RussianЕхать зайцем (Yekhat' zaytsem)
Meaning: To ride a train or bus without paying.
Literally: To ride as a hare
Example: “В студенчестве он частенько ездил зайцем.” — As a student, he often rode the tram without paying.
Equivalents in other languages
Italian: Fare il portoghese Literally: To do the Portuguese
Swedish: Att smita från notan Literally: To slip away from the bill
Origin: Заяц, the hare, already meant a certain kind of railway passenger in Chekhov's story В вагоне (In the Carriage, 1881): one who pays the conductor on the quiet instead of buying a ticket. The image is usually explained by the hare's timidity, the fare-dodger trembling at every inspector. Other explanations call it a calque of French voyager en lapin (to travel as a rabbit), or say the word first meant theatergoers who slipped in without a ticket; none of these is confirmed.
More Russian idioms
- После дождичка в четверг (Posle dozhdichka v chetverg) Never — or certainly no time soon.
- Зарубить на носу (Zarubit' na nosu) To remember something firmly, once and for all.
- Водить за нос (Vodit' za nos) To deceive or string someone along.
- Бить баклуши (Bit' baklushi) To loaf about doing nothing.
- Остаться с носом (Ostat'sya s nosom) To be left empty-handed or outwitted.
- Как сельдь в бочке (Kak sel'd' v bochke) Packed together very tightly.
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