# Russian translation requested
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 18, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177 "2025-04-18T16:35:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/1 "2025-04-18T16:35:15Z")
Can someone translate this? Google translate chose:
“Fate strokes on the cheek”, which makes no sense… to me anyway. Maybe its a Russian proverb
[Linky..](https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-geo-images/74e838d7-121d-40bf-9c05-21818ed81f22_l.jpg)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/2 "2025-04-18T16:47:04Z")
Chat GPT say:
The text in the image is in Russian and reads:
“Судьба не гладит по щеке, она бьет по ебалу.”
Translated loosely and with the tone preserved:
“Fate doesn’t caress your cheek — it punches you in the fing face.”\*
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/3 "2025-04-18T16:50:12Z")
Thanks. Does that “fing” represent ‘fucking’?
Is fuck a word in Russian?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/4 "2025-04-18T17:05:59Z")
Yes, it represents fuck. I don’t know enough to know where the vulgarity is if any. The profanity seems to not exist in the original, so I’d drop it in the translation. I think that’s an extra bit it added for the hell of it
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/5 "2025-04-18T17:16:12Z")
We’re getting to the point where AI is adding (censored) profanity for the Hell of it? That’s… Frighteningly impressive.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/6 "2025-04-18T17:24:34Z")
Sure seems like it, but I’ll let a Russian speaker figure out what’s going on. I do see “face” in Russian is similar to at least a Polish word meaning “to fuck,” which I believe is a word common in Slavic languages, so I wonder if that’s part of it.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/7 "2025-04-18T17:44:02Z")
Very curious, now I’m really interested in seeing what the translation is to a native speaker.
And what the heck is AI tossing random vulgarities in for, ha ha?
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### Author:  [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/8 "2025-04-18T17:50:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> We’re getting to the point where AI is adding (censored) profanity for the Hell of it? That’s… Frighteningly impressive.
ебало in Russian doesn’t mean simply face but is a vulgar expression for face, so fing face is actually a correct translation, AI didn’t add profanity.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/9 "2025-04-18T17:54:41Z")
> [@LouMa](#):
>
> but is a vulgar expression for face,
What would be an English equivalent?
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### Author:  [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/10 "2025-04-18T18:06:29Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> What would be an English equivalent?
Since I am not an English native speaker I don’t know. But as far as I know English doesn’t have a vulgar expression for face. If English is your mother tongue, what would you call a face in vulgar language?
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/11 "2025-04-18T18:09:40Z")
You might be right, I can’t really think of anything. “Pie hole” jumps to mind, but that’s not really vulgar - more crass?
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### Author:  [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/12 "2025-04-18T18:13:19Z")
I think it is more vulgar, fucking face is probably what the speaker wanted to say. By the way, what is the context of this expression? It sounds like a proverb.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/13 "2025-04-18T18:19:44Z")
It was on a t-shirt for sale.
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### Author:  [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/14 "2025-04-18T18:26:18Z")
Ok, so I think it is meant as a proverb.
If you agree depends on which cards you have been dealt by fate…
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/15 "2025-04-18T18:33:49Z")
Yeah, I just realized it would be similar to _morda_ in Polish, the Slavic language I know, which is a vulgar word for face. And this is where the question of how you want to translate it comes into play, as “fucking face” probably conveys the emotion and naturalness correctly, but maybe a touch more vulgar. However words like “gob” or “trap” or “kisser” sound either forced or quaint or just too weak. So you have to make compromises.
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### Author:  [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/16 "2025-04-18T18:38:51Z")
In translation you always need to find a compromise, one-to-one equivalents are very rare. You need to find out what the speaker wanted to say and then find an expression which conveys his idea. You translate what he means not what he says literally.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/17 "2025-04-18T18:42:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> We’re getting to the point where AI is adding (censored) profanity for the Hell of it? That’s… Frighteningly impressive.
It actually is seriously impressive, but I’m pretty sure GPT isn’t throwing in the vulgarity just for the hell of it. I think the clue is in the introductory sentence, “Translated loosely and with the tone preserved”.
I mentioned elsewhere that GPT is exceptionally good at translating idiomatic expressions with the exact nuance of the original preserved. But sometimes there isn’t an exact equivalent in the target language, and sometimes even exactly equivalent words don’t exist. So you build the best approximation you can. I’m pretty sure that’s what GPT was doing here, giving you not just the literal meaning but also the tone of the original.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/18 "2025-04-18T18:55:58Z")
Yeah, it can meat snout, mug, fucking mouth. It’s an impolite word for face.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/19 "2025-04-18T18:56:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> However words like “gob” or “trap” or “kisser” sound either forced or quaint or just too weak
Fate doesn’t caress your cheek — it punches you in the fuckin’ kisser?
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-translation-requested/1017177/20 "2025-04-18T19:25:55Z")
It has the same root as a Russian word for to fuck ( **Ебать** ), but I don’t know enough about etymology to understand the connection. Like in English fuck means a lot of things in Russian (fuck around, fuck off, etc.).
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