Thread: Михаил Булгаков. Собачье сердце. ( + фильм)

Originally Posted by hddscan

I'm kind of used to that sort of information but still surprised a little bit, although it still shows that learning Russian language is not enough to understand Russian culture. Stalin seems to be everywhere in English-speaking Russia related news or other information resources. Sometimes I think Stalin is so popular in English-speaking resources that they practically beg Russia to resurrect Stalin's cult of personality.

Now some reality check.
Chugunkin -- чугун ("chugun") is in fact originated from the cast iron. But till now I(I guess other Russians too) wouldn't even think it might be related to Stalin in any way(especially considering that the book was published in 1925 when Stalin was nobody). And the reason of it is quite simple: чугун is associated in Russian culture with something simple and heavy. There are Russian sayings: чугунный лоб, чугунные мозги, чугунная голова in relation to a particular person, it means that person is stupid (heavy headed, simple minded).

It's sad that English-speaking media is trying to find something that might have negative political correlation to any Russian in any way. Sometimes creating such BS lies even on Wikipedia. Such Russphobia is depressing. And I only could say to Throbert - Et tu, Brute?

Lots of people speak of Hitler when referring to Germany of the 1930s, or Saddam Hussein when referring to Iraq of the end of the 20th century. It's a feature of the English speaking culture if you will - to make fun and parodies of obnoxious dictators. It's real fun, and it may begin to sound funny to you too - if you try understanding it a bit harder.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Lots of people speak of Hitler when referring to Germany of the 1930s, or Saddam Hussein when referring to Iraq of the end of the 20th century. It's a feature of the English speaking culture if you will - to make fun and parodies of obnoxious dictators. It's real fun, and it may begin to sound funny to you too - if you try understanding it a bit harder.

Since this is getting political, I'm gonna reply in a separate topic.
Here - Russophobia in media