[Lazamataz]

And of course the word transliterated to the Latin alphabet as “chto” but pronounced “shto”.

Not necessarily. As someone who was in a Russian Immersion Program and who was carefully tutored by a Russian teacher (she took a particular interest in me because I seemed to take to the language very easily), 'chto' and 'shto' is a dialect thing. In the northern areas, it is 'shto' and in the southern areas it is 'chto'. And it is funny because in America, it is the south that is considered uncultured and backwards, whereas in Russia, it is the NORTH that is considered uncultured or backwards.

[Westbrook]

> In the northern areas, it is ‘shto’ and in the southern
> areas it is ‘chto’.

Yes, the people who taught me were from St. Petersburg area.

But I don’t think any of them would consider themselves as rubes. :)

Amazing people, though.

I love their ascerbic sense of humor and that Russian half-smile.