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Monday 25 June 2012

170:Русская смекалка - improvisation?

In Russia nothing is wasted. things are re-used wherever possible and often, as here, the second usage of an item has nothing to do with the original use.
I think this adaptation of a pallet* is an example of русская смекалка but if any of my Russian friends disagree then do please tell me and suggest a better translation, in Russian, for what they can see in the picture.
It puts me in mind of the old story where in Space it was discovered that ball-point pens wouldn't work in conditions of weightlessness. The Americans spent millions on research to develop a pen that could write upside down. The Russians used a pencil. Maybe it's apocryphal, and maybe not.
I guess the thinking is that if the children go home with a splinter in the bottom (осколок в попе) it will toughen them up.


*Do not confuse pallet with palate or palette. A pallet is 'a platform for moving goods' or 'a makeshift bed'; palate means 'the roof of the mouth' or 'a person’s ability to distinguish between different flavours' ( flavours that appeal to the palate); a palette is 'an artist’s board for mixing colours'.

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