Thread: Microminiatures by Nikolai Ardunin

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Portrait of Pushkin on a rice grain

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Camels inside needle's eye

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Bicycle on a needle

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Tank T34/85 on a half of an apple seed

A southpaw

Yes, and he actually did horseshoe a flea, literally

Originally Posted by Doomer

Yes, and he actually did horseshoe a flea, literally

Hmmm... I didn't know the phrase подковать блоху (but just looked it up).
When would one use it? I mean, does it suggest a totally impossible task, or simply a very difficult one?

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Hmmm... I didn't know the phrase подковать блоху (but just looked it up).
When would one use it? I mean, does it suggest a totally impossible task, or simply a very difficult one?

The phrase is from a 1881 story The Left-handed Craftsman by Nikolai Leskov (Russian classical literature writer). Styled as a folk tale, it tells a story of a left-handed arms craftsman from Tula (traditionally a center of the Russian armaments industry) who outperformed his English colleagues by providing a clockwork steel flea they'd made with horseshoes and inscriptions on them (I quoted Wikipedia here, partially).

In the Russian mind today the phrase подковать блоху suggests that a person is a very skilled craftsman (usually working with small parts, but sometimes referring to a very, very skilled craftsman in various fields), or a very smart and inventive craftsman. So if somebody says: Он очень толковый мастер. Если надо, блоху подкует. - this means He is a very smart and clever craftsman, and can horseshoe a flea if required. (but it always brings to mind the story about the flea by Nikolai Leskov, most Russians know this phrase is from that story).