Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
it was the bees' nuts
Russian translation:
это было классно
Added to glossary by
Vents Villers
Jul 10, 2003 08:50
21 yrs ago
English term
30 + years hand in hand with chem. texts
Native in: Latvian 
Works in: English to Latvian, Russian to Latvian
the bees' nuts
English to Russian
Art/Literary
From M. Burgess "Junk" (p.12):
I had a nice little job serving tea to tourists. Actually, looking back, it wasn't a nice little job at all, it was slave labour. And only in a place as terminal as Minely-on-Sea could serving people tea be deemed exciting. But I thought it was the bees' nuts, and anyway it was some money in my pocket.
I had a nice little job serving tea to tourists. Actually, looking back, it wasn't a nice little job at all, it was slave labour. And only in a place as terminal as Minely-on-Sea could serving people tea be deemed exciting. But I thought it was the bees' nuts, and anyway it was some money in my pocket.
Proposed translations
(Russian)
Proposed translations
+2
9 hrs
xeni (X)
Native in Russian
xeni (X)
Native in: Russian
Works in: English to Russian, Russian, Russian to English
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Selected
это было классно
как-то так
bee's knees - 1923, a survivor of a fad around this year for slang terms denoting "excellence" and based on animal anatomy. Also existed in the more ribald version ***bee's nuts***. Other versions that lasted through the century are cat's whiskers (1923), cat's pajamas, cat's meow. More obscure examples are canary's tusks, cat's nuts and flea's eyebrows. The linguistic custom was still alive in Britain at the end of the century, as attested by the appearance of dog's bollocks in 1989.
bee's knees - 1923, a survivor of a fad around this year for slang terms denoting "excellence" and based on animal anatomy. Also existed in the more ribald version ***bee's nuts***. Other versions that lasted through the century are cat's whiskers (1923), cat's pajamas, cat's meow. More obscure examples are canary's tusks, cat's nuts and flea's eyebrows. The linguistic custom was still alive in Britain at the end of the century, as attested by the appearance of dog's bollocks in 1989.
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22 mins
Larissa Dinsley
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in Russian
United Kingdom
Royal Experience in Translation
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1104
не такая уж и плохая работенка
Похоже, что это игра слов. Есть выражение bee's knees, которое ознаяает "классный". По-видимому, автор играет словами nuts and knees.
1 hr
NATALIIA MARCHAL
Native in Russian
Also a good consultant
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Но тогда мне такая работа была за счастье....
да и деньги стали водиться в кармане.
3 hrs
Сергей Лузан
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Native in Russian
Russian Federation
Always welcome! :)
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1673
подходящая халтурка
просто редакция, в основном с Натальей в предыдущем ответе. nuts - энтузиаст; горячо поддерживающий ч-л /к-л. The Random House Dictionary, ISBN 0-394-51200-6.
Удачи и успехов, Ingemaars!
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Note added at 2003-07-10 12:12:02 (GMT)
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\"Но ... эта халтурка была весьма кстати\".
Удачи и успехов, Ingemaars!
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Note added at 2003-07-10 12:12:02 (GMT)
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\"Но ... эта халтурка была весьма кстати\".
6 hrs
работал, как сумасшедший, ненормальный
My understanding:
to drive anybody nuts = to make him/her mad, to drive bees nuts = to make bees to work like mad (harder than they normally do).
to drive anybody nuts = to make him/her mad, to drive bees nuts = to make bees to work like mad (harder than they normally do).
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