Thread: Домашние обязанности и традиции в разных странах

Without commenting on the "battle of the sexes," I just wanted to observe that my зять (brother-in-law; husband of one's sister) has decided that приготовление индейки (cooking the turkey) for Thanksgiving is a suitable мужское дело ("manly job"), even though my sister does 99% of the cooking in their household -- including the "side dishes" for Thanksgiving, like mashed potatoes, etc. (But my B-I-L did every step of cooking the turkey -- brining, stuffing, roasting, and carving).

Presumably, the Thanksgiving turkey is "manly enough" because cutting such a large bird requires big knives -- so, as comedienne Rita Rudner sarcastically observed, "Men feel they must do the cooking when there is DANGER involved!!!"

Other styles of cooking that are full of Thrills!! Danger!! Adventure!!, and therefore "acceptably masculine":

• All kinds of barbecuing (because, of course, there are FLAMES!)
• Making pancakes and bacon for breakfast (there is a DANGER that if the woman fried the bacon, she might throw away the delicious bacon-grease because it's fattening...)
• Cooking a fish that the man has personally caught by himself (no matter how tiny the fish is)

Originally Posted by Lena

Do you really expect women’s commendation doing the laundry in a washing machine? I suspect you also do the dishes in a dishwasher, right?

I did not expect any commendation at all... I was simply saying that I enjoy doing laundry and the dishes. With dishes, I almost always do them by hand, but if I have many people over, then I will use the dishwasher, just because it does many things all at once.

Originally Posted by Deborski

Not all men are lazy. My husband does the dishes and even cooks sometimes. True, he makes a spectacular mess when he cooks, and our kitchen resembles a nuclear test range now, but I am still grateful that he tries!

lol...my sister is the same...she's a great cook, but she's like a train wreck about cleaning up as she goes. I tried to change her, but that wasn't going to happen...lol

Originally Posted by Red Square

I did not expect any commendation at all... I was simply saying that I enjoy doing laundry and the dishes. With dishes, I almost always do them by hand, but if I have many people over, then I will use the dishwasher, just because it does many things all at once.

We use the dishwasher mainly for sterilization, especially when there's a sickness in the household.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Other styles of cooking that are full of Thrills!! Danger!! Adventure!!, and therefore "acceptably masculine":

Isn't it funny how the rules just seem to appear at just the right time? lol

Originally Posted by kgcole

We use the dishwasher mainly for sterilization, especially when there's a sickness in the household.

Yes, and this is what my mother did as well... she only ever uses the diswasher to sterilize jars for jam, or when the family is ill.

Originally Posted by diogen_

LOL, great global label. Sorry, you sound here like an arrant female chauvinist, do you?

Well, there are exceptions to every rule. But yes, overall I think that women are superiour to men in being more industrious in their househoulds. (That doesn’t include such kinds of work as hammering and sawing, of course.)

A woman is always like, “If I don’t get up and make breakfast then who else is gonna do that?” Then she gets up and makes it. And a man is like, “Perhaps she is gonna get up and make breakfast, why should I prevent her from doing her favourite work? The more she does it better and I may spoil something.” And he stays in bed.

Later, seeing her having done the biggest part of work about feeding the family he feels that he ought to do the dishes just for his conscience' sake. Indeed, some other noble motives make work for him at that moment. He may even be enjoying washing up or feel appreciation of her work, that makes no difference. An average man is lazier in housework than an average woman.

Female shauvinists believe that women are superiour to men. I claim that women are superior to men in being more industrious in housework. Perhaps I’m a shauvinist in this sense, but sadly, no one has helped me out of this point of view so far, even though I’ve always been eager to change my opinion.

Originally Posted by diogen_

Forgive my bluntness, but from your rather obfuscatingly circumlocutional answer to my unambiguously straightforward question, I caught only one hard-core message: as soon as you do away with your research on cats you’ll still be desperately in need of a human male ‘guinea-pig’ to finish it off, otherwise everything goes down the drain with cat sh**….sorry.... feces.))). Am I right?. Are you (We) a pack, btw?

Why desperately? You think of me too badly. I hope I am still having my guinea-pig. (I’ve been training him for ten years by now, but I must have been using wrong methods). Besides the new method is not painful at all and I hope he won’t run away before the end of the experiment.

Deb, I hope you don’t mind my placing your link here as an example, do you?
How to Toilet Train Your Cat - YouTube

Btw, I don’t understand what the words “Are you (We) a pack, btw?” mean. What is a pack in English? Like a “pack of thieves”?

Originally Posted by Joyan

Long words? must be Russian then...

Your assumption makes sense, but I have checked the words up. They are not Russian.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Without commenting on the "battle of the sexes," I just wanted to observe that my зять (brother-in-law; husband of one's sister) has decided that приготовление индейки (cooking the turkey) for Thanksgiving is a suitable мужское дело ("manly job"), even though my sister does 99% of the cooking in their household -- including the "side dishes" for Thanksgiving, like mashed potatoes, etc. (But my B-I-L did every step of cooking the turkey -- brining, stuffing, roasting, and carving).

Presumably, the Thanksgiving turkey is "manly enough" because cutting such a large bird requires big knives -- so, as comedienne Rita Rudner sarcastically observed, "Men feel they must do the cooking when there is DANGER involved!!!"

Other styles of cooking that are full of Thrills!! Danger!! Adventure!!, and therefore "acceptably masculine":

• All kinds of barbecuing (because, of course, there are FLAMES!)
• Making pancakes and bacon for breakfast (there is a DANGER that if the woman fried the bacon, she might throw away the delicious bacon-grease because it's fattening...)
• Cooking a fish that the man has personally caught by himself (no matter how tiny the fish is)

Wow! Looks like a profound sociological investigation.
I would like to share my observation of men’s abilities to cook, too.

When I met my bf I used to go to see him in his place sometimes. He always cooked, without exceptions. When he came to live with me he forgot how to cook on the very first day and avoided geting up until the breakfast was ready and it smelled about the whole appartment. He said that cooking is not his forte and he is afraid to burn food. Period. Then he bought a plot in the country and began to stay there because of the dog (it’s the most effective protection against thieves in the country in Ukraine). There he immediately remembered how to cook and cooks even when I come to see him. What a weird phenomenon, don’t you think?

Originally Posted by Lena

Female shauvinists believe that women are superiour to men. I claim that women are superior to men in being more industrious in housework... Perhaps I’m a shauvinist in this sense...

I’m happy to learn that your chauvinism is limited to the ‘kitchen space’ , and you don’t have grudge against men in general in the slightest.

We are elaborating and testing our theory on cats so far, as it is usually done with mice in labs. We avoid getting over to males too fast

I hope I am still having my guinea-pig. (I’ve been training him for ten years by now, but I must have been using wrong methods). Besides the new method is not painful at all and I hope he won’t run away before the end of the experiment.

It looks like your two statements above contradict to each other. Yesterday you wrote that you tested your theories only on cats so far [sic],but today you claim that you’ve have been training a human guinea-pig for ten years by now[sic]. Could you explain that inconsistency? How testing is different from training in your experience? I’m at a loss.

Btw, I don’t understand what the words “Are you (We) a pack, btw?” mean. What is a pack in English? Like a “pack of thieves”?

Surely not pack of thieves. How could you imagine anything like that? Accoriding to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Pack may stands for a. : a set of persons with a common interest : b. : an organized unit (as of Cub Scouts). That’s exactly what I meant. I just wanted to know (and still keep on wanting ) who else participated in your tests and why did you use pronoun’ we’?

Originally Posted by Lena

Well, there are exceptions to every rule. But yes, overall I think that women are superiour to men in being more industrious in their househoulds. (That doesn’t include such kinds of work as hammering and sawing, of course.)

A woman is always like, “If I don’t get up and make breakfast then who else is gonna do that?” Then she gets up and makes it. And a man is like, “Perhaps she is gonna get up and make breakfast, why should I prevent her from doing her favourite work? The more she does it better and I may spoil something.” And he stays in bed.

Later, seeing her having done the biggest part of work about feeding the family he feels that he ought to do the dishes just for his conscience' sake. Indeed, some other noble motives make work for him at that moment. He may even be enjoying washing up or feel appreciation of her work, that makes no difference. An average man is lazier in housework than an average woman.

Female shauvinists believe that women are superiour to men. I claim that women are superior to men in being more industrious in housework. Perhaps I’m a shauvinist in this sense, but sadly, no one has helped me out of this point of view so far, even though I’ve always been eager to change my opinion.

Lena, I agree with you that women are generally better than men when it comes to do the housework. However, it is also easy to make it too simple... for instance, not every man lives with a wife or girlfriend, so for the single man, he has no choice but to do all things himself. it is just like you say... if he does not do the laundry or the dishes... who will? Obviously not a woman, because he does not live with a woman. So I agree with you, but at the same time, I think it is not fair to say that all men are generally useless in this area. I don't mean to offend anyone, this is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by diogen_

It looks like your two statements above contradict to each other. Yesterday you wrote that you tested your theories only on cats so far [sic],but today you claim that you’ve have been training a human guinea-pig for ten years by now[sic]. Could you explain that inconsistency? How testing is different from training in your experience? I’m at a loss.


Surely not pack of thieves. How could you imagine anything like that? Accoriding to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Pack may stands for a. : a set of persons with a common interest : b. : an organized unit (as of Cub Scouts). That’s exactly what I meant. I just wanted to know (and still keep on wanting ) who else participated in your tests and why did you use pronoun’ we’?

Gee, I feel like I’m being interrogated somewhere in CIA and your purpose is only to confuse me with your questions. But you forgot to read me the Miranda warning, officer. I’m afraid that you will be demoted for that.

Nevertheless, to the point of the charge I want to claim the following.

There is no contradiction in my testimony. Sadly, due to my carelessness I just missed the word “potential” in the sentence “I am still having my guinea-pig”. I should have gone with “I am still having my potential guinea-pig”. He is a potential guinea-pig for my experiments. Up to now I’ve been training him using the wrong methods by applying different sorts of kitchen-ware, like those advised in your previous posts, to different parts of his body. I have achieved no result. Now I’m testing a new method on cats.

Will you enter my words in the report of the interrogation, please.

Originally Posted by Red Square

Lena, I agree with you that women are generally better than men when it comes to do the housework. However, it is also easy to make it too simple... for instance, not every man lives with a wife or girlfriend, so for the single man, he has no choice but to do all things himself. it is just like you say... if he does not do the laundry or the dishes... who will? Obviously not a woman, because he does not live with a woman. So I agree with you, but at the same time, I think it is not fair to say that all men are generally useless in this area. I don't mean to offend anyone, this is just my opinion.

Of course they are not useless in housework, Red Square. You know, in fact my opinion on this subject is much closer to yours than to what I'm pretending to have. I just like to have fun here and I enjoy pulling others' legs. Mind only that I've told you that in secret and please, don't tell anyone else, ok?

In our house, I would actually prefer to do the cooking because when my husband does it, he makes such a huge mess! But he likes to cook sometimes - I think mostly because he prefers things like pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti and I tend to make things he doesn't like so much like ethnic foods, or lamb (which he hates and I love!) LOL so - dominance of the kitchen is one of our battles in this household

I really don't mind doing dishes or laundry, but vacuuming and mopping floors exhausts me!

Originally Posted by Lena

Gee, I feel like I’m being interrogated somewhere in CIA and your purpose is only to confuse me with your questions. But you forgot to read me the Miranda warning, officer. I’m afraid that you will be demoted for that.

Nevertheless, to the point of the charge I want to claim the following.

There is no contradiction in my testimony. Sadly, due to my carelessness I just missed the word “potential” in the sentence “I am still having my guinea-pig”. I should have gone with “I am still having my potential guinea-pig”. He is a potential guinea-pig for my experiments. Up to now I’ve been training him using the wrong methods by applying different sorts of kitchen-ware, like those advised in your previous posts, to different parts of his body. I have achieved no result. Now I’m testing a new method on cats.

Will you enter my words in the report of the interrogation, please.

Okay,forgive my curiosity; it's my duty, after all.
And please go on keeping us in touch how everything is going on with your cats and pigs! I’m zealous to learn to what extent your new approach may come to fruition! Otherwise, I'm ruined!

Originally Posted by diogen_

Okay,forgive my curiosity; it's my duty, after all.
And please go on keeping us in touch how everything is going on with your cats and pigs! I’m zealous to learn to what extent your new approach may come to fruition! Otherwise, I'm ruined!

Be sure I’ll let you know. I hope if I succeed I could even work delivering lectures on human males taming.

Originally Posted by Lena

Be sure I’ll let you know. I hope if I succeed I could even work delivering lectures on human males taming.

Sounds terrific! No denying you’ll have it made in no time at all. Fingers crossed, though.

On a side note, you seem to be a polymathic savant in a multitude of ultimately controversial aspects of interpersonal intercourse. Hence, I cannot but beg you kindly enough to satiate a modicum of my scientific appetite on one of the most abstruse aspects of Ukrainian culture; namely, is it the universal cultural standard in the Ukraine for a woman first ask for the moon and then place her ‘flying pig' in a sack for better preservation in case of emergency inasmuch as it is presented on the clip hereunder? I have racked my feeble mind for four days running to no avail. Please, land me a friendly hand on the issue when you have a chance!

Originally Posted by diogen_

Sounds terrific! No denying you’ll have it made in no time at all. Fingers crossed, though.

On a side note, you seem to be a polymathic savant in a multitude of ultimately controversial aspects of interpersonal intercourse. Hence, I cannot but beg you kindly enough to satiate a modicum of my scientific appetite on one of the most abstruse aspects of Ukrainian culture; namely, is it the universal cultural standard in the Ukraine for a woman first ask for the moon and then place her ‘flying pig' in a sack for better preservation in case of emergency inasmuch as it is presented on the clip hereunder? I have racked my feeble mind for four days running to no avail. Please, land me a friendly hand on the issue when you have a chance!

Certainly, I will most willingly clarify the matter.

But before I pass on to the Ukrainian cultural standards I would like to call upon you to use the name of the country you mentioned in compliance with the United Nations Organization’s standards. We are "Ukraine" (a state), not "the Ukraine" (a Russian region). Don’t you think that the name "the Ukraine" sounds condescending and colonial? You should respect others in order to be respected.

http://search.un.org/search?ie=utf8&...aine&Submit=Go

And now as concerns the cultural traditions: I’m afraid that first I have to reproach you in having been inattentive while watching the video. I suppose that you were eyeing the lady’s ample bosoms instead of paying attention to details which, as you claim, interest you. She didn’t put the moon into a sack. She put it into a trunk.

Naturally, the tradition of keeping jewelry and other valuables has changed a little since Gogol wrote his “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”. As we have furniture in our houses and apartments, we usually keep the jewelry we have in wardrobes, built-in closets, chest of drawers, commodes, sideboards, as well as in bureaus and desks. Besides that we often use banks for this purpose. Yes, we do have banks, no matter how strange that may sound. Ukraine is in Europe, you know.

Well, how’s your scientific appetite now? Have I fed you enough?