Thread: Need a Funny Russian Expression

Hi, I'm writing a book right now and one of the characters is Russian.
I want him to use a typically Russian expression. The situation is this:
He walks into the room and finds something special that makes his job very easy.

In English, one could say: "It must be my birthday today!" or something like that which signifies a fortunate surprise. Is there a Russian expression for such a situation?

To add more detail: the item has been left behind by an enemy of his. He is thinking that his opponent is incredibly stupid for having made such a careless mistake and that he over estimated him.

"На ловца и зверь бежит"
The prey runs to the hunter's hands on its own.

Awesome!

One question though: "На ловца и зверь бежит"

Is that "ha" as in he is laughing, or is it a Russian word part of the phrase?

Is that "ha" as in he is laughing, or part of the Russian phrase?

No. It is not an English letter "h" it is a Russian letter "н" which is pronounced as "N".
Russian word "на" is a preposition.
Literally it reads:
На(To) ловца(the hunter) и(well / or hm / or you know) зверь(the prey / or animal) бежит(runs).

"Это просто праздник какой-то..." (с)1975

@ CoffeeCup

Perfect, thanks! I have to say that I love the direct translation even more

If the "и" is taken out, the expression can be directly translated into English without any modification - and it sounds so kool! Exactly like something my character would say.

@ BappaBa

What does "Это просто праздник какой-то..." mean in English

Originally Posted by Curious Cat

@ BappaBa

What does "Это просто праздник какой-то..." mean in English

The meaning is close to the English expression you mentioned. It says "It looks it's some holiday today" but IMHo this phrase doesn't fit perfectly in the exact situation. My suggestion:

Сегодня [определённо] мой день! (It's [definetely] my day today!) You can even combine the two phrases. Your character can say something like that:

Опа! На ловца и зверь бежит! Сегодня определённо мой день! /

Wow! To the hunter the prey runs! It's definetely my day today!

Thanks Basil.

I think you're right, it doesn't fit. The hunter/prey expression is perfect by itself.

But at least I know how to say "wow" in Russian now heh heh

Originally Posted by Curious Cat

But at least I know how to say "wow" in Russian now heh heh

Here several other ways to say "Wow!" in Russian:

Вот те на!
Оба на!
Ух ты!
О##еть!
...

There are some other several dosens or maybe even hundreds. The first one I mentioned fits even better in the context, and the last one is a F-word. There is a huge number of ways to express a [pleasant] surprise emotion with F-words, but I guess it's unnecessary to post all of them here

A hundred ways to say wow eh? ... wow! LoL

I believe "Это просто праздник какой-то!" (It must be a holiday!) fits perfectly. The man finds something very useful / pleasant unexpectedly, and is excited how stupid his enemy was - all in one.

"На ловца и зверь бежит" is used when you suddenly meet / encounter somebody whom you were looking for.

Interesting, thanks for the additional details Kudesnik,

I will have to reanalyze the situation to see which one fits better.

Maybe I will use both in two different situations. Thanks again.

If your character is not too intelligent person, he'ld rather say something like "Во счастье привалило!".
But if he is Russian Professor, ignore this phrase

oh he's intelligent ; )

Originally Posted by Kudesnik

"На ловца и зверь бежит" is used when you suddenly meet / encounter somebody whom you were looking for.

I see no problem to use this expression when a person suddenly finds ANYTHING that can help him in anyway to solve his problem.