"

The form you reverted to, "Twelve labor camps!" does not make sense with English syntax, and I believe most English speakers would have to think for a while before

Well, it does. "How many oranges have you got?"- "Twelve crates." That's the gist: to measure people not by head count, but by volume. The addition "worth" spoils this part of fun: it amounts the explanation of the bunch line. And many jokes require thinking for a while, even for native speakers. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

figuring out what was intended to. I've changed it to a third alternative, "Twelve labor camps' worth". If you still think it worthwhile to move it back to "Twelve labor camps!", I believe it should then be tagged with the (L) marker.

Nothing language-specific here: the very idea of the joke is that the amount of jokes is counted in terms of the amount of people. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I can't entirely pin down the source of the problem, but I'm rather certain that "How many ___ do you have? Twelve labor camps." sounds substantially more jarring to an English speaker than oranges...crates. And not jarring as in "That's an odd way to say it", but rather as in "what are they trying to say?" I think part of this is that English speakers are unlikely to associate the phrase "labor camp" with the "container" schema. If it said something like "Twelve hundred jail cells", that would be far less jarring, but as things stand, I believe it necessary for the benefit of our obviously anglophone audience to qualify with the "' worth", even if it blurs the punchline somewhat. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

"Soviet power"

While "power" can be used to mean what you want it to mean (Russian "власть") in some contexts, when modified by a nationality adjective, it is far more likely to suggest something like "American power" in English or "Советская сила" (or "мощь") in Russian. Plus it's even more likely to confuse given that the electrification context may cause some readers to first assume that "power" is meant in the electrical sense.

Fantomas footnote

I took some time to add a Fantomas section to the article (yea, I know, it's already long, but Fantomas jokes are common enough to merit a section, I would say). Then, as per above, removed the <small> tags and shrunk the comment.

Kocherga footnote

I'm of the opinion that a lot of what got marked as (L) doesn't belong here at all since it conveys very little to the average reader (who speaks no Russian). So what little is there should be presumably compressed to only explain the essence of what the joke entails. This joke itself is already huge (despite being completely language-dependent), and I feel the footnote is even less worthy of space here. However since you seem very convinced otherwise, I compromised by leaving the footnote in but compressing it to something more encyclopedic -- the rest would belong much better here on the talk page.

"Kocherga: 5 items" is not a joke. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I had assumed that you intended the footnote for extra humor effect (even though yes, I do realize that this does actually get used). Fixed. Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

As a sidenote rant, in my good old days of "developed socialism" there was a very simple way to distingruish a "true" folk Russian political joke from those pumped in by journalists from Radio Liberty and Voice of America: the latter ones were way too smooth and literary. That's what your edits lean to: to non-Russian jokes. Mikkalai 20:21, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I don't agree. Given that both the punchlines and the vast majority of the context are unaltered, all I'm doing is making the article more readable to a non-Russian speaker and removing a handful of very culture-specific minutia that is far more likely to distract and confuse such a reader than to provide anything useful. After all, I presume RL and VoA didn't "pump in" jokes in broken Russian and with occasional Western cultural references that Russians wouldn't recognize? Zyqqh 22:17, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

You are missing the point. I am speaking about exactly the opposite: the Russian language in these "imported" ones was way too good and literary. Mikkalai 23:27, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Vovochka=Lenin

"Vovochka = Lenin" : Perhaps I violated NPOV, sorry for that.

You did not violate anything. It is the sources you quote below went far with their guessowrk. Mikkalai 15:04, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

But a mention of Vovochka as being a parody on stories about Lenin’s childhood can be found in some books, e.g. Language and Humor chapter of Linguistic Encyclopedia for Children (Энциклопедия для детей. Т. 10. Языкознание. Русский язык. — М.: Аванта+, 1998). Here is a quote: …целые серии анекдотов связаны с образами Василия Ивановича Чапаева и мальчика Вовочки, напоминающего о детских рассказах из серии «Когда Ленин был маленьким» (…the whole series of jokes are related to images of Vasily Chapaev and Vovochka, who reminds such stories like “When Lenin was a small boy”). It hard to explain to Western audience what kind of stories was it without saying "it was panegyric stories written to inspire young generation". Probably the reference to Lenin was obvious when jokes about Vovochka were created, but after some time Vovochka becomes a self-supporting character. So if someone thinks this worth mention, please include this point in the article. Sdummy 11:00, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

No sufficient reasons were given to prove the origin. Lenin was a target of immense number of jokes directly at all times. But to align him with vovochka is an arbitrary overstretch. Indeed, there is a “When Lenin was a small boy” series, but in them he was called "Volodya", just like in official Lenin childhood books. And these jokes are direct parody and ridicule of these stories. On the contrast, vovochka is a very smart boy. He is not being ridiculed in the jokes at all. I'd say he is a "positive hero" of Russian folk culture. Mikkalai 15:01, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Culture of anecdotes in Russia

I think one problem in the article is that there are too many anecdotes (jokes) themselves and too little modern background. Anecdotes were a good way for Soviet people to laugh at the life difficulties, given that open critique was not permitted. I think, this reasoning is covered very well in the article.

However, later on, after the USSR collapse jokes filled the void of mostly talentless TV. There was no Russian comedy as such, and Russian humour was almost completely in the realm of anecdotes (and to some extent in KVN, which is the most popular Russian show, somewhat similar to SNL in the USA). With the advent of Russian Internet in 96-99 there was an explosion of jokes (the site anekdot.ru was the most popular, with a lot of traffic and a lot of new jokes coming daily).

During that time the jokes shifted considerably towards new russians and market economy (mocking TV commercials was and still is a very popular topic) and some of the "themes" were almost completely abandoned (like Cold War politics, anecdotes about Stalin, etc.).

There were (and still are) weekly and daily "joke newspapers" being published, there is a section with anecdotes in almost every popular newspaper up to this day. There were shows, based on the anecdotes, you will not pass a single day without hearing a new joke. Actually, there usually was one or two people in your circle of friends who will always be telling you jokes if asked to do so ("So, Igor, tell me a good joke").

The trend is actually decreasing right now with high-quality TV and movies taking their place in Russian leasure time.

Also, here are some of the joke themes that were not mentioned in the article:

• Adultery. It usually starts with "Lover comes back from business trip...".
• Engineer jokes. Engineer in Russia was perceived as something of a nerd, who while educated and part of intelligentsia, does not know how the real world operates. Those jokes were very popular in the past.
• Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle was very popular in Russia (there were several, hugely popular movies based on Sherlock Holmes books), so there are a lot of jokes about him and Dr. Watson
• Relationships. (eg: Dear, tell me three famous words that tie people together for ever - I am pregnant! or: A man spends 1/3 of his life in bed. The rest he tries to bed somebody)
• Golden fish. This is the fish from Russian fairy tales that grants three wishes. (eg: "New Russian catches a golden fish. Fish tells him: "Please, kind man, let me go". New Russian shrugs: "Well, ok". The fish replies: "So, what about a wish?". New Russian: "Well, ok. What do you want?".
• Zmej Gorynich (Fire Dragon) / Baba Yaga (Old Woman) / Ivanushka durachok (Ivan the Fool) / Tri Bogatirya (Three Strongmen). Again, well known from Russian folklore / fairy tales.
• Doctor jokes. I guess, they are popular everywhere, but Russian play on the idea that Russian medicine is archaic, uneffective and open to bribes.
• English upper-class. Given that English literature was always quite popular and there was a lot of respect for the upper-class, there are a lot of anecdotes with lords, ladies and gentlemen. I am not sure if those were translated (After an unsuccessful wedding night a Lord cuts his finger, smears sheets with blood and tells his wife: I am doing this to protect your honour my lady. Lady responds by sniffing in the sheets and replies: And I am doing this to protect yours).
• Programmers jokes. As programmers had an early access to the Internet and actually the profession exploded, there are a lot of jokes about programmers and system administrators. The sysadmin jokes are actually mostly based on true events, as a standard situation at any office of a Russian company was one sysadmin and 10-20 employees, who knew nothings about computers. Those people are called chainiki (kettles). (eg: Four people drive in a car. Suddenly the car breaks down. After some unsuccessful attempts to start the engine one passenger, a programmer says: I have an idea, lets all get out, then get in and try to start it again).

Another thing to note - the actual puns or word-play jokes are quite uncommon (the best and most well known are the Shtirlitz ones), as Russian is not a flexible enough language and those jokes are often perceived as less funny as situational ones.

But there is a whole lot more that cannot be pigeon-holed. Russia / former USSR is possibly leading in the number of jokes per capita, with many people passionately "collecting" jokes. This was a samizdat alternative to entertainment (eg: Army instructor lectures the board guard: If you get bitten by a snake, you should suck the venom out of the bite mark. Soldier asks: What if I get bitten in a penis? Instructor: Then, soldier Ivanov, you will finally find out who your real friends are)

-- Vlad

I think this is very much to the point. We should have most of the above categories, except maybe relationships and programmers jokes, as these are the same as everywhere else. I am too lazy to add them, and I hope someone will :) I am not sure the specific jokes given as examples are best, but that'll be fixed quickly, I am sure. Ornil 3 July 2005 01:45 (UTC)

Out of meat and out of @@@@@@@@@@...

I found this joke pretty amusing. Gemini6Ice 2 July 2005 20:19 (UTC)

Modern political jokes

I'm pretty much surprised that there is no sample for VVP jokes. It is true that they are issue based, but this is exactly that makes them stand out as a class my favourites: Putin spoke German during a meeting with German kanzler : Schröder occasinallty raised his hands and shown his papers. (everybody in Russia remembering wartime films knows some German : Halt! Handen Hoch! Papier! Shnellen! (not sure about spelling) )

–Vladimir Vladimirovich, today a several unidentified people attempted to assasinate Chubays./ –Here is my orders: dismiss "The Unidentified" and repeat the operation.

Some are personality, or rather background based:

This one I found just today: Another reason to vote for Putin – he is both Shtirlitz and Vovochka.

VV – you promised to hold back the inflation./No, I promised to have it held back, arrested and convicted.

Gnomz007 2 July 2005 22:25 (UTC)

I support this. Of the above jokes I prefer the first, but we'd need to add the explanation, which is unfortunate. Ornil 3 July 2005 01:39 (UTC)

Small boy/girl black humor rhymes

I dunno how we forgot this one, but it is hard to translate.

Маленький мальчик нашёл пулемёт- больше в деревне никто не живёт.'

But this is hopeless in translation

Little boy have found a minigun - now his village has population of 0.

I guess the plausible sound of of this stems from WWII heritage.<- possible nonsense.

Gnomz007

Little boy have found a minigun - now his village population is none. Maybe like this... Gnomz007 05:47, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Children in basement had played Gestapo Horribly tortured was handyman Potapov

must be nonsense, who nobody knows, what that basesment really is.

Gnomz007 06:10, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

These black rhymes belong to Russian humor article, not here. It actually has the corresponding section, so your examples go there. mikka (t) 07:25, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, I forgot those were not anecdotes - just saw someone attempted to add thisGnomz007

"mat"

The example given in the "mat" jokes section is a bit difficult to follow, and not just because it's heavily language-based. It seems to me that the "word-by-word" example has been censored, that the "**" should be replaced by... I don't know what, and that's the problem! Khuy, I assume from context. Someone who knows better should replace the censorship with the actual word. Wikipedia doesn't need to be kid-friendly. (Which includes Russian-speaking kids.)

the actual word does not matter: those who know Russian, know what's there, those who don't, will get the idea anyway. And the "**" is an additional fun: there is a whole series of Russian jokes that are based on substitution of "khuy". Also, in a company with women present the "huy" is substituted by "hren", without much loss of humour. And I don't see why kid-friendliness is bad. There is an article mat for those who don't like kids. mikka (t) 18:16, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Ah. Fair enough. No, there's nothing wrong about being kid-friendly, I'm just pointing out that it's not strictly necessary. I was just making a small suggestion. The section's not bad as a whole, I just felt it might be less confusing for someone who's trying to follow the example without knowing the Russian to see full words rather than asterices. Joshua Nicholson 02:29, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

The joke should be written out in full, certainly in English transcription/literation, and perhaps also in Russian. As present, with the asterisks, it is unreadable and should be removed. Note the vulgarity of the Boatswain joke referenced immediately below. Tesseran 06:31, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Deletion of the Jokebook

Jimbo Wales has announced that he will be deleting the Jokebook from Wikibooks within 24 hours. See Wikibooks:Staff lounge. Uncle G 16:30, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, well, time to start a wikicity then –Gnomz⁰⁰⁷(?) 16:36, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

Mycop

IMHO, that item should be removed. Would anyone argue that the snide expression Russian: мусор comes from English lang? It is not even a joke, just an oddity. We can do better. ←Humus sapiens←ну? 10:43, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Russian vs Soviet

Over the years, Russian anecdotes were one of the main sources for my learning Russian, and I still check up on anekdot.ru every day. I also travel to Moscow on business at least once a month where I deal exclusively with Russians. So I consider myself very familiar with the subject matter. Many of the joke types listed on this page are long forgotten in Russia; and the jokes that are actively being told are missing here.

I have a feeling the article was mostly written by Russian émigrés who jumped the iron curtain many years ago and, having lost the intimate contact with the source, still retain the Soviet joke set to this day. Thus the article is a misleading time capsule. As it is, a reader may get the idea that Russians still joke about Khrushchev and Gulags. Russians no longer tell Brezhnev or KGB jokes; they don't complain about empty store shelves. They do tell Poruchik Rzhevsky and Chukcha jokes. Then there's a whole new distinct set of Putin jokes, Kokos (dumb American) jokes, crooked militian men jokes, and so on.

Therefore, I think it should be more apparent in the article that many of the joke types died out. Besides, the article is gi-normous - 11,000 words! I would suggest splitting it into Soviet Jokes and Russian Jokes; or maybe we can split off Russian Political Jokes and section it out chronologically, since those have the highest turnover rate. Flyboy Will 08:58, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Splitting the article into Soviet and modern Russian jokes is a good idea. However, it will be quickly realized that the new jokes are not so good. This culture was very specific to the Soviet Union. The ones that look to you like the jokes written by the emigrants looks to me more like CIA version of the jokes. I think they can be improved by modifying them to their original versions. --EncephalonSeven 13:10, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Poor value of the article

I am russian and have lived in Russia for 11 years. In my oppinion most of the jokes listed here are not true Russian jokes. They are sort of biased. They also seem to include some truths but appear to be morphed. They do not represent the true nature of the jokes told in Russia. Some are just poorly translated. Others are plain wrong.

What this article needs is for true Russians to peer review it. (Thothe that live in russia and are exposed to the culture on a daily basis.)--BorisFromStockdale 03:44, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

By the way, some of the jokes that are listed would be offensive to Russians. I will try to remove them or retranslate them properly. Some of the statements in the article are also clearly not factual and very offensive. --BorisFromStockdale 03:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Some of the jokes may be a bit dated---see "Russian vs Soviet" above---but beleive me, this article is well tended by Russians. And even though many, like me, are ex-pats, and so have a more nostalgic perspective on Russian---Soviet humor, I don't think a case is to be made that we are not "true Russians." So, before making any major changes, perhaps they should be discussed here first, as this article has undergone many revert-wars (and someone still keeps messing with the joke about the camel!) and, really, we should be rational beings. --VonWoland 04:35, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

You kind of misunderstand me. What I mean is that some of the jokes do not sound to me like they are trully Russian. For example:

A grandson asks his grandfather: "Grandpa, is it true that in 1986 there was an accident at Chernobyl NPP?" "Yes, there was." - answered the Grandpa and stroked grandson's head. "Grandpa, is it true that it had absolutely no consequences?" "Yes, absolutely" - answered the Grandpa and stroked the grandson's second head. And, clicking with their hooves, they went on a walk through the tunnels. What I would like to see is the original Russian version of the jokes before they are translated and included this way we can better translate them... --BorisFromStockdale 14:38, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

This one is truly Russian, by the way. I myself have never heard the tunnels portion of it, but I can assure you that the rest of the joke is genuine.—Ëzhiki (ërinacëus amurënsis) 14:43, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I see your point. The ending could be removed. Now how about this one:

A French, a German, and a Russian go on a safari and are trapped by cannibals. They are brought to the chief, who says, "We are going to eat you right now. But I am a civilized man, I studied human rights at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, so I'll grant each of you the last wish." The German asks for a mug of beer and a bratwurst. He gets it, and cannibals eat him. The French asks for three girls. He has crazy sex with them, and then follows the German. The Russian asks: "Hit me hard, right on my nose." The chief is surprised, but hits him. The Russian pulls out a Kalashnikov and shoots all the cannibals. The mortally wounded chief asks him: "Why hadn't you done this before we ate the German?", the Russian proudly replies: "Russians do not attack unprovoked!" (Side note: This joke has also been used as a Jewish joke; more specifically, as an Israeli joke, as Israel is constantly feared of being seen as the 'aggressor')

Eсли бы вы расказали бы ету шутку в росси, люди вы подумали что вы идиот. I am sorry about my poor grammar in Russian...--BorisFromStockdale 03:41, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, it depends on your audience :) Actually, there are very few jokes in the article that I never heard before, and those that I didn't are quite funny and Russian. The one above (about the cannibals) is quite dated, but I remember hearing it as well.—Ëzhiki (ërinacëus amurënsis) 12:35, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

As a fellow Russian, I have to say that I heard (and told) that joke numerous times back in my school days in mid-90s. Thus it is most certainly a genuine Russian one. int19h 08:27, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

External Links

I am restoring the external link to "Russian reversal on Uncyclopedia". It was reverted b/c "wikipedia has own article about this joke". External links, however, cannot be removed just b/c Wikipedia covers it -- that would defeat WP:V. Now I know it's a rare case where Uncyc meets WP:RS, but this is such a case; it's an article about a joke from people who should know.--M@rēino 13:38, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Construction site joke (хуй)

I have reverted the removal of the transliteration of this joke. Please do not revert without justification. If you believe that this transliteration should not be included in this article, you can provide reasons here.Tesseran 22:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

New Russians

No jokes about the New Russians.--Nixer 15:16, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Chukchi

How come the Chukchi section doesn't use the word 'however' in the examples? You mention that they say it a lot, and then don't give any examples of it. Hullo y'all. 16:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC)poopsix

Genatsvale

there should be a brief explanation about the word genatsvale, because this article is for people who usually don't know it. since I'm neither Russian nor Caucasian, I won't write it. actually, does it mean 'comrade', 'my friend' or both? Torzsmokus 16:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

genatsvale means something like "my dear" dunno how to translate exactly, at least that's not comrade or friend thats for sure. you can't say genatsvale to a person you don't know well —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.223.34.44 (talk) 04:51, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Tase in humor

"Russians love jokes on topics found everywhere in the world, be it sex, politics, spouse relations, or mothers-in-law."

What does my citizenship have to do with my taste in humor? Come on, rewrite that. 217.210.224.224 15:16, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

---

I don't know it exactly too howewer I am Russian native. But it definetly used in a meaning of 'friend' or 'guy', trying to copy the Georgian accent.

Gleb.

Jokes on sex

Where are they hidden if any? I have heard some through the years - unfortunately, I have forgotten the details, but most were about denial: "We do not have sex in the USSR!". --Philaweb 21:02, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

This article is devoted to jokes that are specifically Russian. Jokes about sex, unfaithful spouses, mother-in-law, etc. usually do not depend of nationality. If someone can find a specifically very Russian joke (with reference), then welcome.

As for the phrase "we do not have sex", this is NOT a joke, see The Wild East. For a long time I want to write article about this, but keep forgetting. `'mikka 01:38, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the information about The Wild East. --Philaweb 08:51, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Rabinovich

I've removed the picture of Sholom Aleichem since Rabinovich is a stereotypical Jewish character and I think that it's pretty inaccurate to have a picture of Aleichem as if that is the individual people generally have in mind when telling Rabinovich jokes. It doesn't matter that he is the most famous person with that name. Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 19:26, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, he is a Rabinovich, arguably the most famuos one, a Jew and a joker. Restored. If you have a beter person, you are welcome. `'mikka 06:19, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

The point is that there shouldn't be any picture there. It's as if, in the article on dumb blonde jokes, we had a picture of Jessica Simpson or, even worse, Hillary Clinton. Yes, either of these two women might fit the aspects of the stereotype and they are both famous people. But putting the picture implies that this is the person that people think of when they tell the jokes. It's not. Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 20:20, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

By your logic, we cannot have any trees in the tree article, because it is neither about oak, nor birch, not even baobab, although all of them are trees. Whatever. You are too serious for this article. `'юзырь:mikka 21:33, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I heard that there was some Rabinovich Monument built somewhere. If somebody knows about it, maybe we can use that image (and mention it, since it is a monument dedicated to that Rabinovich? Vicky Molokh (talk) 20:11, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Stirlitz.jpg

Image:Stirlitz.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 11:32, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

The image specifically illustrates the influence of the character in question on the Russian culture, hence it falls under the category of critical discussion of the character in question, hence fair use. Let me clarify this with an example of correct deletion. Here, the cartoon screenshot illustrates the general article of Crow's nest, therefore it was rightfully deeted in the next edit. On the othyer hand, if we had an article that contains a discussion of this particular crow's nest which is part of the cartoon plot, its usage would be perfectly fair use in the critical commentary on the displayed object. `'Míkka 17:29, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

This image doesn't help the understanding of the joke. Please see WP:NFCC#8. --Abu badali ^(talk) 18:57, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

The image is not intended to help to understand the joke. The image helps to understand the characher which produced a wealth of jokes. If it does not help you, that does not mean it does not help other people. On the contrary, I think the photos significanlty illustrate the overall personality of the character in question, whcih otherwise would require lots of verbose description. `'Míkka 19:12, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I have to agree with Abu here. It shows what the character looks like, but the character's appearance is not really relevant to the article, and is not discussed in the article. For example, would his influence on Russian culture have been different if he had had curly hair, or if his ears had had a different shape? Would the joke have been any more or less funny? Would our understanding of Russian jokes change a lot if we discovered that he looked different? Is his appearance significant to the influence he has had on Russian culture, and if so, is the significance of his appearance discussed in the article, with relevant reliable sources? If not, then it seems that the image is used just because it would be nice to have that image. And that violates Item 8 of our policy. ElinorD (talk) 19:29, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, his appearance is significant and our (if not yours, then it is your problem) understanding of the jokes would be a lot different if Stirlitz were a fat bald chap with silly smile. `'Míkka 19:55, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I can't see how. According to the article, the jokes have nothing to do with the characters appearance. (but we can't say for sure... since the article is completely unsourced....) --Abu badali ^(talk) 20:03, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm Russian and a fan of both Shtirlitz jokes and the TV series. The jokes do owe a lot to the TV series, and even though it's mostly not Tikhonov that has influenced them but the narrator's somber voice, it's unlikely that we'll be putting up a soundbite as the section heading. The screencap portrait is a good visual, so to speak, of the general mood of this personage as well as of the somberness which permeated the series and got transported, for comedic effect, into many Shtirlitz jokes. So I vote that comrade Tikhonov stays up.AxmxZ 07:08, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, not exactly completely, but I agree that the article is severely underreferenced. Fortunately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union a huge number of books with and about russian humor are published. I added a raw list and in my spare time I will be adding footnotes. Unfortunately not many volunteers to do unfunny work here. I will try to give an example what should be done. `'Míkka 22:48, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Curious joke

Я не знаю кто реально начальник над всеми русскими, но Президент Российской Федерации - всего лишь полковник внешней разведки! [3]

Obviously referring to "Как известно Л. И. Брежнев был большой любитель хороших автомобилей и сам частенько управлял ими. Как то ехал он с личным водителем и решил сам поуправлять. Водителя справа посадил, сам -за руль. Естественно, притопил, далеко за сотню. Гаишники с радаром в кустах спрятались, видят --их клиент. Один выбегает--палкой машет. Машина остановилась. Он только к водителю сунулся, сразу развернулся и назад, к своей идёт. Напарник его спрашивает: Что это там за гусь? Он ему в ответ: Не знаю, кто это, но за водителя у него сам Брежнев." [4] ellol 10:48, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

This joke is a remake of an ages old one about Pope who wanted to drive a limo, whcih is way stronger: "He has Pope for driver, man!"`'Miikka 17:22, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Yup. ellol 14:55, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

There's a language joke, which surprisingly can be translated into English.

At the exam in literature, Professor asks a student: "Now please, tell us about the heroine." The student revives: "Heroin is a strong thing! And why are you asking?" ellol 22:46, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Funny, bothing specifically national Russian here. `'Míkka 22:52, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

During a literature exam, the professor asks a student: "Now please, tell us about the heroine." The student retorts: "Heroin is a serious thing! And why are you asking, anyway?" Tesseran 06:36, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank you.

Perhaps, fresh one[5]:

Someday Müller comes to Shtirlitz and asks:

"Hey, buddy, wouldn't you like to start some business?"

"That would be great, Gruppenführer. What do you suggest?"

"Well, let's e.g. open a night club in the basement of our Gestapo!"

"Night club? In the Gestapo basement?! No, people wouldn't come!"

"Don't worry, Schtirlitz. People are our problem!.."

ellol 11:25, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Ellol: wikipedia is not a joke book. Thios article has enough examples. What it needs is to add some summaries from books about russian jokes. There is a big list at the bottom. If you want to improve this article, why don't you grab a book and see whether is has something useful. There are zillions of jokes. Wee heed not jokes but comments about jokes. `'Míkka 15:49, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

A suggestion for the "Golden Fish" section. Shouldn't every instance of "Golden Fish" simply read "Goldfish"? After all, "zolotaya rybka" doesn't refer to a strange and exotic metal fish. It refers to a fish commonly found in nature and kids' aquariums: the goldfish. In addition, the goldfish-granting-three-wishes pervades throughout Western folklore, and possibly Eastern folklore as well. So, how about it? - Miguelinho —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.43.27.94 (talk) 03:42:13, August 19, 2007 (UTC)

"Russian" jokes????

A lot of these jokes, specially the medical ones, are found in other countries as well. How can this be noted as a specific russian joke? Plus it's already looking like a jokes page... 200.222.3.3 (talk) 20:00, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

All but one deleted: you were right: unclear why they are Russian. `'Míkka>t 21:22, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I heard all the jokes aout Rabbit, about Pole, German and Russian etc. I wonder whether they are really "Russian" or just "East European". Similarly with jokes about dystrophy etc...Szopen (talk) 08:40, 14 April 2008 (UTC)