Thread: "Get on someone's case"

Is there a Russian equivalent to that?

As in

My boss was on my case for being late
Dad was all over me for scratching his car.

Like "didn't leave me alone and kept lecturing/reprimanding me"

Multitran gives the following examples:

- быть недовольным кем-л.
- сердиться на кого-л.
- отчитывать
- пилить

Of those four, the last two seem the most fitting. "Быть недовольным кем-л." means to be dissatisfied with someone, and "сердиться на кого-л." means to be angry at someone. Neither of those two have the conversational style of "getting on someone's case". The last two are more conversational and, according to the dictionary entries I've read, denote the action of criticizing/reprimanding another person for an extended period of time.

I'm sure some native speakers have other examples, though!

In addition to Mark's suggestions, I think you could say ругать кого-нибудь ("to chew someone out; to scold someone angrily") or читать кому-нибудь нотацию (which is not unlike "to lecture someone" in the colloquial sense of "Mom, quit lecturing me!"). Thus:

My boss was on my case for being late

Начальник ругал меня за то, что я опоздал(а) на работу.
Начальник читал мне нотацию за то, что я опоздал(а) на работу.

The first would imply that your boss was quite loud about it, while the second would imply that your boss went on and on and just wouldn't drop the subject.

Incidentally, many Russian/English translation dictionaries define ругать as "to curse at, swear at, cuss out" -- but, in fact, it doesn't necessarily mean that someone used obscenities; only that the scolding was quite angry/loud. (So if a kindergarten teacher reprimands a child quietly and calmly -- "Please be nice and share the crayons with everyone else, honey" -- that's NOT "ругать".) Thus, "chew out" or "give a stern tongue-lashing" or "bitch at" would often be better translations.

P.S. However, the reflexive ругаться can imply the use of actual obscenities. Thus, "Начальник ругался" could be translated "The boss was yelling things like &%*!#@!! and *$!@#."

P.P.S. As always, get a second opinion from native speakers...

Originally Posted by MarkRWayne

- пилить

Valda: Note that the literal definition of this verb is "to cut with a пила".

Thus, "Начальник меня пилит" could have more than one meaning if your boss happens to be THIS guy:



P.S. Also note that пила ("a saw") has the same stress as пила ("she was drinking")!

Начальник прочитал мне нотацию за то, что я опоздал.


- Почему ты так долго был в кабинете начальника?
- Начальник читал мне длинную нотацию за то, что я опоздал.

Песочить/пропесочивать кого-нибудь - "Начальник пропесочил нас за опоздание"

Костерить кого-нибудь - "Я мысленно костерил себя за эту ошибку" (= ругать)

Устраивать кому-нибудь головомойку/разнос - "Отец устроил сыну разнос за поцарапанную машину"

Давать/задавать кому-нибудь взбучку - "Мать задала сыну взбучку за плохие оценки"

Давать/сделать втык кому-нибудь or получать втык от кого-нибудь - (usually implies a short reprimand) "За опоздание я получил втык от начальника", "Начальник дал/сделал мне втык за опоздание"

Вставить пистон кому-нибудь (the same, look above)

Всыпать кому-нибудь по первое число - "Отец всыпал ему по первое число за поцарапанную машину"

Журить/пожурить кого-нибудь - "Начальник всего-лишь пожурил меня" (= a soft variant of "ругать", usually just makes semblance of abuse)

Распекать кого-нибудь - "На совещании начальник долго распекал виновных"

ПоносИть кого-нибудь [+ adverb/object] - "Он поносИл его последними словами" (closer to "cuss out")

Вздрючивать кого-нибудь (slang) - "Он так вздрючил их, что они долго не могли прийти в себя"

Накрутить хвост(а) [кому-нибудь] - "Директор позвонил в офис и накрутил хвоста"

Выговаривать кому-нибудь - "Начальник долго выговаривал ему за опоздание" (= to lecture)

Намыливать кому-нибудь шею - "За такие дела начальник намылит нам шею!"

Бранить/клять/чихвостить кого-нибудь (three old fashioned verbs)

Стыдить/пристыдить кого-нибудь - "Начальник пристыдил меня за опоздание" (close to "to shame", implies that someone needs to excite the feeling of shame)

Пилить кого-нибудь - "Жена часто пилила мужа из-за маленькой зарплаты" (as a rule, we use it when describe female behavior, because sometimes a woman sounds like a saw in fact)

Originally Posted by Paul G.

Песочить/пропесочивать кого-нибудь - "Начальник пропесочил нас за опоздание"

Thanks for the great list, Paul! I'm curious about the history of some of these expressions, but I couldn't find good-quality etymologies for them online. For instance, I wonder if песочить is a figurative reference to "sandblasting" (пескоструйная обработка)?

Костерить кого-нибудь - "Я мысленно костерил себя за эту ошибку" (= ругать)

And I would guess (but possibly I'm mistaken) that this one might be related to костёр, "a bonfire/campfire"? (Compare with English "to rake/haul someone over the coals" = ругать)

Всыпать кому-нибудь по первое число - "Отец всыпал ему по первое число за поцарапанную машину"

From Googling, I found that this one has an interesting etymology -- here, первое число is understood to mean "the first day of next month." So, apparently, the original meaning of the phrase was kinda-sorta analogous to the English "If you don't behave yourself, I'll spank your butt/bum/fanny/tuchus so hard, you won't be able to sit down until next month!!!" But nowadays the phrase doesn't literally refer to physical punishments such as spankings/beatings.

Накрутить хвост(а) [кому-нибудь]

Does this one refer (metaphorically) to "twisting the tail of a dog/cat", or to "roughly pulling someone's hair"? I know that хвост can refer to the hairstyle that is known as a "ponytail" in English.

Устраивать кому-нибудь головомойку

Намыливать кому-нибудь шею - "За такие дела начальник намылит нам шею!"

Both of these give me a mental picture of a small child crying because he didn't want to have a bath, and his mother was being too rough while she washed his hair, and shampoo got into his eyes...

Thanks!

I think отругать is the best out of the bunch At least the one I'm planning to memorize... though I appreciate the (massive list of) alternatives!

Much obliged!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

And I would guess (but possibly I'm mistaken) that this one might be related to костёр, "a bonfire/campfire"? (Compare with English "to rake/haul someone over the coals" = ругать)

It's a very interesting verb, especially for the English native speakers, because it came from another verb "кастить" (the first meaning is "to soil/dirty"). Possibly, it's close to the English verb "to cuss", because it has the same root (cuss = кас). "Касть" is an ancient word, it means "filth, garbage etc".

Originally Posted by Paul G.

It's a very interesting verb, especially for the English native speakers, because it came from another verb "кастить" (the first meaning is "to soil/dirty"). Possibly, it's close to the English verb "to cuss", because it has the same root (cuss = кас). "Касть" is an ancient word, it means "filth, garbage etc".

Well, "to cuss" (упротреблять мат) originated simply as a dialect pronunciation of "to curse" (проклясть) But the etymology of "curse" is a bit mysterious --it goes back to Old English (with the same basic meaning of проклясть), but apparently no one has traced the origin further than that. It would be very interesting to know if there's an ancient connection between "curse" and "касть"!

Also, I wonder if either the English "curse" or the Russian касть has any connection to Greek kakos (плохой) or to Latin cacare (испражняться).

P.S. The name of the traditional caganer figurines in Spanish folk-art comes from the same root as Latin cacare, and Russian какашка: