"We always could send Looter guy for Vodka run for Vlady LOL!"
Posted on 03/09/2008 1:00:44 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
MOSCOW – A joke circulating among Russians these days has Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev waking up in the Kremlin in 2023 with vicious hangovers.
Putin says to Medvedev: “Which of us is president and which of us is prime minister today?”
“I don't remember,” Medvedev replies. “I could be prime minister today.”
“Then go fetch some beer,” Putin says.
The new odd couple in Russian politics has become ideal fodder for keeping the cherished, and in Soviet times, once dangerous Russian tradition of poking fun at leaders through satirical jokes called “anekdoty.”
The latest crop of jokes plays on Russia's new power-sharing agreement – where Medvedev will be sworn in as president on May 7 and Putin, his stern mentor and predecessor, will serve under him as prime minister. The jokes tend to tap into the widespread speculation that it's really Putin who will be the boss.
Puns are crucial in many of the jokes about Medvedev, whose last name stems from the Russian word for bear. In one, Putin is asked if he will have Medvedev's portrait in his office.
An angry Putin replies: “I'll put his hide on the floor instead.”
Anekdoty have long been a litmus test of public opinion and individual liberties in a country where in the past people faced exile, prison or worse for expressing their opinions directly.
“Anekdoty sometimes live for a day and sometimes survive for centuries,” said linguist Sandjar Yanyshev. “They remain the main genre of oral tradition in Russian folk culture.”
George Orwell once called the joke “a tiny revolution.” Nowhere was that taken more literally than in the Soviet Union, where people circulated jokes at their peril about the nation's communist leaders.
Soviet citizens told stories lampooning Josef Stalin's heavy Georgian accent. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, was ridiculed for his redneck joviality.
Leonid Brezhnev was mocked for his mumbling speech and his later senility, while Mikhail Gorbachev was ridiculed for his reputedly domineering wife and for his short-lived campaign to eradicate alcoholism.
Even after the Soviet Union, the anekdoty tradition survived.
Russians told tall tales built around President Boris Yeltsin's heavy drinking, and even the popular Putin could not escape barbed jokes about his KGB history and his use of salty slang.
Anekdoty remained mostly an oral tradition until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the first printed anthologies often outsold serious novels.
With the emergence of online media and text messages on mobile phones, Russians today can openly joke about their political leaders – although not on national television. “Kukly,” or “Puppets,” a popular satirical television show on Russian politics, was closed down in 2001 after the Kremlin objected to Putin being lampooned.
Over the years, the Kremlin has tightened controls on the mass media, and that, perhaps, has led to a modest revival of anekdoty.
In the online poll at anekdot.ru, one of the most popular Medvedev jokes is one that clearly pinpoints the puppeteer in Russia's politics.
In the joke, Putin takes Medvedev to a restaurant and orders a steak. “What about the vegetable?” the waiter asks. Putin looks at Medvedev and says, “The vegetable will have steak, too.”
We always could send Looter guy for Vodka run for Vlady LOL!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: never in all of history, either ancient or modern, has it been a good time to be a Russian.
Putin takes Medvedev to a restaurant and orders a steak. “What about the vegetable?” the waiter asks. Putin looks at Medvedev and says, “The vegetable will have steak, too.”
That IS funny.
I wonder how you say “I’m Rick James’ b*tch!” in Russian?
Then the waiter asked, "What about the vegetable"?
Putin then said, "He'll have the steak, too."
re: “Next Russian president already the brunt of jokes”
AP’s headline writer does not seem like a native English speaker. You can be the “butt” of jokes, or you can BEAR (or feel) the “brunt” of jokes, but a person himself cannot be the “brunt” of a joke in this context — the “brunt” is the force or thrust or power of the joke, not the person himself.
butt 3 Pronunciation Key
n. 1. One that serves as an object of ridicule or contempt: I was the butt of their jokes.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
brunt
–noun
the main force or impact, as of an attack or blow: His arm took the brunt of the blow.
[Origin: 1275–1325; ME; perh. orig. sexual assault; akin to ON brundr, G Brunft heat, ruttish state, OE brunetha heat, itching; c. OHG bronado. See burn1]
—Synonyms thrust, stress, burden.
YEAH I wonder about that this sound Chappelle show LOL!
You got ask one of freepers who know Russian
"We always could send Looter guy for Vodka run for Vlady LOL!"
Monk you forgot somebody in that capiton
Where is ugly dog you know world ugliest dog remember that UGLY DOG BTW Animal planet going reshow that contest next week sometime LOL!
Wow..... I can go with that.
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