The Youtuber Perun has a bunch of videos about politics/corruption and the Russian military, and he refers to words in the Russian language. I was wondering to what extent he uses them correctly, and also am curious about origin/etymology and cultural background.
Here’s his definition of ‘Vranyo’: “It’s a pattern of lying that is usually expressed in a scenario wherein you know that I’m bullshitting, I know that you know that I’m bullshitting, but I’m going to go ahead with it anyway and deliver it with a straight face…” at 4:41 in this video
And for ‘Ochkovtiratelstvo’: "That is yet another Russian word for lying, usually used when you’re lying to make something sound a lot better than it is, often yourself. " at 1:07:05 in this video.
Any insight from Russians or Russian speakers would be appreciated.
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Vranyo (Russian: враньё) is a regular informal word for lying - the more formal is lozh (ложь)
Ochkovtiratel’stvo (Russian: очковтирательство) is one of the swear words on the lighter end, and quite uncommon at that, mostly applied to when a person is blatantly and stubbornly lying in an argument. Probably the most common swear word for lying is pizdyozh (пиздёж).
I remember it was a good video , but his definition of “vran’yo” was unnecessarily narrow. “Vran’yo” is pretty much as wide as “lies” in English, not specifically bullshitting, no straight face required, no requirement of doing it systematically, no nothing. So this specific part left me fairly disappointed.
His definition of “Ochkovtiratelstvo” is solid.
So, “vranyo” essentially refers to dishonesty, and is often used in a casual or informal context.
“Ochkovtiratelstvo”, directly translated as “Rubbing in someone else’s glasses”, is akin to terms like “eyewash”, “window dressing”, or “hot air”. This phrase is used when you’re trying to convince someone that something is incredibly luxurious, excellent, or high-quality, even though you’re fully aware that it’s actually of poor quality.
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