Legion Media
Привет! Today let’s talk about the bear, one of the unofficial symbols of Russia.
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Bear is “медведь” in Russian, but we often amicably refer to it as “мишка”.
“Мишка” comes from the male name "Миша" - the diminutive of "Михаил".
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By the way, the Moscow 1980 Olympic mascot is called “олимпийский мишка”, and his official name is also Миша.
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We might also fondly call a bear “косолапый” (clubfooted).
The two nicknames combined then sound like “Мишка Kосолапый”, which is also a popular name for the character of the Bear in fairy tales or children's songs.
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In folklore, a bear can also be called by other diminutives of the name "Михаил", like “Мишутка” and, formally, using the 'first name' and patronymic e.g. “Михайло Потапыч”.
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Check out more lessons in our Telegram channel, using the tag #russianclasses!
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