полтора землекопа (poltora zemlyekopa)
Meaning: An absurdly small group; a nonsensical quantity that defies rational measure.
Language: Russian
Literally: one and a half diggers
Category: The Absurd
Origin: An old Russian phrase mocking the absurdity of counting people in fractions, used to describe a ridiculously tiny workforce.
More idioms — The Absurd
- на честном слове и на одном крыле (na chestnom slove i na odnom kryle) — Succeeding or surviving by the barest margin, through luck or desperation rather than sol…
- ври больше (vri bolshe) — An expression of dismissive disbelief; an ironical way of saying someone's story is uncon…
- пускаться во все тяжкие (puskat'sya vo vse tyazhkiye) — To abandon restraint and indulge recklessly in vices or wrongdoing without scruple.
- хоть ложись и умирай (hot' lozhis' i umiray) — There is no escape or solution; one must accept an impossible or desperate situation.
- хоть убей (khot' ubey) — For the life of me; under no circumstances or condition could one do something.
- хоть умри (khot' umri) — No matter what the cost or consequence; absolutely and without exception.
More Russian idioms
- язык проглотил (yazyk proglotil) — To be unable or unwilling to speak; to remain silent when words are called for.
- метать бисер перед свиньями (metat' biser pered svin'yami) — To offer something precious or refined to someone incapable of appreciating it.
- сушить сухари (sushit' sukhari) — To prepare oneself mentally and materially for imprisonment or arrest.
- отбросить копыта (otbrosit' kopyta) — To die, to kick the bucket.
- чепуха на постном масле (chepukha na postnom masle) — Complete and utter nonsense or rubbish.
- пан или пропал (pan ili propal) — To risk everything on a single venture; all or nothing, sink or swim.
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