Thread: Арабский язык

Originally Posted by Valda

Что это "пиндостанцами"?

пиндос = "f*cking Yank"
Пиндостан = "Yankistan" or "Gringoland" or "AmeriKKKa"
пиндостанец = то же, как "пиндос"

Orginally, пиндос was a somewhat rude term for a person of Greek ethnicity living near the Black Sea coast of Russia -- meaning something like "greasy Greeky." And it derives from a Greek word that simply meant "an inhabitant of the region near the Pindus mountains in northwest Greece." During the Kosovo war in the 1990s, Russian soldiers began using the term пиндос for U.S. soldiers, and then it came to be a rude word for Americans in general. No one knows why Russian soldiers decided to apply this word to Americans, but one theory is that it was a "phonetic euphemism" for пидор -- which means "faggot" or "cocksucker" both in the literal sense of "a homosexual man" and in the figurative sense of "a worthless asshole who rides a loud, annoying Harley" (© South Park). So if this theory is true, then it's like the Russians were calling the Americans "cocksuckers," only they changed it to "cork-soakers" so that Americans who understood a bit of Russian wouldn't know what the Russians meant.

In short, you should be careful about using the word "пиндос" because it's considered rude, but as an American, I find it rather funny and charming!

P.S. As the Black Eyed Peas sang in "Pump It":

Niggaz wanna hate on us?
Niggaz be envious!
I know why they hatin' on us --
'Cause our style's so fabulous!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

No one knows why Russian soldiers decided to apply this word to Americans, but one theory is that it was a "phonetic euphemism" for пидор -- which means "faggot" or "cocksucker" both in the literal sense of "a homosexual man" and in the figurative sense of "a worthless asshole who rides a loud, annoying Harley" (© South Park). So if this theory is true...

I have an alternative view. First, "пиндос" is not so rude as "faggot" etc. It's still a disparaging word, but no more. Second, I'm sure you know about the word "америкос" (= American, a bit offensive too) and about the word "пингвин" (= penguin). The word "пиндос" sounds for Russians like "пингвин + америкос". You know that penguins are fat, stupid and move awkwardly - like American soldiers look with their ammunition. That's the reason why the Russians soldiers called Americans "пиндосы". It has nothing to do with the Greek word, of course. Just sort of "phonetic transfer" (I'm not sure it is a correct term or not).

Originally Posted by Paul G.

Second, I'm sure you know about the word "америкос" (= American, a bit offensive too) and about the word "пингвин" (= penguin). The word "пиндос" sounds for Russians like "пингвин + америкос". You know that penguins are fat, stupid and move awkwardly - like American soldiers look with their ammunition.

That's an interesting idea -- I've heard the word "америкос" but I didn't think about it as a possible source for "пиндос".

After some Googling, I found that there's yet another theory that I hadn't heard before: The Spanish word pendejo (пендехо) is popular slang in the American military, even among soldiers who don't speak Spanish. (It means дурак, although the more literal meaning is "a pubic hair"!)

Although it's extremely unlikely that "пиндос" was in any way borrowed from pendejo, it's possible that the widespread use of the Spanish word by U.S. soldiers increased the popularity of "пиндос" among Russians. One can even imagine such a conversation taking place during the Kosovo war:

AMERICAN: Privyet, pendejo!
RUSSIAN: Хэлло, "пиндос"!

Just sort of "phonetic transfer" (I'm not sure it is a correct term or not).

English-speaking linguists would say that "пингвин + америкос = пиндос" is an example of a "portmanteau word" (слово-чемодан) -- a term invented by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass.