"Sharashka" or "Sharashkin office" - what is it?
Sharashka - this was the name of the places of detention where people of engineering, scientific and technical professions served their sentences (at the same time they worked). It was during the time of the NKVD in the Soviet Union.
Sharashkin's office - in our time, this is a slang expression for a company where crooks and deceivers work, who do not inspire confidence. This expression always has a negative, negative meaning.
One version of the origin of the word sharashka is associated with horses. It is known that a horse that has been wearing blinkers for too long, without them, begins to be frightened of literally everything in a row and shy away from side to side.
Hence the sharashka - something unstable, unpredictable and even scary. In this sense, the word has been used at least since the third quarter of the 19th century, judging by literary sources. So the sharashka as a closed office appeared much later.
In short, this is a design bureau behind the barbed wire of the Stalin era.
Sharaga according to the dictionary of the living Great Russian language V.I. Dalia is a kind of swindler and a wimp, that is, a poseur and a frivolous person - practically a jester. Perhaps the word sharaga, like the sharomyzhnik, has French roots, but ignorance of the Galic language does not give me the opportunity to guess more precisely.
So what Sharashkin's office this is some kind of frivolous institution, one might even say the office of Horn and Hoof
Actually, in the 30s, the expression sharaga or sharashkin's conior takes on a new meaning and becomes an office in which prisoners work.
But by the 70s everything changed again and sharaga became the designation of vocational schools, and the concept of a sharashka office separated from it again becomes a non-serious, untrustworthy enterprise.
Sharashka was called design bureaus, which were located behind barbed wire. They employed scientists who were imprisoned. They worked for the good of their country. Sharashkin's office is now a phraseological unit, meaning an institution that should not be trusted.
Sharashka is a slang term for research institutes and design bureaus from the prison type (in prison), which are subordinate to the NKVD / Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. This is an old concept. Scientists who were taken into custody worked in these research institutes and design bureaus - engineers and technicians.
The adjective sharashkina comes from the word sharan, which means needy, thief, disadvantaged segments of the population. If Sharashkin's office, then it obviously does not deserve the minimum trust of respectable people.
From the lips of many young people you can hear this slang expression Sharaga (Sharashka). Sharashka is a kind educational institution in which these students study (in most cases these are colleges, technical schools and vocational schools). This is usually said by young people (and not only) who do not respect their studies or are generally tired of studying)
Often we pronounce well-established phrases without delving into their meaning. Why, for example, do they say “goal like a falcon”? Who is a "smoker"? Why, finally, do they bring water to the offended? We will reveal hidden meaning these expressions.
Hot spot
The expression "hot spot" is found in the Orthodox prayer for the dead ("... in a hot place, in a resting place ..."). So in the texts in the Church Slavonic language is called paradise.
The meaning of this expression was ironically rethought by the raznochintsy-democratic intelligentsia of the times of Alexander Pushkin.
The language game was that our climate does not allow growing grapes, therefore in Rus' intoxicating drinks were produced mainly from cereals (beer, vodka). In other words, green means a drunken place.
They carry water on the offended
There are several versions of the origin of this saying, but the most plausible seems to be the one connected with the history of St. Petersburg water carriers. The price of imported water in the 19th century was about 7 kopecks of silver per year, and of course there were always greedy merchants who inflated the price in order to cash in. For this illegal act, such unfortunate entrepreneurs were deprived of a horse and forced to carry barrels in a cart on themselves.
shabby look
This expression appeared under Peter I and was associated with the name of the merchant Zatrapeznikov, whose Yaroslavl linen manufactory produced both silk and wool, which were in no way inferior in quality to the products of foreign factories. In addition, the manufactory also made very, very cheap hemp striped fabric - mottled, "shabby" (rough to the touch), which went to mattresses, bloomers, sundresses, women's headscarves, work dressing gowns and shirts.
And if for rich people such a dressing gown was home clothes, then among the poor, things from shabby clothes were considered clothes "to go out." A shabby look spoke of a low social status person.
Sith friend
It is believed that a friend is so called by analogy with sieve bread, usually wheat. For the preparation of such bread, flour is used much finer grinding than in rye. To remove impurities from it and make the culinary product more “airy”, not a sieve is used, but a device with a smaller cell - a sieve. Therefore, the bread was called sieve. It was quite expensive, was considered a symbol of prosperity and was put on the table to treat the dearest guests.
The word "sitny" in relation to a friend means the "highest standard" of friendship. Of course, this turnover is sometimes used in an ironic tone.
7 Fridays in a week
In the old days, Friday was a market day, on which it was customary to fulfill various trade obligations. On Friday, the goods were received, and the money for it was agreed to be given on the next market day (on Friday of the next week). Those who broke such promises were said to have seven Fridays a week.
But this is not the only explanation! Friday was considered to be a free day from work before, therefore, a loafer was characterized by a similar phrase, for whom every day is a day off.
Where Makar did not drive calves
One of the versions of the origin of this saying is as follows: Peter I was on a working trip to Ryazan land and communicated with the people in an “informal setting”. It so happened that all the men he met on the way called themselves Makars. The king was very surprised at first, and then said: “From now on, all of you will be Makar!” Allegedly since then, “Makar” has become collectively the Russian peasant and all peasants (not only Ryazan) began to be called Makars.
Sharashkin's office
Own strange name office received from dialect word"sharan" ("trash", "bad", "rogue"). In the old days, this was the name given to a dubious association of swindlers and deceivers, but today it is simply an "undignified, unreliable" organization.
Not by washing, so by skating
In the old days, skilled laundresses knew that well-rolled linen would be fresh, even if the wash was not done brilliantly at all. Therefore, having sinned in washing, they achieved the desired impression “not by washing, but by rolling.”
Goal like a falcon
“Goal like a falcon,” we say about extreme poverty. But this proverb has nothing to do with birds. Although ornithologists say that falcons really lose their feathers during molting and become almost naked!
"Falcon" in the old days in Rus' was called a ram, a tool made of iron or wood in the form of a cylinder. It was hung on chains and swung, thus breaking through the walls and gates of the enemy's fortresses. The surface of this weapon was even and smooth, simply speaking, bare.
The word “falcon” in those days was used to refer to cylindrical tools: iron scrap, a pestle for grinding grain in a mortar, etc. Sokolov in Rus' was actively used before the advent of firearms at the end of the fifteenth century.
Alive smoking room
"Smoking room is alive!" - an expression from the old Russian children's game "Smoking Room". The rules were simple: the participants sat in a circle and passed a burning torch to each other, saying: “The smoking room is alive, alive! Thin legs, short soul. The one in whose hands the torch was extinguished left the circle. It turns out that the "smoking room" is not a person at all, as one might think, but a burning chip of which in the old days they illuminated the hut. She barely burned and smoked, as they said then "smoked".
Alexander Pushkin did not miss the chance to exploit this linguistic ambiguity in his epigram to the critic and journalist Mikhail Kachenovsky:
How! Is the Kurilka journalist still alive?
- Lively! still dry and boring
And rude, and stupid, and tormented by envy,
Everything squeezes into its obscene sheet
Both the old nonsense and the new nonsense.
- Ugh! Tired of the Kurilka journalist!
How to put out a smelly splinter?
How to kill my smoking room?
Give me advice. - Yes ... spit on him.
Drunk in zyuzyu
We find this expression in Alexander Pushkin, in the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", when we are talking about Lensky's neighbor - Zaretsky:
Falling off a Kalmyk horse,
Like a drunken zyuzya, and the French
Got captured...
The fact is that in the Pskov region, where Pushkin for a long time was in exile, "zyuzey" is called a pig. In general, “like a zyuzya drunk” is an analogue of the colloquial expression “drunk like a pig.”
Sharing the skin of an unkilled bear
It is noteworthy that back in the 30s of the 20th century it was customary in Russia to say: “Sell the skin of an unkilled bear.” This version of the expression seems closer to the original source, and more logical, because there is no benefit from the “divided” skin, it is valued only when it remains intact. Primary source - the fable "The Bear and Two Comrades" French poet and the fabulist Jean La Fontaine (1621-1695).
dusty story
In the 16th century, during fisticuffs, dishonest fighters took sandbags with them, and at the decisive moment of the fight they threw it into the eyes of their rivals. In 1726, this technique was banned by a special decree. At present, the expression "show off" is used in the sense of "create a false impression of one's capabilities."
Promised three years waiting
According to one version - a reference to the text from the Bible, to the book of the prophet Daniel. It says: “Blessed is he who waits and reaches a thousand and thirty-five days,” that is, three years and 240 days. The biblical call to patient waiting was jokingly rethought by the people, because the whole saying sounds like this: “The promised three years are expected, and the fourth is denied.”
Retired goat drummer
In the old days, among wandering troupes, the main actor was a learned, trained bear, followed by a “goat” dressed up with a goat skin on its head, and only behind the “goat” was a drummer. His task was to beat a homemade drum, calling the audience. Surviving by odd jobs or handouts is rather unpleasant, and here also the “goat” is not real, retired.
leavened patriotism
The expression was introduced into speech by Peter Vyazemsky. Under leavened patriotism is understood as a blind adherence to obsolete and ridiculous "traditions" national life and peremptory rejection of someone else's, foreign, "not ours."
Good riddance
In one of Ivan Aksakov's poems, one can read about the road, which is "straight, like an arrow, with a wide smooth surface that the tablecloth lay down." So in Rus' they saw off long way, and no bad meaning was invested in them. This original meaning of the phraseologism is present in explanatory dictionary Ozhegov. But it is also said there that modern language the expression has the opposite meaning: "An expression of indifference to someone's departure, departure, as well as a wish to get out, anywhere." An excellent example of how ironically stable etiquette forms are rethought in the language!
Scream all over Ivanovskaya
In the old days, the square in the Kremlin, on which stands the bell tower of Ivan the Great, was called Ivanovskaya. On this square, clerks announced decrees, orders and other documents relating to the inhabitants of Moscow and all the peoples of Russia. So that everyone could hear well, the clerk read very loudly, shouted all over Ivanovskaya.
to crack a man
The expression to crack a man came to us from those times when there were coins from precious metals. Their authenticity was checked by a tooth: if there is no dent, the coin is real.
pull the gimp
What is a gimp and why should it be pulled? This is a copper, silver or gold thread used in gold embroidery for embroidering patterns on clothes and carpets. Such a thin thread was made by drawing - repeatedly rolling and drawing through ever smaller holes. Pulling the gimp was a very painstaking task, requiring a lot of time and patience. In our language, the expression to pull the gimp is fixed in its figurative meaning - to do something long, tedious, the result of which is not immediately visible.
dance from the stove
To dance from the stove means to act according to an approved plan once and for all, without using any of your knowledge and ingenuity. This expression became famous thanks to the Russian writer XIX century Vasily Sleptsov and his book " Good man". This is the story of Sergei Terebenev, who returned to Russia after a long absence. The return awakened childhood memories in him, the most vivid of which are dance lessons.
Here, he stands by the stove, legs in third position. Parents, yard servants are nearby and watch his progress. The teacher gives the command: "One, two, three." Seryozha begins to make the first “pas”, but suddenly he loses time, his legs tangle.
- Oh, what are you, brother! - Father says reproachfully. “Well, go about five to the stove, start over.”
Three met. To the question "Where do you work?" the answer was:
In a sharashka, at the Research Institute of Light Industry.
- In a sharashka, a friend and a friend opened it. We sell, we buy, we exchange.
- In a sharashka, five years in a camp on Far East came up with a new engine for the tank.
Everyone has their own sharashka, and all three have taken place in our lives.
When did the expression "sharashkin office" appear?
There are three versions here. The first will send us to the beginning of the 20th century.
New economic policy- The NEP gave the citizens of the country of the Soviets the opportunity to engage in private business. Baths, cafes, hairdressers, fashion ateliers, shoe shops were opened in many. Simultaneously with very the right people enterprises, like mushrooms after rain, various offices began to multiply. Remember this one in the immortal novel by Ilf and Petrov? Nobody knew what Horns and Hooves were doing, but the money flowed like a river.
Who organized such sharashkin offices?
The police had an unequivocal answer to this question - crooks of all stripes. In a decent society they were called "sharash", and the common people, without ceremony, used the word "trash". Everyone agreed that these offices were opened by all sorts of crooks, who had no honor or conscience behind their souls. Not only do they open, but the same dishonest people work there. So, doing business with such offices is a big risk. They will cheat, ruin and let them go naked around the world.
Long gone are the days of the New Economic Policy, and the experience of opening sharashkin offices was not in vain. From time to time they reopen, constantly improving the techniques and methods of collecting easy money from gullible citizens. Either dietary supplements under the guise of a panacea are sold, or miraculous devices for purifying water are sold to people, or all ailments and even cancer are cured with salt dressings.
Stalin's Sharashkas
The second version tells about them. The first wave of repression spared a little for design engineers and scientists, but the second wave washed away the whole color of science into the camps. Those who did not commit suicide from despair and did not die of exhaustion, it was decided to "use for its intended purpose." It was a sin to simply destroy such minds, let them bring benefits. Yes, and it’s convenient: you don’t need to pay, you also need to provide a car and an apartment. Humiliated and discouraged, these people will work for a plate of "skinny" gruel and for the illusory hope of someday being released and rehabilitated.
The corresponding Decree was issued in February 1930, although the first sharashkas started working as early as 1938. Authorities received a detailed circular on May 15. the main task- with great efficiency military industry use enemies of the people and pests. Moreover, it was necessary to do it only in the premises of the OGPU, that is, in places of serving sentences.
The organs of the OGPU immediately set about organizing sharashkas behind barbed wire. Design bureaus and even large research institutes were opened, in which great benefit the brightest heads of the country worked for the state. Three years before the war, the Department of Special Design Bureaus was created, which in the same year, 1938, was renamed the 4th Department of the Special Department.
Until the death of Stalin in 1953, these sharashkas created engines for marine vessels, aircraft engines, new military aircraft and tanks, artillery shells and worked on the creation chemical weapons. From the end of 1944, German prisoners of war appeared in these design bureaus - engineers and designers.
Reference: in sharashka behind barbed wire were created:
- in 1930 - the I-5 fighter (TsKB-39, project manager - Polikarpov N.G.);
- in 1931 - the Felix Dzerzhinsky steam locomotive of increased payload (TB OGPU);
- in 1938 - the DVB-102 bomber, flying on high altitudes(TsKB-29, project manager - Myasishchev V.M.);
- in 1939 - dive bomber Pe-2 (TsKB-29, project manager - V. M. Petlyakov);
- in 1941 - front-line bomber Tu-2 (TsKB-29, project manager - Tupolev A.N.);
- in 1942-1943, auxiliary aviation LREs RD-1, RD-2, RD-3 from the special department of the NKVD, supervising the sharashka at Kazan Plant No. 16, were delivered to the front (project manager - Glushko V.P.)
There was also a 152 mm artillery system and a 75 mm regimental gun. Yes, a lot of other things the prisoners who worked in sharashkas managed to turn out for the army. Here about them, as about loafers and rogues, no one would turn their tongue to say.
Research Institute - also a sharashka?
The third version will tell about all kinds of research institutes, that is, research institutes. Different people worked there, there were many talented engineers. But there were a lot of “idle people” too. There is no talent, perseverance and the desire to learn something are also completely absent. Having received a distribution at the research institute after the institute, these young specialists wiped their pants there for many years. Because of them, many design institutes sometimes jokingly, sometimes seriously, they were also called sharashkas. In this case, the analogy with the Horns and Hooves offices worked.
Which is correct - sharashka or sharashka?
Linguists allow both spellings. If the word was formed from a sharaga, then we write “sharazhka”, that is, there is an alternation of the consonants G and Zh at the root. If we meant some swindlers Sharashkins - the pioneers of such offices, then we write "sharashka".
Often we pronounce well-established phrases without delving into their meaning. Why, for example, do they say “goal like a falcon”? Who is a "smoker"? Why, finally, do they bring water to the offended? We will reveal the hidden meaning of these expressions.
Hot spot
The expression "hot spot" is found in the Orthodox prayer for the dead ("... in a hot place, in a resting place ..."). So in the texts in the Church Slavonic language is called paradise.
The meaning of this expression was ironically rethought by the raznochintsy-democratic intelligentsia of the times of Alexander Pushkin. The language game was that our climate does not allow growing grapes, therefore in Rus' intoxicating drinks were produced mainly from cereals (beer, vodka). In other words, green means a drunken place.
They carry water on the offended
There are several versions of the origin of this saying, but the most plausible seems to be the one connected with the history of St. Petersburg water carriers. The price of imported water in the 19th century was about 7 kopecks of silver per year, and of course there were always greedy merchants who inflated the price in order to cash in. For this illegal act, such unfortunate entrepreneurs were deprived of a horse and forced to carry barrels in a cart on themselves.
shabby look
This expression appeared under Peter I and was associated with the name of the merchant Zatrapeznikov, whose Yaroslavl linen manufactory produced both silk and wool, which were in no way inferior in quality to the products of foreign factories. In addition, the manufactory also made very, very cheap hemp striped fabric - mottled, "shabby" (rough to the touch), which went to mattresses, bloomers, sundresses, women's headscarves, work dressing gowns and shirts.
And if for rich people such a dressing gown was home clothes, then for the poor, things from shabby clothes were considered “going out” clothes. The shabby appearance spoke of the low social status of a person.
Sith friend
It is believed that a friend is so called by analogy with sieve bread, usually wheat. For the preparation of such bread, flour is used much finer grinding than in rye. To remove impurities from it and make the culinary product more “airy”, not a sieve is used, but a device with a smaller cell - a sieve. Therefore, the bread was called sieve. It was quite expensive, was considered a symbol of prosperity and was put on the table to treat the dearest guests.
The word "sitny" in relation to a friend means the "highest standard" of friendship. Of course, this turnover is sometimes used in an ironic tone.
7 Fridays in a week
In the old days, Friday was a market day, on which it was customary to fulfill various trade obligations. On Friday, the goods were received, and the money for it was agreed to be given on the next market day (on Friday of the next week). Those who broke such promises were said to have seven Fridays a week.
But this is not the only explanation! Friday was considered to be a free day from work before, therefore, a loafer was characterized by a similar phrase, for whom every day is a day off.
Where Makar did not drive calves
One of the versions of the origin of this saying is as follows: Peter I was on a working trip to Ryazan land and communicated with the people in an “informal setting”. It so happened that all the men he met on the way called themselves Makars. At first, the tsar was very surprised, and then said: “From now on, you should all be Makars!” Allegedly, since then, “Makar” has become a collective image of the Russian peasant and all peasants (not only Ryazan) began to be called Makars.
Sharashkin's office
The office got its strange name from the dialect word “sharan” (“trash”, “bad”, “rogue”). In the old days, this was the name given to a dubious association of swindlers and deceivers, but today it is simply an "undignified, unreliable" organization.
Not by washing, so by skating
In the old days, skilled laundresses knew that well-rolled linen would be fresh, even if the wash was not done brilliantly at all. Therefore, having sinned in washing, they achieved the desired impression “not by washing, but by rolling.”
Goal like a falcon
“Goal like a falcon,” we say about extreme poverty. But this proverb has nothing to do with birds. Although ornithologists say that falcons really lose their feathers during molting and become almost naked!
"Falcon" in the old days in Rus' was called a ram, a tool made of iron or wood in the form of a cylinder. It was hung on chains and swung, thus breaking through the walls and gates of the enemy's fortresses. The surface of this weapon was even and smooth, simply speaking, bare.
The word “falcon” in those days was used to refer to cylindrical tools: iron scrap, a pestle for grinding grain in a mortar, etc. Sokolov was actively used in Rus' until the advent of firearms at the end of the 15th century.
Alive smoking room
"Smoking room is alive!" - an expression from the old Russian children's game "Smoking Room". The rules were simple: the participants sat in a circle and passed a burning torch to each other, saying: “The smoking room is alive, alive! Thin legs, short soul. The one in whose hands the torch was extinguished left the circle. It turns out that the "smoking room" is not a person at all, as one might think, but a burning chip of which in the old days they illuminated the hut. She barely burned and smoked, as they said then "smoked".
Alexander Pushkin did not miss the chance to exploit this linguistic ambiguity in his epigram to the critic and journalist Mikhail Kachenovsky:
- How! Is the Kurilka journalist still alive?
- Lively! still dry and boring
And rude, and stupid, and tormented by envy,
Everything squeezes into its obscene sheet
Both the old nonsense and the new nonsense.
- Ugh! Tired of the Kurilka journalist!
How to put out a smelly splinter?
How to kill my smoking room?
Give me advice. - Yes ... spit on him.
Drunk in zyuzyu
We find this expression in Alexander Pushkin, in the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", when it comes to Lensky's neighbor - Zaretsky:
Falling off a Kalmyk horse,
Like a drunken zyuzya, and the French
Got captured...
The fact is that in the Pskov region, where Pushkin was in exile for a long time, "zyuzey" is called a pig. In general, “like a zyuzya drunk” is an analogue of the colloquial expression “drunk like a pig.”
Sharing the skin of an unkilled bear
It is noteworthy that back in the 30s of the 20th century it was customary in Russia to say: “Sell the skin of an unkilled bear.” This version of the expression seems closer to the original source, and more logical, because there is no benefit from the “divided” skin, it is valued only when it remains intact. The original source is the fable "The Bear and Two Comrades" by the French poet and fabulist Jean La Fontaine (1621-1695).
dusty story
In the 16th century, during fisticuffs, dishonest fighters took sandbags with them, and at the decisive moment of the fight they threw it into the eyes of their rivals. In 1726, this technique was banned by a special decree. At present, the expression "show off" is used in the sense of "create a false impression of one's capabilities."
Promised three years waiting
According to one version - a reference to the text from the Bible, to the book of the prophet Daniel. It says: “Blessed is he who waits and reaches a thousand and thirty-five days,” that is, three years and 240 days. The biblical call to patient waiting was jokingly rethought by the people, because the whole saying sounds like this: “The promised three years are expected, and the fourth is denied.”
Retired goat drummer
In the old days, among wandering troupes, the main actor was a learned, trained bear, followed by a “goat” dressed up with a goat skin on its head, and only behind the “goat” was a drummer. His task was to beat a homemade drum, calling the audience. Surviving by odd jobs or handouts is rather unpleasant, and here also the “goat” is not real, retired.
leavened patriotism
The expression was introduced into speech by Peter Vyazemsky. Leavened patriotism is understood as a blind adherence to obsolete and ridiculous "traditions" of national life and peremptory rejection of someone else's, foreign, "not ours."
Good riddance
In one of Ivan Aksakov's poems, one can read about the road, which is "straight, like an arrow, with a wide smooth surface that the tablecloth lay down." So in Rus' they saw off on a long journey, and they did not put any bad meaning into them. This initial meaning of the phraseological unit is present in the Explanatory Dictionary of Ozhegov. But it is also said there that in the modern language the expression has the opposite meaning: "An expression of indifference to someone's departure, departure, as well as a wish to get out, anywhere." An excellent example of how ironically stable etiquette forms are rethought in the language!
Scream all over Ivanovskaya
In the old days, the square in the Kremlin, on which stands the bell tower of Ivan the Great, was called Ivanovskaya. On this square, clerks announced decrees, orders and other documents relating to the inhabitants of Moscow and all the peoples of Russia. So that everyone could hear well, the clerk read very loudly, shouted all over Ivanovskaya.
dance from the stove
To dance from the stove means to act according to an approved plan once and for all, without using any of your knowledge and ingenuity. This expression became famous thanks to the 19th century Russian writer Vasily Sleptsov and his book The Good Man. This is the story of Sergei Terebenev, who returned to Russia after a long absence. The return awakened childhood memories in him, the most vivid of which are dance lessons.
Here, he stands by the stove, legs in third position. Parents, yard servants are nearby and watch his progress. The teacher gives the command: "One, two, three." Seryozha begins to make the first “pas”, but suddenly he loses time, his legs tangle.
- Oh, what are you, brother! - Father says reproachfully. “Well, go about five to the stove, start over.”
