Exemplary penmanship in Soviet school (1950s)
This blog is about old postcards, book illustration and all kinds of paper whimsy from the Soviet Union. I'm a long time collector, and this blog is 7 years old. I have an etsy shop for cards, books, pins and vintage finds from Russia.
School children prepared new birdhouses for springtime.
Did you know that in Russian, birdhouse is literally a “starling-place”? But of course, any birds are welcome. :)
Outdoors hair salon at the USA Expo in Sokolniki Park in Moscow. Photo by
Claude Jacoby, 1959. Check out the sign on the right: АмерNканская коафюра. 😅
— Карандаш.
— Э пэнсил.
— Стол.
— Э тэйбл.
— Девушка.
— Чувиха.
— Да нет, по-английски! Ну? Гёрл!
— О, йес, йес, гёрл!
— Йес-йес! ОБХС!
Gentlemen of Fortune (1972) ()
Something interesting I found today, here’s Winnie the Pooh song from the 1969 Soviet cartoon in different languages.
List of languages represented:
- Avar
- Ossetian
- Dargin
- Kumyk
- Lak
- Lezgian
- Tatar
- English
- German
- Russian
The first six are small languages of the North Caucasus region of Russian Federation (republics of Ossetia, Daghestan). Tatar is the language of Tatarstan republic of Russian Federation.
Winnie the Pooh is commonly known as Винни-Пух in Russian. However, it was not always his name. Here are two earlier translations of Pooh stories published in Murzilka magazine. The top one is from 1939, where Pooh is медведь Винни-Пу. The bottom one is from 1958, and the name is Мишка-Плюх.
Vintage enamel pin - Russian letter Б for Белка (belka - squirrel) ()
Russian tongue twisters
Вёз корабль карамель, наскочил корабль на мель, матросы две недели карамель на мели ели.
Краб крабу сделал грабли, подарил грабли крабу: «Грабь граблями гравий, краб».
Из-под Костромщины шли четыре мужчины; говорили они про торги да про покупки, про крупу да про подкрупки.
Стоит копна с подприкопёночком, а под копной перепелка с перепелёночком.
Истерически разнервничавшегося конституционалиста Константина нашли акклиматизировавшимся в конституционном Константинополе.
French/Russian pocket phrasebook. This was intended for French-speaking tourists who visited Soviet Union ()
Vintage Russian books with hand-lettered covers (1950s-60s)
Easy peasy Russian rebuses (1964)
Can you get them all?
()
Morning! How about some cartoons? I used a phrase from this cartoon earlier today and wanted to rewatch it and share it here. It’s called “The Princess and the Ogre” (1977). It’s based on swapping words прекрасный (lovely) and ужасный (aweful) to make two different stories. The phrase “Погода была ужасная, принцесса была прекрасная… А может быть, всё было наоборот?” (”The weather was aweful, the princess was lovely… But maybe it was the other way around?”) is one of those quotes that every Russian person recognizes.
(Sorry I couldn’t find it with English subtitles, only Russian ones.)
There’s this interesting phrasing on antique postcards - «С приятной Пасхой» - have a lovely Easter. It’s not used anymore, but I do think it’s a nice way to put it!
So, to everyone who celebrates today - с приятной Пасхой! :)