Disobedient Words

Vitaly Babenko is a writer, translator, publisher, teacher, and head of the Department of Journalism at the Institute of Journalism and Literary Creativity (2003–2021). "Disobedient Words" is a book about words that may seem unruly at first glance, but readily... become known if one listens carefully to them. The history of each word is full of paradoxes. Their paths are convoluted, whimsical, intricate… The author, like a detective, goes from one revelation to another. Encounters with "unknown acquaintances" — everyday words — form the core of the book. Who would have thought that the words "heel" and "jacket", "bull" and "bee", "cabbage" and "hat" have a common origin? In Vitaly Babenko's book, such examples are countless. It is about how words are born, live, transition from language to language, collide, diverge, only to unexpectedly re-emerge — with new meanings and new significances. And this gives a remarkable variety to our magical, virtuoso Russian language.