The Word's Worth

Prepositions. I know, I know. They're miserable. I try to make them a little bit more palatable.

Russians have so many delightful ways to dawdle, dilly-dally and delay, you may never work again.

Why are there are more names in Russian for nasty old women than for nasty old men?

There are lots of Russian words, nice and not, to describe the older gentlemen in our lives.

Lots of things glitter and glimmer with sparkles of gold and silver in Russian. For example - air.

An exhibition at the Gulag History Museum and a new dictionary reveal the other reality of the USSR.

Lock or castle, cotton or clapping - it's all a matter of where the stress falls. Russian is very stressful.

Rebellions can be good or bad. Depends on who's rebelling and who or what they are rebelling against.

A special column for a special day.

This is the Year That Was in words and phrases.