Trump Calls Putin "Tough Cookie," Kremlin Unsure of Meaning, Talks "Linguistics Analysis;" Media Hypothesizes

[Navarro]

"Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refrained from commenting on US President Donald Trump’s remark about Russian President Vladimir Putin being a 'tough cookie' in his view ... 'The Russian language and the English language are both very rich,' Peskov said. 'Naturally, some politicians eagerly use the richness of their mother tongue.' He added that the Kremlin preferred not to indulge in linguistic analysis."
http://tass.com/politics/936464

"he used the American idiomatic expression tough cookie, literally - 'hard cookies.'
Russian: https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2017/03/19/tamp-putin-krepkiy-oreshek
English: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Feadaily.com%2Fru%2Fnews%2F2017%2F03%2F19%2Ftamp-putin-krepkiy-oreshek&edit-text=

"The difficulty of translation - what Trump meant by calling Putin 'a tough nut to crack;' Pushkov ridiculed the 'paranoid' accusations ... Idiomatic American expression tough cookie (literal - hard cookies), the US president described his Russian counterpart ... according to the linguistic reference books, the expression 'tough cookie' in the American version of English has a positive connotation: this is usually said of a person who should be treated with respect and some caution. The publication 'Akademik' gives the following variants of the translation of this idiom: She was one tough cookie - It was a tough girl. He's a tough cookie - He's a tough guy. Also among the translations there are variants: a strong nutlet; cool person; cool man; A man with whom it is difficult to cope. Pushkov ridiculed the new charges"
Russian: https://riafan.ru/668896-novosti-ssha-krepkii-oreshek-putin-pushkov-o-paranoie-porka-dlya-kndr-sanders-oboshel-trampa
English: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Friafan.ru%2F668896-novosti-ssha-krepkii-oreshek-putin-pushkov-o-paranoie-porka-dlya-kndr-sanders-oboshel-trampa&edit-text=

"The Kremlin responded to Trump's words about a 'tough nut' ... The Kremlin does not engage in 'linguistic analysis.' This was stated by presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a request to comment on the fact that US President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin 'a tough nut to crack'"
Russian: http://www.rbc.ru/politics/20/03/2017/58cfaa209a7947b0652226f6
English: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rbc.ru%2Fpolitics%2F20%2F03%2F2017%2F58cfaa209a7947b0652226f6

"I do not know V. Putin, but he is a tough nut - Trump"
Russian: http://belrynok.ru/2017/03/ne-znayu-v-putina-odnako-on-krepkiy-oreshek-tramp/
Translated: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbelrynok.ru%2F2017%2F03%2Fne-znayu-v-putina-odnako-on-krepkiy-oreshek-tramp%2F&edit-text=

 

[Navarro]

It would appear unwise to use idioms when describing other world leaders, or to otherwise describe them without knowing your chosen wording will be understood with precise accuracy. I'm reminded on when JFK informed Germany that he's a "jelly doughnut." Like JFK, Trump's gaffe proved harmless. I didn't have to though, especially considering it was a remark about the leader of America's great rival.

"At the height of the cold war, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech in which he uttered a phrase that interpreted from Russian as 'we will bury you.' It was taken as chilling threat to bury the U.S. with a nuclear attack and escalated the tension between the U.S. and Russia. However, the translation was a bit too literal. The sense of the Russian phrase was more that 'we will live to see you buried' or 'we will outlast you.'"
http://mentalfloss.com/article/48795/9-little-translation-mistakes-caused-big-problems

"Ban Ki-moon appeared to be breaking with five years of standing U.N. policy toward Sudan, telling two French news agencies in an interview that he would try to prevent Africa’s largest country from splitting into two nations in a 2011 referendum on independence for southern Sudan. 'We’ll work hard to avoid a possible secession' ... set off a major international incident in Sudan, prompting Sudan’s southern leaders to accuse the secretary-general of interfering in the South’s decision to determine its own political future. Southern Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, wrote a letter this morning to Ban, saying his published remarks constituted 'an erroneous description of the U.N.’s role as a guarantor' of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended one of Africa’s bloodiest and longest civil wars, and offered southerners the right to vote on independence in January 2011 ... Ban told the French reporters that he favors a unified Sudan, saying, 'We will try to work hard to make this unity attractive' ... AFP apparently mistranslated the English language interview in its first French version of the story, and then repeated the mistake in English"
http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/02/02/how-a-translation-error-led-to-an-international-incident/

 

[Train]

Isn't tough cookie a compliment?

 

[Navarro]

Isn't tough cookie a compliment?

The point is, the Russians didn't know what he meant. It's important that the Russian president not misunderstand the American president in the midst of a cold war. It's a tense time, and the Russians are very suspicious of America. America is behaving in an adversarial fashion, and the Russian people haven't forgotten the time when Reagan called them the "Evil Empire." The Russians very much resented that, and feared the implications of America perceiving Russia to be "evil."

 

[Doc]

Isn't tough cookie a compliment?

The point is, the Russians didn't know what he meant. It's important that the Russian president not misunderstand the American president in the midst of a cold war. It's a tense time, and the Russians are very suspicious of America. America is behaving in an adversarial fashion, and the Russian people haven't forgotten the time when Reagan called them the "Evil Empire." The Russians very much resented that, and feared the implications of America perceiving Russia to be "evil."

- "Take great care not to be spotted!" someone said.
- "Don't worry, I'm used to being a gray cat" I bragged.

Everyone laughed their asses off. In Norwegian a gray cat is something that dissapears in the dark. It would appear that somewhere in the english (or american?) world it means prostitute.

 

[Train]

Isn't tough cookie a compliment?

The point is, the Russians didn't know what he meant. It's important that the Russian president not misunderstand the American president in the midst of a cold war. It's a tense time, and the Russians are very suspicious of America. America is behaving in an adversarial fashion, and the Russian people haven't forgotten the time when Reagan called them the "Evil Empire." The Russians very much resented that, and feared the implications of America perceiving Russia to be "evil."

- "Take great care not to be spotted!" someone said.
- "Don't worry, I'm used to being a gray cat" I bragged.

Everyone laughed their asses off. In Norwegian a gray cat is something that dissapears in the dark. It would appear that somewhere in the english (or american?) world it means prostitute.

Ah I see

Maybe we should just not compliment the Russians :lol: