Thread: Какой-никакой, а сабджект :)

I am a native Russian speaker, and i clearly understand, what the expression "какой-никакой, а...." means. HOWEVER, I don't have a slightest idea as to HOW to express the same idea in English... I don't mean there should be some set phrase, it may be a different gramatical structure, but how would you translate, say, these two sentences:

Я тут вчера на базаре "Рекорд" черно-белый у одного алкаша купил... Все же, какой-никакой, а телевизор...

"Рекорд" is a name of some obsolete soviet tvsets...
If you want me to explain, what this phrase means, ask me to...

Я конечно не уверен, но думаю это "какой-никакой" можно выразить следующим образом Yesterday I bought a black and white TV "Rekord" from a dipso, pretty old but still a TV.

Я думаю still передает значение "все же, какой-никакой".
Подождем нейтивов, что они скажут

What I came to think of was "it's not much of a TV(-set), but still....". Am i right or am i right?

I bought a "Rekord", black and white. No frills but still a TV set.

ABBYY Ligvo:
Frills
2) роскошь, излишества, ненужные украшения

is this THE meaning you mean

Originally Posted by ibolit

ABBYY Ligvo:
Frills
2) роскошь, излишества, ненужные украшения

is this THE meaning you mean

"No frills but still" ~ "essential", "basic". Какой-никакой.

Maybe I'm slow, but I'm not sure I understand. Какой никакой means that something is very basic, not fancy, and you use it like if you were saying "still..."?

Originally Posted by emka71aln

Maybe I'm slow, but I'm not sure I understand. Какой никакой means that something is very basic, not fancy, and you use it like if you were saying "still..."?

Which message are you referring to? I said "No frills but still a TV set". Do you disagree that it means "The TV set is basic but functional"?

No, I don't disagree at all, especially since I don't think I've ever heard it before. I just wanted to make sure that that was actually what it meant, so if I don't use it wrong and sound confusing. Какой-никакой = no frills. Got it. Thanks

In this case, it does (not to make it any more difficult ). The feeling is, пусть телевизор плохой (без прибамбасов), все равно - телевизор. In other contexts, maybe a homework assignment was poorly done, but, still, it was done i.e. quality varies.