More pleasant things

Usually my stories are based on some topic of the day: well, one of the officials screwed up something or the TV was brilliant again. But sometimes the level of vulgarity and hypocrisy goes so high that it’s as if there’s a ringing in the ears. Well, the kind that sometimes happens with headphones - a terrible deafening sound. Here you want to turn your face - and most importantly, your ears - away from the TV for a while. “We call them non-siege survivors,” Elena Rakhova, a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, confidentially told us about those residents of besieged Leningrad who spent less than 120 days in the surrounded city and therefore are not entitled to an additional three thousand rubles. And we call such deputies and officials “failures.” A group of costumed bandits breaks into the office of a public organization, breaks furniture, puts plastic bags over the heads of employees, stirs up documents, and generally behaves like a businessman. All this is voluptuously filmed by journalists from a well-known television company, and then they comment sympathetically: they say, the Cossacks reined in a politically incorrect public organization. They reined in. The word, apparently, was selected by the entire editorial team.

I don’t want to not only sort out such linguistic incidents, but generally listen to such a deadening language. Therefore, I’d better tell you something about ordinary, everyday language - alive and warm. For example, in colloquial speech there is a wonderful use of the word you what: Are coming with us?; - Her husband... - Is she married ? you Are kidding me?

In meaning, this is very similar to is. Indeed, it’s easy to substitute into our first two examples : Are you really coming with us?; - Her husband. .. - Is she married ? However, the phrase you Are kidding me? strange. And the phrases he : Is kidding me? And He is mocking? almost opposite in meaning. In the first case, the speaker is ready to consider that he is mocking, in the second it seems unlikely to him. What and what do different settings mean? The speaker has perceived some new and unexpected information and, if necessary , is inclined, albeit with some effort, to admit that a certain situation occurs. In case is n't he ready to admit it right away.

What does the particle look like ( these two particles can also be used together): you coming with us Are ?; Are you kidding me?; she Is married or what?

But what, in contrast to what, rather implies that the speaker, in general, did not have any special expectations, he received information, it was simply new to him, so he wants to make sure that he perceived it correctly. Or, perhaps, it is not even new, but inaccurate or forgotten: Which house is the fifth, or what?; Where to turn, here, or what? Naturally, this is inappropriate here.

From the above, it follows that perhaps the particle should not go well together (they express the opposite attitudes of the speaker regarding the readiness to accept new information). And indeed, these two particles do not act together: it is impossible *Is she or married what?

There is also a similar unit : Well, are you coming with us? Really, are you kidding me? not very similar to Well, are you kidding me? Well, that sums up the previous discussion, thoughts, observations or expectations. And in this case, it is not very important whether the remark contains a question, a message or an incentive: Well, I'm off; Well, go ahead and call.

It is much more interesting to compare our what with a similar usage like: Are you coming with us? And in our other phrase, how impossible: you * Are kidding me? (an asterisk indicates ineligibility).

How, like something, implies that the speaker had no expectations in advance. But if something means that the speaker has learned something that makes him suspect something, then it does not indicate the receipt of some new information. For the speaker, there is an alternative, and he wants to know which of the two options is the case. Therefore, it is quite natural: How are you , are you coming with us or not <or are you staying at home>? Neither anything nor anything in this phrase is possible.

What's important here is this. In words such as is it and really, as well as our what and what, there is the idea of ​​​​a conflict between the ideas that the speaker had before the moment of speech, and the information he received immediately before that moment. For example, a lady had an idea in her head that she would now go with her friend to a cafe and have a nice chat with her there, discuss important issues related to manicure or the personal life of this very friend. She puts on her boots in the corridor, and suddenly looks: her husband is wrapping his scarf as if nothing had happened. Or he directly says: wait, I’ll just take the phone. That is, she received some new information that makes her suspect that the previously held idea is not entirely correct: the three of them are going to go for a walk. That’s why she tries to clarify the situation with her question (Are you really coming with us?) or simply express amazement (Are you really coming with us?). These particles therefore often form a response replica (after all, the information received immediately before the moment of speech was most likely contained in the interlocutor’s previous replica).

As for the particle how, it does not imply such a conflict - and in a completely natural way it is not obliged to be used in response remarks. Moreover, such use is difficult: - Her husband. .. - *And is she married? This is possible only if the second remark is not actually a response to the first, but is connected with it in meaning more indirectly: “ Do you want to meet her?” - Is she married ? The second speaker does not answer the question posed, but wants to obtain additional information to answer it.

And these are not all the opportunities that the Russian language provides us in this place. In most cases, Russian speakers will not limit themselves to a dry question: Are you coming with us?, but will somehow complicate it: Are you coming with us?, or Are you coming with us?, or Are you like, with are you coming with us?, or Well, are you coming with us?, or are you coming with us? Or else you can: Are you not coming with us by chance/for an hour? or: Are you coming with us or how/or what/or where? You can add several ingredients at once (not just any, of course): Are you coming with us or something? And most importantly, each option will be at least slightly different in meaning.