Cheery

 

                                                                                             

It appears Donald Trump has been joking about lauching nuclear missiles from the

roof of his projected White House ballroom. I am kind of giddy on the nuclear question

myself, these days. Looks like we have made it to the other side of the Nuclear Obliteration

tunnel. And I'm sure Vladimir Putin was excited to give us the news, The new Oreshnik

 missile makes nuclear weapons obsolete. Below:

Oreshnik...

'Putin has also praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack'

from: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-threatens-ukraine-and-europe-with-hypersonic-missile-deployment-in-belarus/ar-AA1JJI07?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=e97da9270ba047c983e0d3de12fbb52c&ei=17

So we can get through the worse case scenatio war without invoking nukes. Awesome. We

need no lomger fear one false move could seriously jeopardize all life on Earth, a gnawing

fear we post-war babies have lived with in the pit of our stomachs our entire lives!!

Now all we have to worry about those Oreshnik missiles themselves. Fine, the bar to world 

peace has been lowered and there is no deterrence to this type of weapon! But as Medvedev 

has reminded us, Russia still has the Dead Hand retaliation system. We can annihilate every spark

of life on Russia's territory and nuclear retribution would detonate automatically, with no chance 

of calling it off. Cheery!!**

                                                              *     *     *

 Copilot:

                                                                               

Every morning, I check in on the weather in various cities from my Microsoft Weather app. Today, it has been raining in Moscow, and I am happy enough with the information I am getting. But could you - for the fun of it - help me decypher the Russian language paragraph? 

Thanks for sharing that! The Russian paragraph in the alert reads:

"В дневные часы 07 августа на территории Москвы ожидается кратковременный дождь, местами ливень и гроза."

Here’s the translation:

"During the daytime hours of August 7, short-term rain, localized downpours, and thunderstorms are expected in the Moscow area."

So if you're imagining a moody Muscovite morning with dramatic skies and the occasional rumble—you're spot on. Want to explore how other cities are faring today, or maybe dive into some Russian weather idioms for fun?

Where is 'Moscow' in the message? Show me the translated message using the word order of the original...

Great question! Let’s break it down word-for-word to match the original Russian structure:

Original Russian: В дневные часы 07 августа на территории Москвы ожидается кратковременный дождь, местами ливень и гроза.

Literal Translation (preserving word order): In the daytime hours of August 7 on the territory of Moscow is expected short-term rain, in places downpour and thunderstorm.

Here’s how it maps out:

В дневные часы – In the daytime hours

07 августа – August 7

на территории Москвы – on the territory of Moscow

ожидается – is expected

кратковременный дождь – short-term rain

местами ливень и гроза – in places downpour and thunderstorm

So yes, "Москвы" is the genitive form of "Москва" (Moscow), meaning "of Moscow"—used here to indicate location. Russian loves its cases!

Want to play with more Russian phrases or maybe learn how to say “It’s raining cats and dogs” in Russian style?

Give me “It’s raining cats and dogs”!

Russian doesn’t have a direct equivalent of “It’s raining cats and dogs,” but it does have some colorful expressions for heavy rain. Here are a few fun ones:

🌧 Russian Sayings for Heavy Rain

Льёт как из ведра Literal: “It’s pouring like from a bucket” Meaning: It’s raining very heavily.

Дождь стеной Literal: “Rain like a wall” Meaning: The rain is so dense it looks like a wall of water.

Хлещет как из ведра Literal: “It lashes like from a bucket” Meaning: A more intense version of the bucket metaphor.

So if you want to say “It’s raining cats and dogs” in Russian style, you could go with:

"Льёт как из ведра!"

Want to learn how to say “Thunderstorm incoming!” or maybe “Don’t forget your umbrella” in Russian too?

Yes, to both...

Love your enthusiasm! Let's keep the weather lingo rolling. Here’s how to say those phrases in Russian:

⚡ “Thunderstorm incoming!”

Идёт гроза! Pronounced: Ee-DYOT gro-ZA! Literal: “A thunderstorm is coming!”

You could also say:

Скоро начнётся гроза! “A thunderstorm will start soon!”

☂ “Don’t forget your umbrella”

Не забудь зонт! Pronounced: Nye za-BOOD’ zont! Literal: “Don’t forget [your] umbrella!”

If you want to sound extra polite:

Пожалуйста, не забудьте взять зонт. “Please don’t forget to take an umbrella.”

Want to turn this into a mini weather-themed Russian phrasebook? Or maybe learn how to ask someone if they like rainy days—in Russian, of course.

                                                                       *     *     *

Let's go back to the original app message. It is normal in English to stress certain syllables when speaking. I am assuming this is also true in Russian...

You're absolutely right—stress is crucial in Russian, just like in English. Russian is a stress-timed language, meaning that the placement of stress can dramatically change the meaning of a word. And unlike English, Russian stress is unpredictable and not marked in writing, so you have to learn it word by word.

...

The accent marks I added to the vowels in the Russian sentence—like á, é, ó, etc.—indicate word stress, specifically:

🔤 What the Accent Marks Mean:

• Acute accent (´) over a vowel (e.g., á) shows the primary stress in that word.

• Russian words typically have only one stressed syllable, and the position of this stress can change depending on the word's grammatical form.

• These marks are not part of standard Russian spelling—they're added for learners to help with pronunciation.

🗣 Why Stress Matters in Russian:

• Stress affects vowel pronunciation: unstressed vowels often reduce or change sound.

  • For example, о in a stressed syllable sounds like /o/, but unstressed it often sounds like /a/.

• Misplacing stress can lead to confusion or misunderstanding, as it may resemble a different word entirely.

🧠 Example:

• за́мок (castle) vs. замо́к (lock): same spelling, different stress, different meaning!

Would you like me to show the IPA transcription of the sentence next, or dive into how stress affects vowel reduction in Russian?

...

 Let's look at the syllabic breakdown of the origibal message, using the interpunct ( · )

Absolutely! Here's the original Russian message with syllables separated by interpuncts (·):

В · дне́в·ны·е · ча·сы́ · 07 · а́в·гу·ста · на · тер·ри·то́·ри·и · Моск·вы́ · о·жи·да́·ет·ся · крат·ко·вре·ме́н·ный · дождь · ме́с·та·ми · ли́·вень · и · гро·за́

This format helps you see the rhythm and structure of the sentence more clearly. If you'd like, I can also mark the primary stress in each word again or help you practice reading it aloud syllable by syllable. Want to try that next?

Could I have an audio?

Yes! You can hear the pronunciation of Russian phrases using online tools. One great resource is the Russian Pronunciation Generator. It lets you paste Russian text and hear it spoken aloud with correct stress and intonation.

Just copy and paste this sentence into the tool:

"В дневные часы 07 августа на территории Москвы ожидается кратковременный дождь, местами ливень и гроза."

You’ll get both the IPA transcription and audio playback, which is perfect for practicing your pronunciation.

Would you like help breaking this sentence into smaller chunks for easier listening and repetition?

https://easypronunciation.com/en/russian-phonetic-transcription-converter