Interesting Talk with a Russian Friend

[Machodoc]

I had an interesting talk, recently, with a Russian-born friend who informed me that no self-respecting Russian would refer to rifles as being "Mosin-Nagants". They are, instead, just called "Mosins" because the role that Nagant played in the final version was supposedly almost nil.

On the other hand, he said, the name "Nagant" has become so affiliated with the well-known M1895 pistol that not only is that model called "Nagant", but the same name is often used generically, to refer to any pistol.

I'm still working on my correct Russian pronunciation of various firearms, arsenal names, etc. Just when I think that I'm saying things exactly as he is (and differently than most of us 'Muricans say them), he looks a little pained and says, "OK. That's close enough, I think" ... indicating that it's still not quite right.

 

[Melnic]

I'm curious, Is he a fire arms enthusiast or is this General Russian knowledge he's bringing to you?

 

[yellowsled]

98% of the time, I just refer to them as Mosins.

 

[Alphabrew]

I call them "boom sticks".

 

[Machodoc]

I'm curious, Is he a fire arms enthusiast or is this General Russian knowledge he's bringing to you?

He's a firearms enthusiast, and an extremely intelligent guy, but I don't think I'd call him a specialist in former-Soviet weapons. He doesn't, for example, understand why I'd pay almost as much for a Makarov in excellent condition as what a new pistol would cost me.

I wish that he was able to tell us what every little marking on a Mosin means, but I don't think that he's any more able to do that than what we can find online.

 

[ken792]

He's right. All Emile Nagant had to contribute was the interrupter in the magazine. Without it, the rifle will still function. I bet he gets really pissed when people call the rifles "Nagants."

 

[mountainman]

Musket. I had one of those, captured with a Finish barrel that was too nice for the receiver, but the Finish stock, in excellent shape was made out of two pieces of wood finger jointed together at the finger groove, well spent $60.

 

[mountainman]

Musket. I had one of those, captured with a Finish barrel that was too nice for the receiver, but the Finish stock, in excellent shape was made out of two pieces of wood finger jointed together at the finger groove, well spent $60.

So how is it pronounce, moesin, moisin mowsin. My ex-wife was Ukrainian, she never did teach me any of that, almost the same. That way her mother and her could talk about me in my face. Man, the Ukrainians really hate the Russians, course I guess they got reasons to.

 

[Machodoc]

So how is it pronounce, moesin, moisin mowsin. My ex-wife was Ukrainian, she never did teach me any of that, almost the same. That way her mother and her could talk about me in my face. Man, the Ukrainians really hate the Russians, course I guess they got reasons to.

I know that any attempt to try to duplicate his pronunciation here is going to be a disaster ... but I like disasters. Here goes ....

Two syllables.

The first is almost like "Moe", but with just the slightest hint of "wah" at the end, as it turns into the "s" sound.

The second is like "seen", but the "s" has just a hint of a "z" sound mixed with it. It's still an "s", but not like in "hiss". More like in "his".

The hardest part is which syllable gets the accent. To me, it sounds like he's giving both syllables the same emphasis, but he says not.

I'm going to try to record him pronouncing various words, and see if I can post them somewhere. If I can do that, I'll link them to a thread here.

 

[Mark75H]

It took my daughter adopted from Russia almost 10 years to be able to say "pesky moose and squirrel" without sounding like Natasha

 

[Half-cocked]

It took my daughter adopted from Russia almost 10 years to be able to say "pesky moose and squirrel" without sounding like Natasha

That's just evil.

Hilarious, and evil.

 

[HokieKev]

Makarov

He's a firearms enthusiast, and an extremely intelligent guy, but I don't think I'd call him a specialist in former-Soviet weapons. He doesn't, for example, understand why I'd pay almost as much for a Makarov in excellent condition as what a new pistol would cost me.

I wish that he was able to tell us what every little marking on a Mosin means, but I don't think that he's any more able to do that than what we can find online.

I fired a Makarov my Dad owned a few months ago and just loved it. Where can you find a Makarov in excellent condition? I've heard the E. German models and Russian models are best... What do you think?

 

[h2u]

The easiest phonetic I've seen in print would be, "moe-seen nah-gahn".
Not a Russian speaker, so I can't verify for certain. Take it for what it's worth...nothing

 

[reverendbeer]

I've heard the E. German models and Russian models are best... What do you think?

I can't disagree...

 

[psoyring]

So how is it pronounce, moesin, moisin mowsin. My ex-wife was Ukrainian, she never did teach me any of that, almost the same. That way her mother and her could talk about me in my face. Man, the Ukrainians really hate the Russians, course I guess they got reasons to.

My wife is also Ukrainian, she is from a Russian speaking part of the country and enjoys shooting my Mosins, that's her in my avatar. She still has relatives in Russia, so no bad feelings toward them. She reads the Russian and tells me the correct pronunciations of the terms.

The Beatles wrote " The Ukraine girls really knock me out" if you ever went there you know that truer words were never spoken. Eastern European woman are known for their beauty, unfortunately it also makes them targets for human trafficking.

 

[HokieKev]

I can't disagree...

LOL

 

[mountainman]

LOL

Is that the 91/30/91 model, that metric conversion always messed me up

 

[Tungsten]

I don't worry about proper pronunciation of foreign words when I can barely speak English properly. I figure if a southern redneck and a Bostonian POS can both claim to speak English despite sounding like they are speaking a completely different sounding language, then the same thing probably happens in Russia.

 

[mountainman]

My wife is also Ukrainian, she is from a Russian speaking part of the country and enjoys shooting my Mosins, that's her in my avatar. She still has relatives in Russia, so no bad feelings toward them. She reads the Russian and tells me the correct pronunciations of the terms.

The Beatles wrote " The Ukraine girls really knock me out" if you ever went there you know that truer words were never spoken. Eastern European woman are known for their beauty, unfortunately it also makes them targets for human trafficking.

I'm not a Ukraine historian but, from her family, most of the Ukraines were wiped out in the 1930's and into the 40's by Stalin, her mother made it out/escaped on Gmom's back cause she was the smallest during ww2 . Most people living in the Ukraine nowadays are of Russian decent.

 

[psoyring]

During Soviet times there were no effective borders between the republics, it was only after the breakup of the USSR that nationalism reared its' ugly head and ethnic divisions became cause for tensions, Ukraine got cut loose from Russia because they didn't have significant oil reserves, but because Chechnya has oil Russia has fought to hold onto it at all costs.