There’s a concept known as “grammar Nazi,” even covered on Wikipedia. It started as an internet meme and refers to people who are extremely meticulous about language accuracy. Naturally, it has no actual connection to Nazism or fascism, though the joke went far enough that an emblem, based on Nazi symbolism, was created for the term (and rumor has it this even led to law enforcement issues).
But the term has taken root, and people often use it in conversation—when correcting someone, they might say they’re a “grammar Nazi” and thus don’t tolerate such mistakes.
I was naturally lucky; Russian came easily to me in school, even though I didn’t study the rules all that much. I have an internal sense of the language. Over time, I’ve always been interested in the meanings of rare words and in which words people most commonly misuse. I even corrected some of my own speech mistakes as soon as I learned about them.
Then, just the other day, I stumbled upon a book called 50 Deadly Sins in the Russian Language, with a bold cover to boot. Naturally, I couldn’t resist picking it up.
The book is rather slim, just 80 pages, and even these pages aren’t densely packed with text. The author takes a word or a typical mistake, briefly explains its meaning or the error, and, importantly, illustrates it with a custom drawing. Admittedly, there’s some profanity in the text, which might bother some readers. I’ve become more neutral towards it in recent years, though I still don’t always understand the need to throw it around so liberally.
In short, the book is interesting but brief. You certainly couldn’t call it a comprehensive scholarly work. The real intrigue lies in who the author is and where the book came from.
The author goes by the pseudonym “The Russian Teacher.” And, as has become common lately, all the book’s material initially appeared online. Under this name, a 27-year-old Russian language enthusiast who could also draw started a Telegram channel—”Учитель русского | Русский язык“—in 2018. He posted these short illustrated explanations and quickly gained a large following (currently, the channel has almost 40,000 subscribers).
All his followers believed in his persona until, right before the book’s release, he confessed he wasn’t a teacher. He did graduate from the Philology Department in Bryansk, but his degree was in journalism, and the illustrations were actually drawn by someone else based on his ideas. But he pulled off a great character!
Naturally, he’s shared much more in his blog than the 50 most typical mistakes. And it’s no coincidence I mentioned “grammar Nazis” at the beginning. The author describes himself as such, even briefly noting it in the book’s foreword.
His tone is unique, more akin to that of someone around 35 going through a midlife crisis (or existential crisis, as the book calls it). His cynical style is sprinkled with profanities, adding the kind of flavor beloved by younger internet readers (sometimes, I still cringe at this trend). But overall, it reads well, fitting the playful tone he sets. And the illustrations are often on point with decent jokes.
I hadn’t heard of this author or his Telegram channel before, so this type of book debut is definitely a way for modern bloggers to gain more attention. For example, I got curious, checked out his channel, and found it entertaining.
The book does differ from the blog, of course. First, it’s loosely divided into sections. Each section has a brief introduction, which the blog doesn’t have. And while the book contains fewer entries, the notes sometimes differ from the blog both in text and accompanying images.
It’s a quick read; some rules resonate more strongly (for example, it’s nice to see someone else knows there’s no “ё” in “афера”), while others seem fairly obvious. Nonetheless, the book is just an introduction. You’ll find much more in the author’s Telegram channel, which I headed to right after finishing the book, adding another subscriber.
P.S. By the way, my blog also has a Telegram channel, but I’m still far from 40,000 subscribers: https://t.me/knari_gluk
My rating: 3.5/5
