# Why Do Russians Find The Word "Pedestrian" So Amusing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340 "2010-12-25T05:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/1 "2010-12-25T05:15:16Z")
Why is it that people who speak Russian seem to find the English word “pedestrian” amusing? Does this word translate into something funny/obscene in Russian? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/2 "2010-12-25T06:01:07Z")
In Russia, pedestrians amuse you! Sorry, I got nothing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/3 "2010-12-25T06:32:32Z")
Very likely because it’s close to педераст (_pederast_), the general term - and by that I mean not particularly offensive or bigoted - for ‘homosexual’. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/4 "2010-12-25T06:38:27Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Very likely because it’s close to педераст (_pederast_), the general term - and by that I mean not particularly offensive or bigoted - for ‘homosexual’. Thanks. Does the word “helicopter” have any connotations in Russian? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/5 "2010-12-25T07:59:02Z")
It might, but my Russian slang dictionary is packed tight in a box pending the last leg of the move I just went through. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/6 "2010-12-25T08:11:42Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Very likely because it’s close to педераст (_pederast_), the general term - and by that I mean not particularly offensive or bigoted - for ‘homosexual’. That’s interesting. Does it come from the same root as the English word, which means male-male pedophile? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/7 "2010-12-25T10:37:47Z")
Seeing as how English borrowed the word from Greek, my money’s on ‘yes’. I don’t want to derail the thread with a debate on the meaning of the word itself, but I would like to say that from what I gathered in chasing the etymology down, the word doesn’t imply strictly pedophilia. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/8 "2010-12-27T05:40:26Z")
Are these pedestrians of the Red Sea variety? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/9 "2010-12-27T15:41:07Z")
Of course we find the word “defect” amusingly similar to “defecate”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/10 "2010-12-27T15:52:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Of course we find the word “defect” amusingly similar to “defecate”. 😛 Only if your name is Bevis or Butthead. Henh, henh. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/11 "2010-12-27T16:24:09Z")
[quote=“Olentzero, post:3, topic:565340”] Very likely because it’s close to ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/12 "2010-12-27T17:34:22Z")
Pederast is from the Greek _paido_ - boy, + _erastes_ - lover, literally a lover of boys, and this was the primary meaning in English. It later acquired the secondary senses of one who practices anal intercourse; a male homosexual. (Information from OED Online). ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/13 "2010-12-27T20:48:13Z")
Yeah, but these ‘boys’ ranged in age up to - as I understand it - the early 20s. The focus was more on the age difference rather than the age of the object of affection/lust. Also there seems to have been an element of mentorship to it, at least as far as the classic Greek civilization was concerned. **Neptunian Slug** , you wanna finish that thought? ETA Be **a** vis. But I’m just feeling pedantic tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/14 "2010-12-27T20:58:45Z")
Huh, Tapatalk must have fritzed on me. Basically, all I said was that your explanation seemed to be plausible. I just never got the impression from any of my Russian friends that there was anything humorous about the word. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/15 "2010-12-27T22:10:51Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > : > > Originally Posted by Lumpy > > Of course we find the word “defect” amusingly similar to “defecate”. > > Only if your name is Bevis or Butthead. Henh, henh. Or Robin Williams in _Moscow on the Hudson_ ---
**Author:** ![gelid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@gelid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gelid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-russians-find-the-word-pedestrian-so-amusing/565340/16 "2010-12-29T19:31:40Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Very likely because it’s close to педераст (_pederast_), the general term - and by that I mean not particularly offensive or bigoted - for ‘homosexual’. Just a data point: In France I often hear people use the word “pédé” to refer (offensively) to a homosexual. I’ve always assumed it too derives from “pederast.”