Moscow in Sunshine and Tears

Что ни город – то норов.
So many cities, so many customs.

Russians would surely not refrain from applying the above saying to their capital, referred to as “my dear capital, my golden Moscow” (Золотая моя столица, дорогая моя Москва) in a famous song written in the 1950s. The City on the Seven Hills – город на семи холмах, i.e. Moscow, is not only famous for its nights (e.g., the famous song Evenings near Moscow – Подмос­ков­ные вечера) but also has its own customs and habits.

Muscovites are very proud of their city, some reckon presumptuously so. Russian rulers used to say “Москва – третий Рим, а четвёртого не будет” (“Moscow is the Third Rome, and there won’t be a fourth”). Visitors from the provinces like to take their Moscow cousins down a peg or two by calling them spoiled and arrogant. In return, Muscovites have christened such detractors лимитчики (from the word “limit,” for these visitors could only obtain temporary – or limited – employment and had to get a registration permit within a limited period of time). So, the лимитчики would come to work in Moscow, in search of that much-coveted Московская прописка (Moscow registration permit).

Another Moscow saying stemming from local snobbery is “not to believe in tears,” as you probably know from the movie title, Москва слезам не верит (Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears). Which means that you have to prove yourself to make it in Moscow; simple tears or whining won’t cut it.

Another proverb (echoing a similar one about the first Rome) has it that “Moscow was not built overnight” – Москва не сразу строилась, which is quite true. After all, it took some 850 years to build everything that today’s tourists marvel at. However, when you look at what Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has achieved just over the first five years of his tenure, it seems that every great proverb has its exceptions. Luzhkov has built many monuments practically “overnight” -– the cathedral of Christ the Savior, the memorial at Poklonnaya Hills, and Manezh Square, to name just a few. Hence, his tremendous popularity with his electorate. By the way, the mayor’s home district in Moscow – Zamoskvorechye (Замоск­во­речье) (literally “behind the Moscow River”) also has the word “Moscow” as its root.

Learning Moscow-related idioms may prove both instructive and enlightening. One such proverb re-minds us that one can never take too many precautions – От копе­ечной свечи Мос­к­ва сгорела (Moscow was razed by a penny candle). In other words, a small act of carelessness can trigger a great disaster.

Inventive Muscovites, known for their sharp sense of humor, never missed their chance to poke fun at the ever-present Marxist-Leninist names given to the city’s streets, squares and even metro stations. Thus, the once-famous subway station Проспект Маркса (Marx Avenue) was irreverently dubbed Конспект Маркса (the gist of Marx), a reference to the mandatory dull summaries of Marx’s works that students were forced to write. But it was the metro station “Lenin’s Library” (Библиотека имени Ленина) that stole the show. Even though the Beatles never performed in Soviet Russia, students of the late 1970s and early 1980s baptized this station “John Lennon’s Disco” (Дискотека имени Леннона), using perfect rhyme and assonance with the original name.

If you really want to be taken for a native Muscovite, it pays to remember some other funny slang names. The famous лужа (puddle), for example, refers to Luzhniki stadium, while the “cannon” (пушка) is slang for the centrally-located Пушкинская площадь (Pushkin square).

While you’re at it, why not learn a great street-related idiom – the beautiful Будет и на нашей улице праздник (“the sun will shine on our street too,” i.e. we, too, will have our day). This is what Muscovites – and for that matter all Russians – tell themselves in hard times. Even though sometimes the праздник (holiday) is far away, it’s better to anticipate it, rather than “shedding tears in Russia’s capital.” What’s the point? It does not believe in them anyway.