Umm, the only thing that struck was the player offending the Russian waitress by calling her "mama" ha ha which is like the West Point Cadets and their fists, like ya know, fucking Why? Necessary? Worth it?
So can I take today's posts as a sitewide recommendation that I blow off work today (while sick/at home) and start another of my periodic attempts to study Russian? (Coincidentally I am listening to Russian colleagues give a virtual presentation at work, but in English.)
Umm, the only thing that struck was the player offending the Russian waitress by calling her "mama" ... Why? Necessary? Worth it?
I didn't read it as being intentionally offensive. Here's how Kate Fagan frames the interaction (emphasis mine):
THE SERVER AT Truffaldino has just appeared at the side of the table, and Taurasi is doing her best to make the interaction smooth.
"Hey, mama," Taurasi says.
But the woman does not react to -- or perhaps has not understood -- the colloquial greeting and instead waits for the drink order.
"Can I have sparkling -- Perrier, sparkling water?" Taurasi says. "Bella gas? Da, spasibo, Pellegrino." (Spasibo means thank you.)
"And I'll have Earl Grey tea," says Griner, who is sitting next to Taurasi. "As you can see, Dee speaks all the Russian."
"No, I just go at it," she says.
"Dee speaks all the Russian," Griner repeats.
"I like to say 'Spasibo, mama' -- it's kind of, you know ..."
Griner interrupts: "It's putting some Dee flavor on it."
And, just to give some context for her professional accomplishment, here's what wikipedia says about her last couple of seasons on the Russian club:
Season 2013-2014 saw the UMMC team repeating in winning Russian Championship and Cup, but falling short in Eurolegue competition, losing in the semifinal game against eventual champion Galatasaray; these occurrences repeated in 2014-2015 season with UMMC losing in the Euroleague final against czech's USK Praha, in a game where Taurasi had to sit out with a broken hand.
The injury and the consequent loss in the Euroleague final had a big role in the decision of UMMC club to offer Taurasi a deal to skip her 2015 WNBA season to rest. Taurasi choose to accept the deal, giving up the WNBA title defense and returning to Phoenix Mercury only in 2016; her decision spread a big debate in USA about salary policies in women's professional sports compared to Europe and China.
In 2015-2016 Taurasi was back to UMMC, leading the team to its third (and her sixth personal) Euroleague title, while also earning MVP honors.
5:You skipped this part
The server reappears with the tea and sparkling water, placing both on the table.
"Spasibo, mama," Taurasi says.
The woman bristles.
"See, she didn't like that," Taurasi says. "She's like, 'You might get put in jail.'"
Griner is laughing; she covers her face with her extra-large palm, shaking her head. "Oh my god," she says.
5:You skipped this part
I knew that was the part that we were talking about, but the question was whether she was intentionally giving offense or not. Kate Fagan says that, no, it was not intentional, which would suggest that Taurasi's, "See, she didn't like that" was a reaction after the fact.
I agree, though, that's one of the interesting moments in the article and worth talking about -- because it highlights the central theme -- the ways in which they experience foreignness living in Russia and how that is, or isn't relaxing compared to their experience in the US.
OP#2 isn't really a case of life imitating art, since the art was inspired in part by those real-life events, right? Although I do find it amusing that their parents like the show.
4: Pufftarainiya Mott oochainiya
What struck me is how dull both women seemed--in a good way--the author (an ex-jock herself) allowed them to have the basic dullness of most great athletes...
The second story answered one of my questions about The Americans, which is what the fake ordinary-American Russian Directorate S people actually were there for (assuming they actually existed and assuming that they probably weren't doing kung fu assasinations and generally being the most sexy badass Felicity Felicity could ever be). Messengers between embedded Americans with secrets to share and their KGB handlers at embassies. Makes sense.
The woman from OP#2 worked for the real estate outfit we used (Redfin) at the same time we were househunting, so I had to check at the time if she had shown us any houses. Sadly, she had not.
What struck me is how dull both women seemed--in a good way--the author (an ex-jock herself) allowed them to have the basic dullness of most great athletes...
That's a nice point, thanks.
I haven't watched The Americans but I saw Keri Russell in person once and she could have fit comfortably in my shirt pocket, her Felicity-era hair included.
Keep your Borrowers sex fetishes to yourself, perv.
Or maybe that's too judgey. If a teency tiny nude Keri Russell who lives inside your shirt pocket is what the heart wants, who am I to say that it's wrong.
When I was getting my MFA there were some appearances of Small Favors ("Meet Annie, a bisexual, masturbation crazy nympho sucked into the earth by the Queen of Her Conscience and given a six inch taskmaster named Nibbil") around the place. Some people were into it, some passive-aggressively left it lying around for their housemates to find, some raised their eyebrows and said, "Those girls certainly are... spirited."
Yikes. Please don't tell me there is "Honey I Shrunk The Kids: Erotic Edition."
There's an old Piers Anthony short story about a dude who has to have sex with a foot tall alien?/biological human construct from the future?/something else crazy and made up? So that his sperm can be used to save an entire race of people with all of it's genetic goodness. As I recall, her vagina was both expandable enough to handle his dong and an inter dimensional portal to somewhere that the jizz would be put to good use. Piers Anthony: the proto-Rule 34 content generator.
As I recall, her vagina was both expandable enough to handle his dong and an inter dimensional portal to somewhere that the jizz would be put to good use.
If you consider that ordinary space is three dimensional, human vaginas can do both of those.
20: the only bit of that comment that made you go "ugh" in retrospect was the misplaced apostrophe? You are a monster, sir.
21, on the other hand, could not be improved on any front.