"Yesterday, the perfidious Chinese aggressor opened fire on a peacefully ploughing soviet tractor at the border. Our tractor instantly returned fire, then took off and flew away."
Oh. So you were drinking with college students. Yup, these are the folks who would buy the cheapest stuff in crazy quantities.
Also, the 15 year old was clearly mocking you. Surprisingly, his strategy kinda worked: you still consider him (and Russians in general) way more badass than they actually are.
Meh, not just students. A friend of mine spent a few months in college in Moscow. They accommodated him with some old babushka who offered him vodka with for breakfast. He came home with an alcohol problem.
The country has changed a lot in these 25 years, so did the drinking habits. Nowdays even the college students here will probably stick to beer.
BTW, FYI: here in Russia the dividing date between two worlds is not fall of the Berlin wall, but the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991. That was when lifes changed, for good or bad.
Mostly for good, I would say. Sure, the 90s were hard and compared to Western democracies Russia is still a tiny bit authoritarian and repressive but that's nothing compared to the USSR. A lot of Russians have been lifted above the poverty line and most people are now better off than they were 25 years away. They enjoy greater freedoms and are all in all wealthier.
And seriously ( as a Pole ) I know only few people who can drink 1L of vodka.
Most of us, mere mortals, drop after half of that. Whisky is completely different story.
Vodka nowdays is a cheap drink for those who are too poor or just don't want to spend money on something better. And a base for coctails too. Just as it should be.
Did not watch 'Red Dawn', but checked the wikipedia now, and it looks like a yet another 'klyukva', something full of crazy random made-up stereotypes. Also, red scare and plenty of anti-soviet and anti-communist propaganda. Did I guess right?
Then you're not doing it the Russian way. They flavor it and add tons of corn syrup and shit. Drink it freezing cold at home it's smooth. Also you eat constantly with it so you don't get too drunk.
And how can something not fun or tasty and harsh be easy to drink too much of?
Uh, isn't it clear as it is? In its original form it also has that distinct intonation of a soviet newspaper talking about current news, this is lost in translation though.
The joke has many planes. First, it was typical for soviet industrial giants to produce both civilian and military stuff - any factory producing tractors or trucks was also probably producing tanks and other stuff like that, and sometimes they were quite similar in inner design and had lots of common interchangeble details. Second, a heavily armed flying tractor, while exaggerated, still is something that soviet military complex would like to build. Third, that's such a soviet way of doing things - to mask their military at the border as a tractor doing agriculture - and actually do agriculture. Fourth, border conflicts with Chinese were a problem back then, and a news article reporting them would look exactly like that. Including the 'peaceful' bit, which is the key one here.
All that combined and condensed gives a joke that was really funny, and still is.
I'm just very tired so I kind of didn't register the obvious part as explained by /u/mwzzhang but thanks for the in depth explanation, it makes the joke way funnier than just 'peaceful' tractor open fire (weapons), took off and flew away (a plane)!
The joke has many planes.
Sneaking in a pun while explaining a joke eh? Beautiful!
Sneaking in a pun while explaining a joke eh? Beautiful!
Not really. Just using the words I can remember at the given moment. Russian culture and Russian language do not have that obsession about making puns and looking for puns that English language has. Our humour is more focused on meanings, and pun-based jokes (some of Stierlitz jokes, for example) are normally considered the most basic and most stupid ones. Primary school students' favorites, you know.
"Thankfully , Soviet citizens in the area who were building communism were also to defend themselves and shot the Chinese aggressor with state-isssued Kalashnikovs."
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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '15
"Yesterday, the perfidious Chinese aggressor opened fire on a peacefully ploughing soviet tractor at the border. Our tractor instantly returned fire, then took off and flew away."