Job Discussion Forums

[Sashadroogie]

...or they'll split your head with an axe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20301022

[spiral78]

Cannot help picturing her in a class, ax at her side, just waiting for a poor explanation of a grammar point or a silly exercise

[Sashadroogie]

Can we rename 'the observer effect' 'the Axe effect' then?

Teachers would have good reason to mewl and whinge about being put upon with her lurking in a class - yet I'd say their game would be well and truly raised, hyuck hyuck!

[spiral78]

[Sashadroogie]

Let's have a forum-wide vote! I hope for 109% in favour : 0

[smithrn1983]

я полностью за!

[macedonianmike]

One time a saw a bunch of babushki wacking a SUV that was parked blocking the tramvai with their bags.

[expatella_girl]

I learned from the Russian babushki. A more fearless group of people there has never been.

I remember one time in Moscow years ago, we needed to get across the 18 lane Garden Ring road in a place where there was no perehod, but there was a traffic light which went green for pedestrians and cross traffic for about 20 seconds, on perhaps fifteen minute intervals.

So you could stand on the corner forever waiting for a crossing light which would turn against you in seconds, leaving you stranded in the midst of thousands of angry Russian motorists.

We were waiting on the corner with a babushka. All of us wanted to cross the road--then the light turned green. The babushka marched out into the middle of the street blowing a whistle with a mean junkyard dog look, and she stopped 18 lanes of Moscow traffic with that whistle and we ran along behind her like rabbits. She was not in a hurry and with her whistle and her babushka stink-eye, we all marched across that road and no one dared dispute her authority. They_just_stopped.

Some kind of tough those ladies have, god love them all. Babushki rule.

[Sashadroogie]

They invaded Berlin, fought Nazis to the death, survived Stalin. No jumped-up noveau riche pimply-faced SUV driver is going to faze them. Long live the grannies!

[Sashadroogie]

Legend has it that all rulers of Russia, from Vladimir Vladimirovich back through time, had to answer to a babushka waiting at the doorway wielding a rolling-pin or worse should said leader have broken one of the myriad rules governing footwear, hats, late nights, drinking, women, doing what one is told to do, etc. Not one of them ever dared answer back...

One can learn a lot about Russia from that

[Avogadro's Number]

I now have a babushka for a mother-in-law. Can you imagine those family gatherings?

[RoscoeTX]

When I was living in the US I adored and respected the elderly there...sure, they could be grumpy and cranky at times...But these old Russians have brought out an unpleasant and super mean side of me...I Just don't take crap from them. Never have had any problems here in Moscow from anybody under 55. Its the worst when their dragging around those raggedy two wheeled carts!! These people don't need to be glorified, they need to take a course in common courtesy

[expatella_girl]

Roscoe, I suspect if you had survived the trials and deprivations the Russian babushki have managed to survive, you would be feeling none too polite either.

I'm thinking the US elderly never faced the kind of want and frozenness and impossible hardships that elderly Russians have lived with. Might make them a little crotchety, ya think?

Russian grandma's are the backbone of the country. Without them there would be nothing but hookers and hooligans and thugs and oligarchs gone wild. Babushki are the stalwart civilizing force of Russia.

Respect is deserved and required.

[Sashadroogie]

I totally agree with you, expatella_girl, but I can also sympathise to a limited degree with RoscoeTX. The babushki are formidable, but sometimes they do appear to unnecessarily ignorant and aggressive in their dealings with people around them. It is not easy to always restrain oneself when dealing with said discourtesies, but I feel it is the only course. I mean, how does it look to have a stand-up row with an 85-year-old? Especially when she wins?

Sure, you could say that they are taking advantage of their elderly status to push others about (the bullies!). But even so, I have more respect for a society that honours their elderly to some degree than a society, such as my own, sadly, which so often excludes them or even criminally victimises them. Granny-bashers are rightfully considered the worst form of low-life mugger back home. I do not see too much evidence of that here. If nothing else, that is something to be grateful for.

[RoscoeTX]

@expatgirl, again, I would not glorify and darn near deify these old people (60+) to such a degree as you and would not lump the rest of the population into a group of degenerates and criminals...There is a large percentage of good-hearted, respectful, and hard-working younger Russians out there, and I can happily say I've had quite a few as students.

And I am sure there are and were a great many elderly folks in the US who faced immense relative hardships, be it as veterans, impoverished, or lived through vicious racial hostilities.....Sure they may not have endured the seige of Leningrad, but regardless, doesn't give you the right to bully others

Sasha, thanks for offering up some support here and as a relative new comer to Dave's I've come to recognize that you are a voice of reason and one of this site's sages)