Incredible Russian

Maria Aksyonova is well known as the author and publisher of the Children's Encyclopedia Avanta+, and as the author and host of the popular TV program Do Russians Know Russian?. She is an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural... Sciences, a recipient of the President of the Russian Federation's award in the field of education. Speaking in our native language is as natural for us as breathing. But how well do we know Russian? Stories about the origins of words are more fascinating than any novel and more mysterious than any detective story. Before you are the amazing adventures of words. Why is the press sometimes yellow, and the market a flea market? How did the word linden come to mean fake? Why is the crow—a bird that definitely won't miss its own, and might even take someone else's—become a symbol of sloppiness? And is youth slang good or bad? To put on or to put out? To go out or to go away? To eat or to have a meal? We endlessly correct and nudge each other. But still, how do we say it correctly? What mistakes do we catch from radio and TV broadcasts most often? And what did Pushkin work on? It's difficult to speak Russian flawlessly. Even the most literate people make mistakes. The main thing is to strive to correct them, to understand the logic of the language, to be interested in its history, and to endlessly enjoy its beauty.