Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used (Russian Edition)

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Customer Reviews:

Morbid curiosity.... [Posted on 2005-04-04]
Somewhat reluctant to buy this book, I let my curiosity get the best of me and am I ever glad! I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my sofa. Will these words ever be used? Maybe not by me, but at least I will know what the taxi driver is grumbling under his breath next time I'm over there. This book contains a few idiomatic expressions that can be used in polite company, and quite a few more that you will need if you end up in a bar, - it covers everything from how to toast to how to "hook-up". More importantly, if you know what insults people, you'll better understand how not to insult people.

The "Russian" some RUSSIANS never knew exsisted! [Posted on 2006-07-29]
This book is definitely not for the faint of heart! Vulgar or not, Topol exposes Mother Russia. Speaking proper Russian will only get a mediocre "C" in a Russian University ... maybe pre-k teaching job . Topol's Russian will get you the presidecency! - This book might explain Rasputin's appeal. One must realize that Russians do not hold much back in the way of expressing one's emotion as opposed to American counterparts...True, foreign speakers have to be mindful of what is said, but that applies to Americans, since we are notoriously personas non-gratas in practically every country we invade. In typical Russian conversation, an adult granddaughter would ask her grandmother " how were 'girls' and if they were getting any bigger (chest) and if her nether was region getting any hairier." Shocking as it might seem, this type of exchange is embedded in the Russian culture, both beautiful and lurid. To take the good, you'll have to swallow the bad...it wouldn't hurt to know a few good words on your next business trip!!The only down side to the book was the lack of accent marks, which my Russian friend had to keep correcting.

I would strongly NOT recommend this book. [Posted on 2007-09-24]
This review is for those who want to learn Russian language with respect to people who speak this language, to the literature which is written in this language and to the language itself. Those who want extremes and adore to savour ambiguity of criminal world language would not benefit from this review.
Imagine a book contains all the words you turn red of when you hear them, which consists of the worst slang words, a book which is full of scabrous, indecent and improper phrases. Now imagine you bought this book, you got to learn all the words and phrases from it and went to Russia happily picturing yourself talking "real Russian". The least thing you will meet on the Russian streets talking such a "real Russian" would be misunderstanding and aversion. The worst thing - you can be arrested or even beaten up by some aggrieved citizens.
That is not a language we teach our children, it is not the one which is used in good literature, it is not the one which was growing with the country and interlaced with its many-centuries history.

Almost perfect, but no stress marks [Posted on 2007-12-29]
This is an entertaining, well-written little book, and it covers a wide range of colloquialisms, vulgarity, and obscenities. Much of the language is extremely crude and...vivid, but you shouldn't expect anything different if you're buying a book focused on everything you won't learn in a Western classroom. And to briefly address the negative reviews: Some of you guys are really insane; it's not that the book presents things that are inaccurate or untrue, but apparently several people here are in denial that Russia has some nasty insults and slang. In English, there are plenty of nasty, rude, disgusting, vulgar, etc. words and phrases. They aren't used in all situations, and some people don't use such words at all, but all English speakers KNOW these words. If you want to be fluent in Russian, one aspect is knowing what bad words and insults are. The author never suggests going around insulting people...he just gives you the information.

Anyways, the book has quite a large number of words and phrases, and also gives short but interesting introductions/backgrounds to the various topics. The only problem I have with the book is the poor transliteration and the lack of stress marks. For instance, the Russian o is an "ah" sound if it's unstressed, and although the book will give a transliteration, it doesn't show a stress mark, nor does it account for the change in pronunciation of the unstressed/stressed o's. I also noticed that sometimes e is written instead of , which can be confusing for a learner.

Overall, the content is great (assuming you don't want to shelter yourself from anything that isn't polite and proper), but the book comes up short as far as pronunciation tools.

A "Must Have" for students of Russian. [Posted on 2008-07-28]
The previous reviews cover just about everything I wanted to say about Dermo. I am very pleased with this book and do NOT agree with the negative reviews.

In regards to the missing stress marks, I have another small book called "Dictionary of Russian Obscenities" (available from Amazon), which lists all the same words and DOES have stress marks. However, it is not nearly as entertaining as Dermo.

I highly recommend this book!

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