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Interesting trivia on the name (from Wikipedia): > Some English speakers use the word "babushka" [бaбушка] (the word for 'grandma' in Russian) to indicate a h
by rob74 7y ago
Interesting trivia on the name (from Wikipedia):
> Some English speakers use the word "babushka" [бaбушка] (the word for 'grandma' in Russian) to indicate a headscarf tied below the chin, as still commonly worn in rural parts of Europe.
However the author should be aware that most people would interpret "bab(a|u)shka" as "grandma" and not as a scarf. Which works too, I guess. Personally, I always think of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll (which is also sometimes called babushka) when I see this word...
- CGamesPlay 7y agoI also thought this was about a grandma who would lovingly guide me through the hard parts of bash... which honestly still makes more sense to me than the headscarf ideology.
- macleginn 7y agoWhile we are on the subject of Russian words with "bash" in them, I offer "barabashka" to whomever's interested. (It is one of the names for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domovoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domovoy)
- aldanor 7y agoOr even more simply, "Bashka", which means "head" in slang.
- namelosw 7y agoI interpreted as "grandma" as well since it's a super popular Russian term on the internet (eg: YouTube) nowadays.
- asveikau 7y agoIt's very strange to me that someone would keep using this word in those contexts even after being told that this isn't what it means. It's almost like "babushka" to the English-speaking mind is stand-in for "funny sounding Russian word". It does have a rhythm that sounds a little whimsical in English. It's also usually pronounced in English with stress on the wrong syllable. [Should be bábushka.]
- sls 7y agoIt's not at all unusual for loanwords to get different meanings when they are adopted. Wikipedia gives this lovely example: The English word Viking became Japanese バイキング (baikingu), meaning "buffet", because the first restaurant in Japan to offer buffet-style meals, inspired by the Nordic smörgåsbord, was opened in 1958 by the Imperial Hotel under the name "Viking".