SACRED KNOWLEDGE

Lev's dad taught him a new word: "pupok", meaning "navel" in Russian. Lev is very excited about the new knowledge, and each time I change him, he points his finger down there and says pouting his lips: "pupo".
Last weekend we were visiting our friends, and he was playing on the carpet, while I was reolaxing on the chair. Suddenly - as if something struck him - he approached me in his usual businesslike walk, lift my shirt and pointed his index finger into my belly: "Pupo", he said proudly. Luckily, at the moment there were no other gentlemen in the room.

RUSSIAN FOR RUSSIANS

He's trying new sound combinations all the time. The recent find sounds like the dirtiest word in the Russian language. My husband and I noticed it in his speech couple of times, smiled at each other, but refrained from comments.
Today we went to Russian supermarket in Palo Alto. He was cranky and bored until I seated him on the counter so he could play with the array of pens people use to sign credit card slips. He immediately got occupied while babbling happily all along. To my greatest dismay, he was using that word again: "Blia, blia, blia..." People in the line behind me and the clerk behind the counter looked bewildered: "Hey, dude, what are you saying, eh? What are you saying?" They were addressing him but looking at me. I wanted to cry out: "I did not teach him! That doesn't mean anything!" Honestly, I rarely use the word myself, no matter how pissed off I feel. But he's my son, and his bawdy Russian is my responsibility, too.


- posted by ET @ 8:13 PM