Like Hand and Glove...

Even when I get it right, I get it wrong...

As if it's not enough that "torture" and "flour" translate into the same word in Russian (albeit with different stresses), I found another layer to this linguistic travesty this weekend, whilst cooking from a Russian recipe.

So, I'm happily boiling potatoes, chopping cucumbers and soaking prunes when it suddenly occurs to me.

I don't know the word for "soak" in Russian.

God knows what I was supposed to do to those prunes, but I don't know the word "soak," so that can't be it! I grab the recipe in a panic. I scan the page. Oh-oh. I don't recognize this verb I'm supposed to be implementing on the prunes. I've spent 45 minutes in the kitchen soaking these bobbing fruit, and now it looks like I should have been doing something else--but what?

I study the word. Well, I finally decide, there are two possibilities of what this word could derive from: "to wet" or "to torture." I glance up at the soaked prunes again. I read the instruction again: "Torture prunes for one hour." I look up. How does one torture prunes?

I turn to my trusty dictionary. And discover that Amnesty International can rest easy. The prunes are not slated for torture, but a soaking.

I resumed feeling confident and smug, trying to forget that for one long moment I had wondered if I was supposed to torture the prunes.

And the recipe turned out smashing. :) And no prunes were hurt during its creation--other than when they were humanely chopped after their soaking.