Mat (language)
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Mat (Russian: мат) is Russian sexual slang, revolving particularly around the use of specific generally unprintable vulgar words. It is believed that the name derives from mat′ (Russian мать, "mother"), where the prime represents the soft sign, which causes palatalization of the preceding t. It is at once almost universally understood and commonly employed, but also held in some cultural disregard, to the point of facing occasional social and legal proscriptions. Depending on context, as in languages besides Russian, speaking it may have the effect of conveying disrespect, congeniality or chic, cynicism, intensification, or self-assertion. Non-native speakers of Russian are generally advised to be conservative about employing the terms or to shun them if they tend not to use their English equivalents.
The key elements of mat are
- khuy (Russian хуй) — penis, or for equivalent colloquial effect, dick
- pizda (Russian пизда) — cunt
- ebat′ (Russian ебать) — to fuck
- blyad′ (Russian блядь) — whore
and various expressions based on these terms. These words can be used in quite some contexts and generate a rather large range of new words based on them. The first volume of the "Large Mat Dictionary" (большой словарь мата) treats only expressions with the word khuy, counting over 500 entries!
A detailed article by Victor Erofeyev (translated by Andrew Bromfeld) analyzing the history, overtones, and sociology of mat appeared in the 15 September 2003 issue of The New Yorker.
See also
External link
- Victor Erofeyev's Bawdy Russian (http://www.kenai-peninsula.org/archives/000023.html)