BLYAD (блядь) — literally, "whore".
This word is usually encountered in its contracted form "blya"(бля), a particle used mainly for
emphasis, adding a touch of lurid color at the end of absolutely any phrase.
"Ту chyo,
blya?" (Ты че, бля) (What the fuck are you». doing/saying?) could
be an act of friendly raillery or the verbal prelude to a headbutt. The B-word
is also a common cri-de-coeur: you stub your toe — "Blya!" Some
people are so addicted that they use the word to season even the most banal
utterance. E.g. "A on, blya, mne skazal, blya, chto ya, blya..." This
is the meat in the dumpling of Russian mat — it's impossible to imagine a
conversation with a taxi driver without it.
Khui (хуй) — literally, "cock". The first
thing after "hello" that people learn how to say in a foreign
language is "fuck off," and some manage to get by thereafter on these
two phrases alone. "Idi na khui!" (иди на хуй) is the Russian equivalent,
literally meaning "Go to the penis!" Yes, I know it sounds silly in
translation. But what make the system of Russian mat so interesting are the
derivatives. "Okhuyet" (охуеть) is to be extremely surprised, like when you
see your friend Vasya puking in the gutter. He would then report to be feeling
"khuyovo" (хуево). Also worth remembering are "Ni khuya sebe!" (ни хуя
себе) — "No
fucking way!" and the derivative "khuinya" (хуйня) — bollocks, bullshit.
Pizda (пизда) — literally, "cunt". If you're
tired of sending people to the penis, you can send them "v pizdu" (в пизду) for the sake of variety. Derivatives abound from this particularly
crude item: your new mobile you might describe as "pizdaty" (пиздатый), or if you doubt the truth of a
statement, you could say "Chyo ty pizdish?" (что ты
пиздишь?) — "Why
are you talking through your...?" Well, you know what. Perhaps the most
useful incarnation of this word is "pizdets" (пиздец), meaning a "total fuck
up." The phrase "Eto prosto pizdets!" (это просто пиздец)
expresses the sublime degree of misery, a predicament where things can get no
worse. Anyone been to Kaluga? Perversely enough, a cheery "pizdets!"
could mean just, "wow!"
Mudak (мудак) — literally, "testicle". This word
is never used in its original meaning, but has come into common currency to
mean an "asshole" or "dickhead," i.e. a man you find
disagreeable. This word is at the soft-core end of the mat spectrum, but a
phrase like "on polny mudak" (он полный мудак), is still a dire condemnation of
anyone it is used to denote. When a shapka-wearing Volga driver cuts you off on
the Garden Ring, "mudak!" is what you shout out of your window at
him. A younger "mudak" could be tenderly referred to as a
"mudachok" (мудачок), while an adult male could also be termed a "mudilo" (мудило) — a particularly unpleasant
subspecies of the "mudak".
Yebat (ебать) — literally, "to fuck". This verb
has all the primary meanings you'd expect it to have, with a couple of juicy
extras unknown to English. "Zaebat" (заебать) means to exhaust, to make sick of. "On
menya zaebal!" (Он мня заебал) means "I'm sick to fucking death of
him." For the virtuoso mat-user, "vyebyvatsya" (выебываться) means to show off in some crass or
reprehensible way, and for me always conjures up the image of elitny hairdresser
Sergey Zveryev. To fuck someone up is "otyebat" (отъебать), and the reflexive form
"otyebis!" (отъебись) means "get the fuck away from me!" Also,
"zayebis!" (заебись) is a nice mat variant of "khorosho" (хорошо) or "kruto" (круто). For example, "Vsyo
zayebis!" (все заебись) — "Everything's fucking
great!"
Srat (срать) — literally, "to shit". This word
has spawned a mass of colorful derivatives. An enduring favorite is
"zasranets" (засранец) — a pest, often used affectionately. "Obosratsya" (обосраться) literally means to shit oneself,
but is most often employed to mean "to fuck up" i.e. "to make an
embarassing mistake." To criticize something savagely is
"obsirat" (обсирать) — to shit all over it. "Chto ty nashu stranu obsirayesh?" (что ты
нашу страну обсираешь?) is a phrase heard by any foreigner who has
ever tried to argue with a Russian nationalist. The verb "prosrat'" (посрать) is an obscene version of "to
lose". "Opyat nashi prosrali" (опять наши просрали) is
what people say after seeing the Russian football team play.
A combination of the above. The ur-text of
Russian mat is, needless to say, the lyrics of Leningrad
