Re: NHL 2017.1: We turn over a new Leaf and still find a Penguin
Slava on Russian hockey penalties
@SlavaMalamud: 1/ I feel like not enough attention is being paid to the Russians. Yet, we have taken the types of liberties with hockey terminology that would make Yanks look adorably orthodox. There is a reason for that. The Russian language, while poetic, isn't functional enough for hockey...
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/991866182004346880
@SlavaMalamud: 2/ So, for one, a simple hockey term like "interference" in Russian balloons into "ataka igroka, ne vladeyushchego shayboy." Please, say that 10 times fast. Yes, it's a comma there. Translated, it's "attack on a player not in possession of a puck". Sounds like police brutality...
@SlavaMalamud: 3/ It gets quirkier, too. Terms such as "transition", "forecheck" and "backcheck" all require bulky three- or four-word sentences to translate. "Hooking" is "zaderzhka sopernika klyushkoy", or "delaying an opponent with a stick." Kinky...
@SlavaMalamud: 4/4 But, by far, my favorite Russian hockeyism is "too many men on the ice", which sounds waaaay to informal for our language. In Russian, it's "narusheniye chislennogo sostava", or... wait for it... "violation of numerical composition." Weep, Canada. Weep!