Linguistic fireworks... po-russki

Putin's at it again with some interesting phraseology...

As Pravda (and everywhere else in the .ru news world) reports, Putin is not so happy about Latvia's claims to parts of Pytalovskii raion, saying that they'll get "от мёртвого осла уши" or the ears of a dead ass, literally. Has to be said it's a step up from one or two of his more notable pronouncements on Chechnya - Jamestown has a good discussion of the use of coarse langauge and vulgarisms (not to be confused with mat) with suitable 'Russian is being wrecked worried tones'.

Continuing the ass theme, one might conclude from Derzhavin's poem that the only useful part of your average ass is his (or her) ears:

Осел останется ослом, (An ass remains an ass)
Хотя осыпь его звездами;(Even if sprinkled with stars)
Где должно действовать умом,(Where he should use his head)
Он только хлопает ушами. (He just flaps his ears).

Can't argue - and the Russian sounds looovely...