нас мало, но мы в тельняшках

I understand the words, but please give me more depth and breadth on the meaning: нас мало, но мы в тельняшках

to an amateur it could seem to mean, "we don't have much, but we "macho macho men" (that's a play on the song by the Village People) were our "wife-beaters" (that's the ghetto slang for the shirts with their shoulders cut out) will f'n take what we want because we use force, [knuckles dragging]" But then I'm not beyond using cultural criticism to point out the barbarism. You can disabuse me of this notion if you are clever.

"Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках- - Возможно, выражение впервые появилось в Великую Отечественную войну в речи матросов, участвующих вместе с пехотой в боевых действиях на суше и славившихся бесстрашием и героизмом. Выражение означает: нас мало, но мы серьезные противники для врага и победить нас непросто."

Справочник по фразеологии Н. Происхождение известных фраз, их объяснение



The English analogy could be: The Few. The Proud. The Marines.

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Originally Posted by perrea

"we don't have much…

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No, it’s not about what they have, but about how many of them are there: “There are few of us”.

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Originally Posted by perrea

You can disabuse me of this notion if you are clever.

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No, you are not. It is ok to think about russians in that way. Bears and so on.

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Originally Posted by Alex80

No, you are not. It is ok to think about russians in that way. Bears and so on.

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It would not be right to cast all Russians like this, as it would be wrong to cast all Americans in that light. But believe it or not, there are Americans and Russians who are even pacifist, or peace-preferring people. I don't think their opposites get to call the shots just because they have bad taste. Now if they are more clever, perhaps, but that has to be demonstrated...(and bad taste doesn't get them off to a good start.)