See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hang noodles on the ears .
To hang noodles on the ears (Russian : вешать лапшу на уши, veshat' lapshu na ushi) [a] is a Russian-language idiomatic expression that means to deceive or fool someone. [1] [2] According to journalist Alexander Kleimenov, in both Russian and Ukrainian, it is similar to the English expression to pull somebody's leg, [3] [4] [5] and author Jag Bhalla agrees. [6]
The origin of the phrase is uncertain. One is that the expression contains linguistic similarities to words about stealing and deception and is derived from the Russian thieves' slang "oblaposhit", "to steal", "to deceive", which was allegedly derived from the French word "la poche", "pocket", which sounds "laposh" in Russian. Another is that it derives from criminal jargon where an "ear" was a street informant and a "noodle" was a rope or cloth that could be used to tie someone up. [7]
Valery Smirnov , known for his expertise in Odesan Russian, claims that in Odesa criminal argot "lapsha" means "lie" and mentions other related expressions, such as "to throw lapsha". [8]
Zaur Zugumov, a famous pickpocket, [9] compiled a book of criminal argot in which he lists an expression "двигать лапшу на уши" ("to move lapsha onto ears") which means to tell lies without particular profit, just for entertainment, to make time go faster in detention. He says the expression has been in use since the time of Russian Empire. [10]
William Safire, writing in The New York Times , called Michael Gorbachev's usage of the "earthy Russian saying" the most memorable line spoken surrounding the failed 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt. The new president responded to parliament speaker Anatoly Lukyanov's denial of complicity with, "Don't hang noodles on my ears." [11]
In August and September 1991, The Sydney Morning Herald held a competition, inspired by the Gorbachev quip, for readers to devise their own mysterious and colorful "old Russian sayings", [12] and received "bags of worthy entries". [13]
In 2000, the director of the Stepnogorsk Scientific and Technical Institute for Microbiology admitted that the site was being used for bioweapons research and development and not vaccine production, saying, "we have been hanging noodles on your ears". [14]
In 2009, Jag Bhalla authored a National Geographic compilation of amusing international expressions under the title, "I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World", [15] telling NPR he was not able to determine the expression's origin. [6]
During the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, protesters in Odesa threw pots of spaghetti at the Russian consulate to protest the accuracy of that country's media coverage. [4] [5]
In March 2023, Russian politician Mikhail Abdalkin published a photo of himself with noodles on his ears [16] while watching a speech from Vladimir Putin, where the English translation of the caption was, "I fully support. I agree with everything. Great speech. Haven’t heard anything like that in 23 years. Pleasantly surprised." [17] His actions attracted attention and resulted in a fine of 150,000 roubles (about $2,000 USD) for "discrediting the armed forces". [18] [19] Abdalkin, who is appealing the fine, called the noodle-hanging stunt, "Just an ordinary protest" which happened "spontaneously", and was in regard to Russian social policies and not its military actions in Ukraine. [20]
A useful idiot or useful fool is a pejorative description of a person, suggesting that the person thinks they are fighting for a cause without fully comprehending the consequences of their actions, and who does not realize they are being manipulated by the cause's leaders or by other political players. The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and psychological manipulation. A number of authors attribute this phrase to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution is not supported by any evidence. Similar terms exist in other languages.
Nikolay Mikhailovich Kharitonov is a Russian communist politician who has served in the State Duma since 1994, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Development of Far Eastern and Arctic regions since 2011. Kharitonov was the Communist Party of the Russian Federation's candidate for the 2004 Russian presidential election and for the 2024 Russian presidential election, but was defeated in both by the incumbent president Vladimir Putin.
The ribbon of Saint George is a Russian military symbol consisting of a black and orange bicolour pattern, with three black and two orange stripes.
The foreign policy of Vladimir Putin concerns the policies of the Russian Federation's president Vladimir Putin with respect to other nations. He has held the office of the President previously from 2000 to 2008, and reassumed power again in 2012 and has been President since.
The Chicken Kiev speech is the nickname for a speech given by the United States president George H. W. Bush in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 1, 1991, three weeks before the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine and four months before the December independence referendum in which 92.26% of Ukrainians voted to withdraw from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union collapsed 145 days after the speech, partially pushed by Ukraine. The address, in which Bush cautioned against "suicidal nationalism", was written by Condoleezza Rice—later Secretary of State under President George W. Bush—when she was in charge of Soviet and Eastern European affairs for the first President Bush. It outraged Ukrainian nationalists and American conservatives, with the conservative New York Times columnist William Safire calling it the "Chicken Kiev speech", named after a dish of stuffed chicken breast, in protest at what he saw as its "colossal misjudgment", weak tone and miscalculation.
On 18 March 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech to both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in connection with the request for admission by the Crimean parliament of the republic in the Russian Federation. He spoke in the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in the Moscow Kremlin.
"Putin – khuylo!" or "Putin – khuilo!" is a slogan deriding Russian President Vladimir Putin, commonly translated as "Putin [is a] dickhead!"
On 27 February 2015, Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician opposed to the government of Vladimir Putin, was assassinated as he crossed the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in central Moscow at 23:31 local time. An unknown assailant fired seven or eight shots from a Makarov pistol. Four of them hit Nemtsov in the head, heart, liver and stomach, killing him almost instantly. He died hours after appealing to the public to support a march against Russia's war in Ukraine. Nemtsov's Ukrainian partner Anna Duritskaya survived the attack as its sole eyewitness.
The "Russian world" is a concept and a political doctrine usually defined as the sphere of military, political and cultural influence of Russia. It is a vague term, mostly used to refer to communities with a historical, cultural, or spiritual tie to Russia. This can include all ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in neighboring states, as well as those who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. The concept of the "Russian world" is linked to Russian neo-imperialism. President Vladimir Putin established the government-funded Russkiy Mir Foundation to foster the idea of the "Russian world" abroad. The concept is sometimes also called the Pax Russica, as a counterweight to the Pax Americana after WWII.
Veronika ‘’Nika’’ Nikulshina is a Russian artist and activist known for being a member of Pussy Riot and being arrested while protesting on the field at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. She acted as a spokesperson for Pyotr Verzilov after his reported poisoning months later. She has been subject to arrest by Russian authorities' numerous times, leading to her fleeing Russia to Georgia.
The Left Bloc was a social movement that united activists of the Russian left and far-left organizations. It was formed in late November 2015 from a split in the Left Front. It is strongly critical of President Vladimir Putin.
On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians is an essay by Russian president Vladimir Putin published in Russian on Kremlin.ru website 12 July 2021.
Yelena Andreyevna Osipova is an artist and political activist from Saint Petersburg. She became known for her active civic stance — she draws placards on topical political issues and expresses her support for all victims of violence and state repression. Her distinctive artistic style is close to the primitivism and originates in Andrei Rublev's and Dionisy's frescoes.
The white-blue-white flag is a symbol of opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has been used by Russian anti-war protesters. It has also been used as a symbol of opposition to the current government of Vladimir Putin by several personal Internet accounts, and the Freedom of Russia Legion.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is extensively covered on Wikipedia across many languages. This coverage includes articles on and related to the invasion itself, and updates of previously existing articles to take the invasion into account. Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects' coverage of the conflict – and how the volunteer editing community achieved that coverage – has received significant media and government attention.
Marina Vladimirovna Ovsyannikova is a Russian journalist who was employed on the Channel One Russia television channel. She worked for Russia's main evening newscast Vremya on Channel One since the beginning of the 2000s, later describing her role as "producing Kremlin propaganda".
"Where have you been for eight years?", "Where have you been for the last eight years?", or "Why have you been silent during the past eight years?" is a rhetorical question widely used by Russian propaganda in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in support of Russia, mainly pointing out what Ukraine has been doing to the Donbas during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), and that the Russo-Ukrainian War has been ongoing since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. It has been described as Russian pro-war propaganda.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in late February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees.
"And now I will show you, where they were preparing the attack on Belarus from" is a phrase widely spread on Runet said by Alexander Lukashenko, which attempts to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine in regards to Belarus. The phrase subsequently became very popular in many countries of the former Soviet Union and started being used as a meme in various videos from mid-March 2022.
On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is a group of federal laws promulgated by the Russian government during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These laws establish administrative and criminal punishments for "discrediting" or dissemination of "unreliable information" about the Russian Armed Forces, other Russian state bodies and their operations, and the activity of volunteers aiding the Russian Armed Forces, and for calls to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian organizations and citizens. These laws are an extension of Russian fake news laws and are sometimes referred to as the fakes laws.
