Hi! I'm your Russian-speaking friend.
Today we're going to watch Shorts together.
Shorts are short videos on the YouTube platform, or "on YouTube."
Everyone has different tastes.
This phrase means that everyone likes different things.
I, for example, really like the channel of the Belarusian coffee shop "Varka."
If I understand correctly, it's a franchise.
So I'm talking specifically about "Varka" on Grushevka in Minsk.
Have you ever been to Minsk?
I have. In my opinion, it's a very beautiful city with wide streets.
I watch and like a lot of videos
on this channel, and I'm even subscribed.
But you can't see that here, because I'm using a different account,
which I created in order to
publish my own videos in Russian.
Their slogan is "the one and only Varka on Grushevka."
Let me show you why I like their short videos.
Let's watch, for example, this video.
First watch this clip and tell me how much you were able to understand.
Would you like a little bag?
The word "pakétik" is the diminutive-affectionate form of the word "paket" (bag).
When I hear "pakétik," I think of something small or cute.
So the bag that the girl is holding in her
hand can quite reasonably be called a "pakétik."
No, thanks, I'll carry it like this.
Notice that he didn't pronounce "spasibo" (thank you) clearly.
He said "pasibo."
Regardless of the situation, we like
to shorten words, to pronounce fewer sounds,
so "pasibo" sometimes sounds
more natural than "spasibo."
Oh well.
The girl gave up.
She sees that a bag would come in handy for him, but she doesn't say anything.
Notice that the subtitles
are probably generated automatically,
the word "po-vashemu" is written with a hyphen.
A hyphen is a little "minus" sign.
In Russian there is the dash (—) and there is the hyphen (-).
We use the dash in sentences.
The hyphen is shorter in length, like a minus, and is written inside words.
As you can see, the word
"po-vashemu" is usually written with a hyphen.
Don't worry if you don't
know whether to write a hyphen or not,
because even many
Russians don't know the rules and write incorrectly.
And where, in your opinion, should I put this?
On my head?
That's irony.
To this man it seems obvious that a bag is needed.
The girl is confused.
She answers: "I take it you do need one."
From his reply she understood that he does need a bag.
Another man bought something very
small, but still asks for a little bag.
Whereas other customers could
buy more things and decline a bag.
"Yes, sure," she calmly replies and gives him a bag.
She hands him the bag.
A new customer comes in, and the girl again tirelessly asks:
"Do you need a little bag?"
To which she gets a question in return: "For this box?"
The answer is already hidden in this question.
She nods.
The man says: "Are you kidding?"
He thinks he doesn't need a bag.
Obviously not.
Even from his intonation you could tell that he doesn't need a bag.
But the girl is a café employee, so she has to ask.
You can tell from the girl's eyes that she's very tired.
I like this little sketch, because
it shows a working day at the coffee shop.
I've never worked in food service,
so correct me in the comments,
if you disagree with me.
But it seems to me that this looks quite realistic.
First we'll watch together, then
we'll break down what happened in the video.
A customer comes in and immediately sizes up the girl's appearance.
He notices that she has no
piercings, no nose ring, no tattoos.
So he starts to doubt
how good a barista she is.
When he leaves, she takes out her diploma and
tells him that she graduated from law school.
"Yurfak" is the faculty of law.
That is, she's a lawyer. Possibly an attorney.
This new information makes the man in the jacket look back.
In the description it says:
"By the way, Anya really does have a legal education."
Let's read the comments.
Molodoy 7565 writes:
"Five years to be a lawyer, hop-hop, and you're a barista."
It's a fun rhyme.
"Law diploma = cool barista."
This short clip is also built on the urban legend that
a good barista must necessarily
meet certain criteria.
And a law diploma is one of those joking criteria.
What's notable is that this man in the jacket is actually
the director of this coffee shop on Grushevka.
The next comment is from Aleksey.
"Nikita looks so suspicious, but he himself has
no piercings, no nose ring, no tattoos,
and he's supposedly the coffee shop director."
By the way, in Russian we often
leave parentheses at the end of a message.
Two parentheses means a big smile.
About how to correctly place these
parentheses, I could make a separate video.
If you're interested in that, write to me in the comments.
Steila2013 writes: "I'm actually
a lawyer, and coffee is just, you know, for the soul."
This is a reference to another well-known
phrase that taxi drivers often say.
In films and in real life, taxi drivers in Russia and in
the post-Soviet space, in the CIS countries,
often say that they actually have, for example, a business.
And the taxi is just, you know, for the soul.
Finally, let's watch one more very short video.
Tell me, this salmon quiche, is it filling?
Yes, it's enough to feed five people no problem.
I don't think I know five people without problems.
The man asked whether the quiche is filling.
The girl answered him yes, it's filling, and that it's so
filling that five people could eat it and be full.
"Filling" implies the feeling
of being satisfied, when you eat and eat and get full.
To which the man replies to the
girl that he doesn't know five people who have no problems.
Five people without problems.
Because he heard her answer differently.
It seemed to him that she meant this quiche would feed
exactly five people who have no problems.
Because "no problem" depending
on context is understood differently.
In the comments people started writing similar puns.
For example: "Champion, can you beat him?
I'll beat him even blindfolded.
And what if his eyes aren't blindfolded?"
Here it was meant that the person who says he can
beat someone is so good at it,
that even if his
eyes were blindfolded, he would still manage.
But his interlocutor thought that the eyes should be blindfolded not on
the one who's going to do the beating, but on the one who's going to be beaten.
So he asked: "And what if his eyes aren't blindfolded?"
Someone writes: "So that there are no
problems, KiSh (Korol i Shut) should be listened to, not eaten."
Notice how this word is written here.
In this context it's an abbreviation of the rock band Korol i Shut (The King and the Jester).
The commenter suggests listening to this
band instead of eating quiche.
That's also a funny play on words.
The clips from the "Varka" coffee shop on Grushevka are soothing for my soul,
and it's very pleasant for me at the end of the
workday to read the comments and have a laugh.
That's all for today. Thanks for watching.
See you soon!