Speaking Without Talking Nonsense

Olga Severskaya is a linguist and journalist for the radio station “Echo of Moscow” (1991–2022), a Candidate of Philology, a leading researcher at the V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Pushkin Medal. This book is about “error-prone” areas of the Russian language. We meet difficult-to-use words every day—putting on boots, sneakers, or trainers; packing pairs of socks, stockings, and jeans into suitcases; going on vacation abroad or out of town. There are cases where the norm is set strictly, and there are cases where “freedoms” are allowed. The book is also a story of some words and expressions, names and surnames. We will master airplanes, steamships, and trains; we’ll visit the thirty-ninth kingdom and the thirty-thirtieth state, where we’ll meet the tsar-state, and we’ll even look into cheat sheets and seriously wonder whether mischief-makers and hanger-ons have tails. We invite you into the world of fascinating Russian language.