Thread: погоняв голубей

...Он казался людям более хмурым и сухим, чем был в действительности.
Таким казался он товарищам, когда, погоняв голубей, стал учиться в городском училище; таким казался он, когда поступил на работу в слесарную мастерскую,...

вот такое вот загадочное предложение!
И при чем тут голуби?

Помогите, пожалуйста!

"Гонять голубей" (to chase doves) was the kids' fun before, and now, even all the the doves went off, the phrase remains and means something unuseful like how kids amuse themselves, or it can mean the childhood-times as a perfect careless time; which fits better here in the context.

Спасибо. это уже гораздо более ясно теперь!
так что когда он поступил в учулище, он превратился в серьезного, задумчивого.../жизнь стала серьезней. ?

I agree with the general meaning of the phrase ("wasting time on unserious business"), but are you talking about the way young kids like chasing doves on the streets, stomping to make them to fly away?
If you are, I don't think it's the case here. Maybe it's not important, but I want to elaborate.

"Голубей гоняют" as a part of their training process (I'm talking about domestic pigeons, of course). I don't know the specifics, but for a casual observer it looks like a person runs back and forth on the roof, whistling and screaming, and pigeons are circling above.

Amateur pigeon breeding was VERY popular in Russia and Soviet Union in the early/mid 20th century - maybe till 1960s. Many boys and young people had pigeons at the time, it was a widespread hobby, and you can stumble upon mentions of that in different Soviet books/films/songs. Moreover, this hobby often was not approved by adults, because kids often engaded in semi-criminal activity because of that in order to get money to buy pedigreed pigeons, making bets, etc. It was a kind of "street kids" activity.

BTW, if you saw "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" you could see how Ghost Dog "гоняет голубей" (just for a few seconds, though).

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

I agree with the general meaning of the phrase ("wasting time on unserious business"), but are you talking about the way young kids like chasing doves on the streets, stomping to make them to fly away?
If you are, I don't think it's the case here. Maybe it's not important, but I want to elaborate.

"Голубей гоняют" as a part of their training process (I'm talking about domestic pigeons, of course). I don't know the specifics, but for(better: to) a casual observer it looks like a person runs back and forth on the roof, whistling and screaming andwhile pigeons are circling above.

Amateur pigeon breeding was VERY popular in Russia and Soviet Union in the early/mid 20th century - maybe till the 1960s. Many boys and young people had pigeons at the time, it was a widespread hobby, and you can stumble upon mentions of that in different Soviet books/films/songs. Moreover, this hobby often was not approved by adults, because kids often engaged in semi-criminal activity because of [s:2rpj8vbb]that[/s:2rpj8vbb]it in order to get money to buy pedigreed pigeons, making bets, etc. It was a kind of "street kids" activity.

BTW, if you saw "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" you could see how Ghost Dog "гоняет голубей" (just for a few seconds, though).

Thanks for the info. Strange they considered it something for street kids seeing as over here afaik pigeon fancying was always taken very seriously. Hence, at least in part, my confusion.

Btw, if you don't mind my saying so, your English is UNbeLIEVably good.

PS an article about a pigeon who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Originally Posted by Paperplane

Strange they considered it something for street kids seeing as over here afaik pigeon fancying was always taken very seriously. Hence, at least in part, my confusion.

Thanks, Paperplane!
They did take it very seriously, but among people who were not involved there was a vague disapproval, since there was a lot of shady activity connected to pigeon breeding (it's probably similar to what happens around pocker games), and because teenagers flunked school because of that.