Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxGunz
Sorry, I should have noticed. It is related to the Santa Claus story. A very old Northern European winter solstice tradition where gifts given are said to come from Santa. He has a sled pulled by reindeer that fly and in a new twist the lead reindeer is named Rudolph and has a red nose that shines brightly.
So you grow up in this culture, you know the song and learn it is all a game to get children to behave in order to get presents.
Very Capitalist, no? So here is irony that in Soviet Russia the sounds are said in completely different meaning.
Such plays on words and meanings help English speakers deal with a language that seems more exceptions than rules.  |
Don't be so quick to assume that Russians don't know about Santa. They just call him Father Frost, and he comes on January 7th, but it's the same basic idea with the same historic origin. Rudolph came about in the 40's I think, so it's understandably not a part of Russian culture.