9
votes
Accepted
Were mines common in Ukraine?
As I detail below, this is a question that is hard to answer with certainty, as much of the data is not recorded (or was never taken in the first place). It would seem that in the 90s, a plausible ...
- 8,861
7
votes
Accepted
Why did Misha give Viktor and Sonya New Year's gifts?
Yes, this is a carryover from the Soviet era, Julian calendar notwithstanding.
A new ideology or religion has better chances of retaining and claiming new adherents by assimilating old well-...
- 602
4
votes
Accepted
Is the "wall of solitude" a reference to Pink Floyd's "The Wall"?
The metaphorical use of “another brick in the wall” to mean “a small component of a much larger structure, system, or process” (OED) was popularized by the Pink Floyd song, but long predates it. The ...
- 53.5k
4
votes
Why did Misha give Viktor and Sonya New Year's gifts?
Ukraine, like many Orthodox countries, celebrates Christmas on 7 January rather than 25 December, as they still follow the Julian calendar for religious holidays. It's only recently that there's been ...
- 71k
4
votes
Accepted
What is a District Militiaman?
It's "участковый" in Russian, a shortened designation of "участковый инспектор милиции" - local police inspector (=district police officer, local policeman). Note that "...
- 735
3
votes
What is a State Duma Deputy?
In some parliaments members are refered to as deputies (the Duma (3rd sentence) being among them). The OED has a relevant definition: "3. A person elected to represent a constituency; a member of ...
- 752
3
votes
Accepted
Why does Wikipedia claim that "Death and the Penguin" was set in 1996 - 1997?
Given that
The Russian edition evidently says 1996 (see the comments)
Both the English and Ukrainian Wikipedia articles identify this as occurring in 1995 - 1996
The last line of the book is "...
2
votes
Accepted
Did it really cost $800 to fly from Kyiv to Rome in 1996?
I don't find this extraordinary. I don't have hard data, but from memory, air travel was relatively more expensive in the 90s. Or rather, perhaps, dirt chip airfares that we are accustomed to today ...
- 602
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