Thread: Why such grey outmn in Russia? Thoughts aloud.

"У них там Санта-Барбара целая" - все поймут что у них там любовь,любовный треугольник и всё в этом роде, ну вообщем Санта Барбара.
Просто этот сериал долго шёл у нас на экранах и всем запомнился.

Originally Posted by Vitalik100

... read about Santa Barbara soap:

Vitaly,

I did read about the soap Santa Barbara. It appears that this was the first big American soap for you. I am sorry that I never saw it so that I cannot speak with you about it. About the locations where they filmed, I may have been to some of the places; however, I was last in Santa Barbara 27 years ago, so my memory is not too good. Here is a Google Map photo of where I rented a room in a house up in the mountains.

It was very nice there because they had a pool. There were four girls total and each of us rented a room from the elderly couple who owned the house. Since it was up in the mountains, it was cool and not too hot.

I use to go to the beach very early in the morning as there was also a pool right on the beach and I would swim before my classes (I am a very good swimmer and I use to be a lifeguard). Below is the best photo that I can find. It does not show the beach, sorry.


My daughter also liked the photo you posted of the Rybinsk Museum near the Volga river. I see a boat there in the photo. Is that just to tour the river or does it take you somewhere? Can you swim in the river? What is in the Museum?

What questions do you or does anyone else have?
Rockzmom.

Vitaly,

I have just read that Rybinsk, Russia was the birth place of brothers Joseph & Nicholas Schenck.

I am a big film person and Joseph was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences or better known as the "Oscars" http://www.oscars.org/.

How cool

Originally Posted by rockzmom

I use to go to the beach very early in the morning.
I am use to names ending in "ly" being female.
I use to live in Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

Rockzmom, could you please clear up something for me? I am used to see the used to pattern used in a way you does not use it. Is it common for it to be used in your style?

Originally Posted by alexB

Is it common for it to be used in your style?

Alex,
You know, you never answered my question about your English. Are you certain you are not an ExPat? Or are you really an American studying Russian?

Yes, I was incorrect.

Hey Ken, your profile says you are in Washington State and a lawyer… so… let me ask you this question since you must be very smart and are on the other side of the U.S. … I do not pronounce the “d” when I say “used” in all the examples that Alex highlighted and that is why I did not type it and honestly if he had not brought it to my attention, I most likely would not have even known it was incorrect. What about you? Do you pronounce the “d”? I only do so if I am speaking of say, "I want to buy a used car" or "I used the computer today." So, I am wondering if this is just a result of my 'poor education' or is it a regional thing?

Now back to Alex and his question…

I actually had to look this up Alex as I did not realize it was incorrect and when I saw it in type it looked wrong to me. As I mentioned above, I do not pronounce the word with a “d” in that context. So, below are the rules that I found for 'use and used’ and I thank you for asking and teaching me something:

'Used to' or 'use to' vs would
If we say something used to happen we are talking about repeated events and actions in the past, usually things that happened a long time ago and are now finished.
To express this we can use either used to or would.
• When I was young I used to play with my dolls. = When I was young I would play with my dolls.
• We used to go out a lot in the summer. = Implies that we no longer go out much.

If you want to talk about repeated states or habits in the past, you must use used to, you cannot use would : :
• My dog used to bark at cats.
• I used to smoke.
• I used to be an administrative assistant.
• I used to live in England.

You should use 'use to' without a d in sentences when it follows 'did' or 'didn't'
The question form is ‘Did you use to…?'. When asking a closed question you put did/didn't in front of the subject followed by use to, you cannot use would.

• Did you use to go out with my sister?
• Did they use to own the company?
• Didn't we use to go to the same school?

Also when asking questions about states in the past you cannot use would.
• What sort of things did you use to like when you were young?

In the negative you cannot use would without a change in meaning.
• I didn't use to play with my dolls.

If I said I wouldn't play with my dolls. It would mean I refused to play with my dolls.
• We didn't use to go out much in the winter months.

If I said we wouldn't go out much. It would mean we refused to go out much.

!Note - The general rule is when there is did or didn't in the sentence, we say use to (without d) when there is no did or didn't in the sentence, we say used to (with d).

Used to something

The use of used to do is explained here. However, used to has another meaning, it can be used as an adjective and we use it to talk about things that have become familiar, and are no longer strange or new.
Used to usually comes after verbs such as be, get or become.
• After a while you get used to the noise.
• She will become used to the smell.
• I was used to the web site.

You can also say that someone is used to doing something.
• I'll never get used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.
• It took me a while until I was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Originally Posted by alexB

Is it common for it to be used in your style?

Alex,
You know, you never answered my question about your English. Are you certain you are not an ExPat? Or are you really an American studying Russian?
Based on what I've seen in the John Gissing thread I think that alexB is not American but is a Russian who has learned English very well and is interested in improving on that.

Yes, I was incorrect.

Hey Ken, your profile says you are in Washington State and a lawyer… so… let me ask you this question since you must be very smart and are on the other side of the U.S. … Well thanks rockzmom but there are others here who know much more about English grammar and usage, for example, scotcher, TATY, kalinka_vinnie, paulb, chaika, doninphxaz, xRoosterx, ZelyeUrsuli, DDT and Dogboy182, just to name a few, and of course our supersmart Russians such as MasterAdmin, Ramil, translationsnmru, Rtyom, Leof, Crocodile, Lampada, alexB, Оля, and gRomoZeka(I think she's Ukrainian), again just to name a few.

I do not pronounce the “d” when I say “used” in all the examples that Alex highlighted +1, nieither do I

and that is why I did not type it and honestly if he had not brought it to my attention, I most likely would not have even known it was incorrect. +1, same for me
. . .
I actually had to look this up Alex as I did not realize it was incorrect and when I saw it in type it looked wrong to me. As I mentioned above, I do not pronounce the word with a “d” in that context. So, below are the rules that I found for 'use and used’ and I thank you for asking and teaching me something: I would recommend you cite the source of the rules you quoted, especially if it is a published work, and include a link if you found it on the web, for example:

use . . .
modal v (past and past participle used, present participle us·ing, 3rd person present singular us·es)
Definition:
used: used after "did" in the past tense instead of "used"
- Did you use to go there too?
- I didn't use to eat much fruit.

Encarta(R) World English Dictionary [North American Edition] (2007) http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/use.html

Rokzmom, thank you for the photo of your 27 years ago rented house with basin and palms - it all wonderful! I am too like to view the Earth with Google Map. Particulary i have been impressed by Miami and Los Angeles skyscrapers. So what about Rybinsk Museum i may say. This is content artistic gallary and some others exhibitions. This photo with my friends on the background of Museum.

Would you tell me about your americans life and your home? What are the prices of loaf of bread and it weight? For example the middle salary in our town is 8000 - 12000 roubles. Price of loaf of bread is 9-12 roubles. 1 litre of petrol is 20-25 roubles. Simple new car (like Жигули or Волга) costs 100 - 300 thousand of roubles. New foreign car (Like Renault, Pegault, BMW, Ford) is costs more then 500 - 600 thousands of roubles.

Originally Posted by Vitalik100

Rockzmom, thank you for the photo of the house you rented 27 years ago with the pool and palms it's all wonderful! I too like to view the Earth with Google Map. I particularly have been impressed by Miami and Los Angeles' skyscrapers. So what can I say about the Rybinsk Museum?
This is content artistic gallery and some others exhibitions.(I give up on this sentence, sorry. Maybe... It is an art museum.)
This photo is of my friends with the Museum in the background .

Vitaly,
Are you in the photo? If so, who are you????
Rockzmom.

Originally Posted by Vitalik100

Would you please tell me about your American life and your home? What is the price of a loaf of bread and the weight? For example the median salary in our town is 8000 - 12000 roubles. The price of a loaf of bread is between 9-12 roubles. One litre of petrol is around 20-25 roubles. A basic new car (like Жигули or Волга) costs about 100 - 300 thousand roubles. A new foreign car (Like Renault, Pegault, BMW, Ford) costs more than 500 - 600 thousand roubles.

Vitaly,

Well, first I had to look up the exchange rate for the Rouble because I had no clue what it was. It is about 28 Roubles to one U.S. dollar.

Gas (petrol) right now is actually very cheap for us. It has fallen from almost $4.00 per gallon to under $2.00 per gallon in the past few weeks. So let’s see if I can do the math correctly… if one gallon equals 3.785 liters... it would be $.529 USD per liter X 27.933 RUB = 14.76 roubles per liter? Did I do this correctly or not??

The classic bread that most kids grow up eating in the U.S. is Wonder Bread. It really has no nutritional value; but, is soft and yummy bread. It is sold in a 1 pound 4 ounce loaf for about $2.00 or 55.866 RUB. Milk is about $3.75 a gallon (you have to do the math on this one to however you buy your milk!).

The salaries here in the Washington D.C. area are very hard for me to tell you. This area has jobs that pay very little and jobs that pay well above $100,000 and everywhere in between because we are in the Nation’s Capital.

The cost of housing is high compared to most areas. If you have heard about the mortgage problems in the news, then maybe you have heard that many people can no longer afford their homes. Well, in our neighborhood, right now I know of four home owners who have abandoned their houses. This means that they walked away from the house and left it because they can no longer afford to pay the mortgage. There was one family who had children and they even left all the toys in the yard too when they left and they never came back for them.

Cars? I really have no clue on that one. We bought our last car in 2001. Can someone else maybe help Vitaly out on this one??

Rockzmom.

What an interesting discussion has appeared since I was out! -). Hello Rockzmom, didn't hear of you until now). Following to your question about AlexB, I would say, he is certainly Russian but his English is impressive, no doubts. Like a lot of another "supersmart" Russians mentioned by Ken Watts. To tell the truth, I had never seen so many Russians speaking proper English until I came here. It was a big surprise for me). Btw, get back to the serial topic I have to say we use the same word "soap" in Russia for that). All of them are so boring, Santa Barbara is not an excluding at all. Moreover it's outdated, though, in real, this place looks really good. There is a serial in Russia which reminds me Santa Barbara a lot. It calls "Dom 2"(Home 2, actually). It's not actually a serial, it's a show, continuing for so many years, that I'm starting to think, it's endless

Originally Posted by Scrabus

What an interesting discussion has appeared since I was out! -). Hello Rockzmom, didn't hear of you until now). :

Greetings!

Yes, what an interesting little sidebar we have going on here. Vitaly came on wanting to get to know Americans better and instead everyone got to find out that I am not a male and I learned that everyone I thought was female was male! I also learned that I need to take a major refresher course in English grammar and punctuation!

Anyway, I came on the site to get some practical knowledge about nicknames, behavior and background for a Russian character I am writing in a fiction book for my 12 year old daughter. When I saw Vitaly's post I thought I should return the kindness that everyone has shown me and respond to him.

So, what is your story. Bring me up to speed. How can I pick your brain for my book? Where were you (you said you were out)? Are you an American in Russia? And most importantly, are you male or female

Rockzmom.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Originally Posted by Scrabus

What an interesting discussion has appeared since I was out! -). Hello Rockzmom, didn't hear of you until now). :

Greetings!

Yes, what an interesting little sidebar we have going on here. Vitaly came on wanting to get to know Americans better and instead everyone got to find out that I am not a male and I learned that everyone I thought was female was male! I also learned that I need to take a major refresher course in English grammar and punctuation!

Anyway, I came on the site to get some practical knowledge about nicknames, behavior and background for a Russian character I am writing in a fiction book for my 12 year old daughter. When I saw Vitaly's post I thought I should return the kindness that everyone has shown me and respond to him.

So, what is your story. Bring me up to speed. How can I pick your brain for my book? Where were you (you said you were out)? Are you an American in Russia? And most importantly, are you male or female

Rockzmom.

Hehe, I feel "the gender" will be a main question on the forum soon . I'm Russian, male -). I live in Dolgoprudny city(It's a small town in Moscow region). I'm a student). Hopefully, it's cleared up a little. Your wish to write a book is very interesting and praiseworthy. You need to specify edges and restrict the areas you would like to know about Russians. What would you like to put into the book? Maybe, some funny stories related with Russians or their way of life? You need to draw a picture you would like to see in the book at the very end. It helps a lot.

Originally Posted by Scrabus

I live in Dolgoprudny city(It's a small town in Moscow region). I'm a student).

So, if you are in Russia, why are you up at this hour of the morning? Also, may I know how old you are and do you have any brothers and/or sisters?

Originally Posted by rockzmom

So, if you are in Russia, why are you up at this hour of the morning? Also, may I know how old you are and do you have any brothers and/or sisters?

Just because I'm a crazy gamer used to go to bed in a late time. Of course, if I have a day off. I'm 21 years old and don't have any brothers/sisters. Something else?

Originally Posted by Scrabus

[Just because I'm a crazy gamer used to go bed in a late time.

I used to work for a gaming company. Every play or heard of Morrowind, Fallout 3, Elderscrolls, Oblivion.

I will be picking your brain for my book. My character, Dmitri is 23 years old.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Originally Posted by Scrabus

[Just because I'm a crazy gamer used to go bed in a late time.

I used to work for a gaming company. Every play or heard of Morrowind, Fallout 3, Elderscrolls, Oblivion.

I will be picking your brain for my book. My character, Dmitri is 23 years old.

Yes, of course, these all are classic games. So I heard of and played in. They all are among of the best games ever. But last time I don't play single games, preferring MMORPG. Do you know about them? WoW, Warhammer and other stuff. It's pretty popular in US too.

Since it's too late even for me, I say goodbye). Most likely I'll come back tomorrow).

[quote="Scrabus They all are among of the best games ever. But last time I don't play single games, preferring MMORPG. Do you know about them? WoW, Warhammer and other stuff. It's pretty popular in US too.[/quote]

I know about them but actually, I have NEVER played them. I was in charge of Human Resources for the company that made all those games. At my intereview it was pretty funny because they asked me about gaming and I told them, do you want someone who knows about Human Resources or gaming?

My girls are very upset with me now because they used to go to work with me on the weekends and the place was way too cool. Free food, ice cream, all dark for the programmers. They would play with all these games and test games and they were very young then. Now that they are older and are really into gaming, I am not there any longer and they beg me to take them back since I still know people there.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Alex,
You know, you never answered my question about your English. Are you certain you are not an ExPat? Or are you really an American studying Russian?

It was kind of hard to squeeze in a word or two when the young and agile Vitaly was shooting posts with a machine-gun quickness .
The kind words of all of you, guys, concerning my modest abilities make me blush and feel like a 10 year old boy who has fallen off the stool while reciting a poem to a crowd of guests on his birthday party and been proclaimed a future astronaut on the pretext of his breaking only two ribs out of ten (or is it twelve, don’t remember now) possible.
I am struggling to master only one language and it’s not work related. There was a moment when I had a spark of interest to German but at that same moment I heard a shout from behind mildly asking me to tear myself off that stupid computer and do something useful for a change. No, my wife is a good woman and we live in peace and harmony mostly. Hobbies need time, you know, but the crocodiles are in need of catching, the coconuts are in need of picking up and the children are in need of feeding, so English is all I can sometimes find time for. And I am Russian of course.