Russians have a user-generated site that contains every single Russian joke that there was: http://anekdot.ru
The site has been up since mid-nineties, iirc.
CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
51–60 of 272 posts
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get it, could you explain it please?
The Russian guy never gave his dog anything. And yet, his methods were so tough and efficient that he taught the dog to speak and beg in human language. Could also contain a nod to the patience and unending hope of the Russians under their "stingy" government but that's likely too deep and contradicting their infinite cynicism and complete lack of faith ;)
That assumes that the speaking dog is a trick. This is hell. This is the afterlife. If dogs are there then they have souls. Id expect such beings to communicate as effectively as anyone else. My first read was that the dog was informing the devil of his mistreatment. We cannot assume that the devil was being completely clear as to how he would judge the excersise. The russian did not win.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#53I like this one: An American tells a Russian that the United States is so free he can stand in front of the White House and yell, "To hell with Ronald Regan." The Russian replies, "That's nothing. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, 'To hell with Ronald Regan,' too."
I love this one:
What would happen if the desert became a socialist country? Nothing for a while, and then there would be a sand shortage.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#54Russians have a user-generated site that contains every single Russian joke that there was: http://anekdot.ru The site has been up since mid-nineties, iirc.
So I had the page translated to English. I think the jokes might be funnier in Russian. Still there is something funny in knowing there is a joke in there ... somewhere.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Inserting jokes is not that easy. A joke needs to be told in person, create laughs and get retold, go viral. Similarly there's no reliable formula for viral videos etc. And, the Russians were pissed enough and cynical enough and often drunk enough to get pleasure from creating their own. Laughing at the cruel unjust absurdity of their Situation was some of the last bit of power they had to form their narrative.
People in all countries make jokes about the problems of their society or lives, or their government or bureaucracy or businesses; you don't have to live in "cruel unjust" absurdity or be "drunk enough" to do so, or be afflicted by any other stereotype or trope.
True, and, it is my belief that the oppression and absurdity (and alcoholism) were taken to extremes during the "commu/socialist" era.
And so the humor was typically cynical, absurd and predominantly dark.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#56Makes me wonder, what jokes is the CIA not declassifying? Yes, this is a call for more Russian jokes.
Brezhnev wakes up and looks out at the rising sun. He says, "Good morning, Comrade Sun!" The sun replies, "Good morning, Comrade Brezhnev!" At noon, Brezhnev stands on a balcony at the Kremlin and looks up. "Hello, Comrade Sun! It's a fine day!" The sun replies, "Hello, Comrade Brezhnev! Yes, it's a fine day!" Just before sunset, Brezhnev looks out and says, "Good evening, Comrade Sun!" The sun replies, "Screw you! I…
Nice :)
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Russian guy never gave his dog anything. And yet, his methods were so tough and efficient that he taught the dog to speak and beg in human language. Could also contain a nod to the patience and unending hope of the Russians under their "stingy" government but that's likely too deep and contradicting their infinite cynicism and complete lack of faith ;)
That assumes that the speaking dog is a trick. This is hell. This is the afterlife. If dogs are there then they have souls. Id expect such beings to communicate as effectively as anyone else. My first read was that the dog was informing the devil of his mistreatment. We cannot assume that the devil was being completely clear as to how he would judge the excersise. The russian did not win.
If you want to take it there, my reading is that the (ordinary, non-speaking) dog was in dog hell and the Russian was its particular type of hell.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#58Russians have a user-generated site that contains every single Russian joke that there was: http://anekdot.ru The site has been up since mid-nineties, iirc.
Alas, my Russian is no longer fluent enough to catch the subtleties, and Google translate is worse than the worst student in my old college Russian classes.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
People in all countries make jokes about the problems of their society or lives, or their government or bureaucracy or businesses; you don't have to live in "cruel unjust" absurdity or be "drunk enough" to do so, or be afflicted by any other stereotype or trope.
True, and, it is my belief that the oppression and absurdity (and alcoholism) were taken to extremes during the "commu/socialist" era. And so the humor was typically cynical, absurd and predominantly dark.
I learned Russian and German in college in the early '80s and knew a fair number of emigrants from the former Soviet bloc (Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, East Germans). They all shared this same sense of humor. Which served them well once they figured out they weren't going to become millionaires just because they made it to the U.S.
Re: CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brezhnev wakes up and looks out at the rising sun. He says, "Good morning, Comrade Sun!" The sun replies, "Good morning, Comrade Brezhnev!" At noon, Brezhnev stands on a balcony at the Kremlin and looks up. "Hello, Comrade Sun! It's a fine day!" The sun replies, "Hello, Comrade Brezhnev! Yes, it's a fine day!" Just before sunset, Brezhnev looks out and says, "Good evening, Comrade Sun!" The sun replies, "Screw you! I…
Nice :)
Remembered another I learned from a Russian.
A man and his wife live in Siberia. Every day she nags him about his drinking and his terrible friends and how he never helps her around the house. It always ends with her yelling at him to go out and bring in some wood for the stove.
One day after the usual fight, the man gets to the woodpile and just keeps walking.
Twenty years later, he returns. He walks into the kitchen, sees his wife, and says, "I'm home!"
"Where's the wood?" she yells.