Thread: What don't you like about Russia?

greubau, are you related to H.C. Andersen by any chance? you tell wonderful fairytales. Double doors to keep them junkies out! One single door not made from cardboard would have done the job. I think some people in your town simply derive extreme pleasure out of incarcerating themselves. Well, it's their choice, just don't go a-saying the rest of the country is like you lot. Oh, hell, has waxwing converted you too?

greubau, you don't go to Volodya's classes in school 27 do you by any chance?
(ex-volunteer here..)

That I wasn't born there. Or next to there. Or any damn place near there. Noooooooo... my motherland just has to be next to two sleazeball countries (if you're Canada or Mexico, please bend over and I'll stick it in when I have time).

I'm seriously going to marry a russian princess. And then a Filipina princess.

We have 2 big thick doors to our Moscow flat with 6 locks, all our neighbors have the same. Keeps out the cold, robbers, and drunk kids looking for mischeif.

What I really hate about Russia now is the stray dogs outside and no rules for dog owners inside. People leave their poor pets locked in the flat for the weekend while they go to the dacha. Barking and howling 24 hours/day all weekend. On weekdays the lifts reek of dog pee because the owners don't walk their pets often enough and the dogs can't make it to the street in time. Then the large number of stray dogs plus the large number of pets using the paths and parkways for toilet make our neighborhoods very unpleasant.

I don't think your lift reeks of dog piss. Most often Russian lifts reek of human piss, just like elsewhere in the world -- except elsewhere in the world it does not happen nearly so often as in Russia. But it does happen, and many Russians are very surprised when they hear it.

Originally Posted by bad manners

I don't think your lift reeks of dog piss. Most often Russian lifts reek of human piss, just like elsewhere in the world -- except elsewhere in the world it does not happen nearly so often as in Russia. But it does happen, and many Russians are very surprised when they hear it.

I once caught a Dutch youth urinating in my lift - he was 17 and already had very few teeth left. Silly wee bugger, I'd've let him use my bog.

Originally Posted by waxwing

you don't go to Volodya's classes in school 27 do you by any chance?
(ex-volunteer here..)

Nope, finished school long ago.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

greubau, are you related to H.C. Andersen by any chance? you tell wonderful fairytales. Double doors to keep them junkies out! One single door not made from cardboard would have done the job.

Perhaps you've misread me.. Stair door (one per stair - just as you say) is against the junkies. Reinforced flat door is against the criminals.

I think some people in your town simply derive extreme pleasure out of incarcerating themselves.

Come on, in many (most?) old buildings the "default" flat door opens inside the flat and thus is easy to push off with shoulder if one is not distrofic. If you have anything valuable in the flat, such an easy target would make the robbery more possible anywhere. Of course this may be not valid for the newer appartment buildings.

Well, it's their choice, just don't go a-saying the rest of the country is like you lot.

I didn't say anything like that. But then again, why should it be too different?
I don't really see what all fuss is about. If I say e.g. that some people are replacing the sanitation in their new flats since they simply don't like the one which were there when they move in, would you cry here denying this? Well the doors are pretty similar issue. Why you've taken this whole doors thing as offensive to Russia is beyound me...

Oh, hell, has waxwing converted you too?

No, I think not. btw, converted to what?

Don't worry, I wasn't suggesting you were a schoolkid .. these are evening classes. Nye vazhno.

About "парадное" and "подъезд".
I think the term "парадное" comes from "парадное крыльцо", "парадный подъезд" (remember Nekrasov's "Размышления у парадного подъезда"?) which in XVIII—XIX centuries meant the "FRONT or OFFICIAL doors", the "doors used for ceremonies". They had back entrances too, you know, for servants and kitchen maids. To my mind, to call the single entrance of a modern house "парадное" is illogical, because very often there is only one entrance, and besides, very often it looks so that you cannot call it "ceremonial" however hard you tried. That's why everywhere it is called "подъезд". I agree that in St. Petersbourg as well in Moscow and some other cities there are old houses left with "main" and "black" entrances and this term has its right to be used there, but it is noncence to use this word generally.

Originally Posted by Propp

To my mind, to call the single entrance of a modern house "парадное" is illogical.... I agree that in St. Petersbourg as well in Moscow and some other cities there are old houses left with "main" and "black" entrances and this term has its right to be used there, but it is noncence to use this word generally.

What drivel! If I was to apply logic to everything I say I'd have to keep my bleetin' north and south shut 24/7. And so would you, sunshine.

Of course I know that this is silly thing to apply the rules of mathematical logic to the living language. This is only one of all possible explanations. Besides, the "norm" in language is not what is taught in school or what is written in dictionaries, the norm is what is spoken in this or that group of the society (in different social levels as well as geogrphical regions). One group has its own norm, another one has another norm etc. I am from that group tha doesn't use the "парадное" word and does use the "подъезд" word.

Ohh yea my grandma in St. Pete also has 2 doors to her flat. The outside one is metal. Both of them have a couple locks, so there are like 5 locks all together that you have to lock and unlock every time. She also has those really hi-tech keys to them which are supposed to be impossible to make a copy of. Me, I couldn't get inside even if all the locks were unlocked because the door was so hard to move!

Also, a lot of buildings have metal doors with code locks on them, but since they are so old it's really easy to tell which three buttons need to be pushed.

Pretty much every foreigner here has a story about getting locked in at some time or another .. the doors are so effing complicated.

astarz, прости меня малыш, ду-ду-ду-ду-ру!

I like those doors with the 'magic' keys where you just kind of put it in but don't turn it .. they always seem stupid to me, like maybe it's really easy to break in. But I don't know.

Originally Posted by astarz41

Ohh yea my grandma in St. Pete also has 2 doors to her flat. The outside one is metal. Both of them have a couple locks, so there are like 5 locks all together that you have to lock and unlock every time. She also has those really hi-tech keys to them which are supposed to be impossible to make a copy of. Me, I couldn't get inside even if all the locks were unlocked because the door was so hard to move!

Also, a lot of buildings have metal doors with code locks on them, but since they are so old it's really easy to tell which three buttons need to be pushed.

Where in St Petersburg have you seen metal doors? Banks, prisons? I live in St Pete, so stop telling lies - if your granny likes playing soldiers, fine, but please don't speak about the rest of the city. Metal doors with code locks? Where on earth are those? Secret weapon factories? A word of advice in your ear - knock off the booze, it's beginning to really show.

Where in St Petersburg have you seen metal doors? Banks, prisons? I live in St Pete, so stop telling lies - if your granny likes playing soldiers, fine, but please don't speak about the rest of the city. Metal doors with code locks? Where on earth are those? Secret weapon factories? A word of advice in your ear - knock off the booze, it's beginning to really show.

Knock off the smart a** image VM, it's getting really annoying.

A lot of apartments have double doors, one of them made of metal. Often it is covered in wood paneling from the outside, so it doesn't look like metal.

The code locks are on the doors leading into the building itself from the outside. They are very common in apartment buildings away from the very center of the city. The lock is usually a 3 digit code or sometimes it is an intercom and you can call the person you're there to visit and they will unlock the door for you.

astarz, прости меня малыш, ду-ду-ду-ду-ру!

Gluk'oza!

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

Originally Posted by astarz41

Ohh yea my grandma in St. Pete also has 2 doors to her flat. The outside one is metal. Both of them have a couple locks, so there are like 5 locks all together that you have to lock and unlock every time. She also has those really hi-tech keys to them which are supposed to be impossible to make a copy of. Me, I couldn't get inside even if all the locks were unlocked because the door was so hard to move!

Also, a lot of buildings have metal doors with code locks on them, but since they are so old it's really easy to tell which three buttons need to be pushed.

Where in St Petersburg have you seen metal doors? Banks, prisons? I live in St Pete, so stop telling lies - if your granny likes playing soldiers, fine, but please don't speak about the rest of the city. Metal doors with code locks? Where on earth are those? Secret weapon factories? A word of advice in your ear - knock off the booze, it's beginning to really show.

My apartment building in St. Petersburg had both code locks and metal doors.

Originally Posted by astarz41

Knock off the smart a** image VM, it's getting really annoying.

Knock off telling lies about a country you appear to know nothing about. As for annoying, well, if you can't stand the heat, well, you know. Get out of the kitchen. (in your case stop telling lies, simple as that)

A lot of apartments have double doors, one of them made of metal. Often it is covered in wood paneling from the outside, so it doesn't look like metal.

Oh, covered you say? So that's why I have never seen a single metal door in aparment blocks? Have they been hiding from me all this time? Pathetic. You lie just like I breathe - without thinking.

The code locks are on the doors leading into the building itself from the outside. They are very common in apartment buildings away from the very center of the city. The lock is usually a 3 digit code or sometimes it is an intercom and you can call the person you're there to visit and they will unlock the door for you.

3 digit code? How very secure. A 3 digit code can be electronically picked using a simple brute force attack in a matter of seconds (you just plug a digital counter any ЮТ subsriber can whip up in a matter of minutes into the lock's circuit and make the wee bugger count from 000 to 999). Unless, of course, the number of incorrect inputs is limited and when it's reached the lock simply blocks. But something's telling me that's not the case because it would mean that after a few incorrect key presses the door would just block. I think you're inventing again. You've got a powerful imagination but oops, not a clue about engineering.

Originally Posted by Линдзи

My apartment building in St. Petersburg had both code locks and metal doors.

But you've never been to St Pete. I established that a long time ago cross-examining your posts. Can you give me the address you were staying at? I'll pop round there and see if you're telling the truth or not.

3 digit code? How very secure. A 3 digit code can be elictronically picked using a simple brute force attack in a matter of seconds (you just plug a digital counter any ЮТ subsriber can whip up in a matter of minutes into the lock's circuit and make the wee bugger count from 000 to 999). Unless, of course, the number of incorrect inputs is limited and when it's reached the lock simply blocks. But something's telling me that's not the case because it would mean that after a few incorrect key presses the door would just block.

Riiight, or you could just see which 3 buttons look worn out and press them.

Oh, covered you say? So that's why I have never seen a single metal door in aparment blocks? Have they been hiding from me all this time?

Maybe you should get out more?

Knock off telling lies about a country you appear to know nothing about.

You're joking, right?

But you've never been to St Pete. I established that a long time ago cross-examining your posts. Can you give me the address you were staying at? I'll pop round there and see if you're telling the truth or not.

Omg are you set out on a life long quest of proving that I've never been to Russia? You're so silly...hmmm, okay I used to live on 2aya Sovetskaya (near pl. Vosstanya) and I went to school #169. My grandma, who you say is insane, lives on Shkipersky Protok (on Vassilievsky Ostrov) So there you go!

Forgot to ask, how exactly did you come to your conclusion? I mean about analyzing my posts... I'm just curious.