# Why would Russian need a word for "the seller of dead cats"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421 "2005-10-02T04:03:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/41 "2013-06-03T19:17:09Z")
> [@dant.kz](#): > > how about 1 word ‘epiphany’? You’re almost eight years too late. See post 28. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/42 "2013-06-03T19:30:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You’re almost eight years too late. Do the French have a word for that? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/43 "2013-06-03T21:22:45Z")
Oh, and as regards vaginas, English also has a word specifically for a vagina that a baby is coming out of: “Birth canal”. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/44 "2013-06-03T21:44:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, and as regards vaginas, English also has a word specifically for a vagina that a baby is coming out of: “Birth canal”. Not to be confused with “Love Canal” which also has a topical meaning in the USA. > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > This is inaccurate. It’s an idiomatic expression. My dictionary defines it as … > My Japanese colleagues say that they rarely use this expression. Maybe you need some friends with a sense of humour? > [@clairobscur](#): > > Actually, it’s “l’esprit d’escalier” (wit of staircase). The French can be wordy and poetic, even when it’s not called for. “Les papillons d’amour” for example. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/45 "2013-06-04T01:17:35Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > **cigerci, Turkish for a seller of liver and lungs?** Because offal [internal organs and other bits that are not wanted by well to do people] sells - and if one lives in the ‘slums’ and doesn’t have much in the way of money, one buys what one can afford - in this case organ meats. Who knew, turkish haggis?!😛 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/46 "2013-06-04T01:18:21Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Maybe you need some friends with a sense of humour? I hadn’t noticed that this was a zombie thread until I came to my response, which I don’t remember making. I wonder if there is a Japanese word for that. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/47 "2013-06-04T01:26:51Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The French can be wordy and poetic, even when it’s not called for. “The problem with the French people is that there’s no word in the French language for _entrepreneur_.” – George W. Bush. (Ok, not really.) ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/48 "2013-06-05T23:29:17Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Do the French have a word for that? _ **Cerveauuuuuuuuuuux** _. [sub] Or so says Google Translate.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421/49 "2013-06-06T04:58:06Z")
A lot of this is exaggerated for effect. Take for example: > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > while Argentinian gauchos use 80 to 100 different words for horses. Is that so unusual? Horses have been an important companion, transportation, and work animal to humans for thousands of years. How many English words are there for horses, besides the basic _horse_: By sex: mare, stallion, stud, gelding, spay. By age: foal, weaning, yearling. By age & sex: filly, colt. By breed temperament: warmblood, coldblood, hotblood. By ancestry: sire, dam. By reproduction: Maiden, (term for a stallion that has not bred, which I can’t remember). By size: mini, pony, cob, draft. By gait: pacer, trotter, ambler. By bloodline: purebred, crossbred, mixedbreed, grade. Obsolete terms: charger, courser, palfrey, rouncey. That’s nearly 30, and no doubt I’m missing some. And this is without even going into the 40-50 different breeds of horses. So it doesn’t seem so strange for Argentinian gauchos to have a lot of terms, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-russian-need-a-word-for-the-seller-of-dead-cats/324421.md?page=2)