konfeta ([info]konfeta) wrote in [info]daily_russian,
@ 2006-03-14 13:50:00
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Лох
Лох (n., m.) - coarse and slangy, contemptuous - ignoramus, a person who knows and understands nothing in particular subject or in general. Foolish or stupid, amateurish person. Fool, idiot, common person.
Лохануться (v., perf.asp.) - coarse and slangy, contemptuous - to do a foolish or stupid act.
Лоховство (n., n.) - coarse and slangy, contemptuous - description of something of bad taste, demonstrating the lack of education, foolish, amateurish.
Examples:
1). Yesterday on MTV (talk-show):
The guest says: Я полный лох в автомобилях. (I am a complete ignoramus where cars are concerned.)
The host replies: Лучше быть лохом в автомобилях, чем лохом в автобусе! (Better to be an ignoramus in cars then a fool in a bus!)
The joke is based upon the difference between two nuances in the meaning of the word "лох": the guest means he doesn't understand much in cars, and the host means that it's better to know nothing in cars but own and drive them, then to be a common fool who uses public transportation)

2). На дороге: (At the road:)
- По той или этой улице поедем? (Which way to choose, this or that?)
- Давай по этой. (Let's go this way.)
Через 5 минут упираются в огромную пробку. (In 5 min, they get stuck in a huge traffic jam.)
- Что-то мы с тобой лоханулись, надо было ехать в другую сторону. (Seems like it was a foolish decision, should have taken another way.)



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[info]danteks
2006-03-14 12:02 pm UTC (link)
Also, лох - человек, которого "разводят" на деньги в азартные игры
man, whom was roobbed by plaing games of chances on money by a rogue
лохотрон - a bingo machine, called so because a lot of people were robbed by street bingo machines at 19-th years of 20-th century.
лох (crime) - a man, who can be robbed

Прошу прощения за плохой англицкий, прошу покорректировать. Спасибо

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[info]konfeta
2006-03-15 12:48 am UTC (link)
Right,
also, лох (colloquial) - a victim of fraudsters, supposed to be involved in gambling or any other fraud.
Лохотрон (n., m., colloquial)- not only a bingo machine, but also any other organized fraud (from street dices to realty frauds, etc.)

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[info]leiacat
2006-03-21 11:08 am UTC (link)
So лох is the modern word for фраер? Or is фраер still around?

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[info]konfeta
2006-03-21 11:57 am UTC (link)
I don't think so. I'm not a philologist, but the word "фраер" is rare, and it had a bit different meaning. Gramota.ru says that it means "a person", "inexperienced person" or "self-assured and arrogant person" in a depreciating manner. It sounds more in criminal jargon than "лох", though "лох" is not a literary style word either.

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[info]leiacat
2006-03-22 04:49 am UTC (link)
Fascinating. Yes, it's definitely criminal jargon, but I never got the impression that it was rare - perhaps too much fondness for блатные песни and mystery novels in my background. (I also vaguely recall, but unfortunately can't at this time locate, a story by Kuprin in which a thief lectures the narrator something to the approximate effect of "фрайер, батюшка, есть обкрадываемая персона".)

Thank you. From where I sit it can be rather hard to estimate which parts of my vocabulary are mainstream and which are obscure slang. :)

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fyi
[info]scrambledblogs
2006-04-15 02:31 pm UTC (link)
as far as i know, "frier" was borrowed by russian mob of 19th century from french. In french it means "brother". i am now sure about the original usage of the word, but i guess it was analogous to "brotha" in today US.)) However, (konfeta is absolutely right) (i'd say in late 1920s) the word frier was being used in a negative way as it is being used even now. in modern russian mob slang "frier" means "a white-collar criminal who is involved with the mob, but yet is not one of the good fellas"

fyi2, i might be wrong, i draw my conclusions from a rather primitive knowledge of french and russian being mu native language.

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фраер
[info]congelee
2006-06-14 04:21 pm UTC (link)
I would not be so sure - in french "brother" is frère (фрЭр), which is phonetically far enough.

Here is an explanation I saw in a slang dictionary:

"Фраер – идиш, нем. Frej - свобода. Фраер – свободный, вольный - тот, кто не сидит в тюрьме. Для блатного мир делится на своих – блатных, воров, и фраеров – цивильных, не принадлежащих к воровскому миру."

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[info]konfeta
2006-03-29 04:25 am UTC (link)
Извините, но пришлось удалить этот Ваш комментарий, т.к. он:
а)неконструктивный
б)повторяющий вышесказанное
в)содержит матерное слово

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[info]yllafairy
2006-04-13 09:19 pm UTC (link)
what did this word mean before it became slang?

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[info]konfeta
2006-04-14 08:09 am UTC (link)
Well, it's hard to define 100%, what was the previous meaning of this word. There're different sources and different versions, all of them pretend to give the most qualified explanation. Below are some of these versions:
1. Biological - genus of shrubs and trees.
2. Fishy :) - specific name of salmon after spawning.
3. Linguistic # 1 - comes from very old crime jargon, where it meant a fool, the ideal aim for swindlers.
4. Linguistic # 2 - comes from Yiddish, where it supposedly means "hole".

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[info]terminator_nemo
2006-05-07 05:29 pm UTC (link)
"Лох" also means "loser".
There was a funny story, published at Anekdot.ru. A "new Russian" (from a generation of successful gangsters, making a fortune and boasting about it) in the city of Vladivostok was taing a jitney. His cellfone rang. Apparently a guy, who called him, asked him about his whereabouts. And he answered:
- My car is in a repair shop right now. So I am taking a "лоховозка" (which means a vehicle for losers - people, called "лохи".
But some passengers around him - visibli strong men - looked at him very angrily, prepared to give him a beating. So he swiftly corrected himself:
- Er, I mean, I`m taking public transit...

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[info]zren
2006-08-12 01:07 pm UTC (link)
Лох, Лошок, Лошара - Synonyms. Лоховской - The characteristic of object, for example - Лоховской прикид - Bad, stupid clothes, Clothes for loser

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