Speaking Without Rambling

Olga Severenskaya – linguist, journalist of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" 1991–2022, candidate of philological sciences, leading research associate at the V.V. Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, holder of the Pushkin Medal.... This book is about the "error-prone" areas of the Russian language. Every day we encounter difficult-to-use words – putting on boots, sneakers or canvas shoes, packing a pair of socks, stockings, and jeans in suitcases, going on vacation abroad or out of town. There are cases where the norm is strictly defined, and there are cases where "freedoms" are permissible. This book is also the history of some words and expressions, names, and surnames. We will master airplanes, steamships, and locomotives, visit the threescore and ten kingdom, and the thirty kingdom, where a tsar sovereign awaits us, even peeking into cribs and seriously pondering whether there are tails on rogues and hangers-on. We invite you to the fascinating world of the Russian language.