Language can be a tricky thing.
We've learned a handful of useful Russian words, to varying degrees of exactness. One that's particularly useful is ВОДА, the Russian word for "water." It's pronounced "vaDA," with the accent on the second syllable. Problem is, "vada" is kind of close to "water," which makes the word easy to remember, but also easy to accidentally mispronounce as "VAda" or even "VAta," with the accent on the first syllable.
"VAta," it turns out, is actually another Russian word (in Cyrillic, ВАТА). It means "cotton balls." So that time I bellied up to the bar, asked for a drink of water, and the bartender laughed at me? Yeah, now I know why. Or, at least, I think I do--I just hope that ВАТА doesn't have some other, secondary meaning, known and giggled at by any Russian above elementary school age.
...And if I should need a cotton ball I am set! What is the plural though???
We're on the left. Elena's on the right. She was in Russia. That's why we went.
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