Well, how can this be so that the word of the Russian language is incomprehensible to the Russian person? Do not rush to call such a person stupid, because the matter may not be in his narrow horizons and ignorance of his own language, but in the fact that this very word refers not only to the Russian language, but to its special layer, intended for special communication between a certain circle of people . For example, can you reliably decipher the lexical meaning of "little things"? Not? Then read the article to the end.
About Russian
The Russian language is rightfully recognized as one of the most difficult languages ​​in the world. And it's not just about the difficult rules of grammar. The richness of the vocabulary of our great and powerful is also small with what linguistic composition it can compare. According to the Large Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language, it contains more than 131 thousand words, plus derivatives from them. And these are just the words of the modern literary language, the use of which is normalized and recognized as appropriate in all spheres of human life, in any situations.
Literary language is a canonical version, but besides it there are also other layers of the language, the use of vocabulary of which is limited to a certain circle of people - whether it is professionalism (words specific to a particular profession) or dialecticism (characteristic of a particular locality). Such sublanguages ​​within the Russian language include jargon.
What is jargon?
Jargon is a special language that is characteristic of a certain group of people (in particular, people serving sentences in places not so distant or freed from there). Such a language consists of specific vocabulary, which is incomprehensible to a simple person. However, jargon does not replace all the words of a normalized language, but designate only those concepts that are associated with the peculiarities of their life and relationships. Jargonisms are expressive, colorful, emotional, but the main purpose of their use is not to convey the whole gamut of feelings that the speaker experiences, but to hide that information that is intended only for the elite. That is, people belonging to his circle. That is why the meaning of slang words is so often incomprehensible to us.
And now, more specifically ...
Jargon is rich in unusual words and phrases. Let’s analyze one of them, the word is malyava ’. If you simplify the meaning of the word, it will mean nothing more than "letter", "note".
Subtleties of use
The meaning of "little things" is understandable, but the features of its use still need to be clarified. First of all, you can call “message” the message that is sent from one prisoner to another by a specially organized secret prison mail.
Secondly, the "little one" is a kind of prison newspaper, a letter that tells all the news about the life of prisoners, all the decisions that the "Zekovo elite" made on the "gangway". So the prisoners keep each other up to date on the latest important events. Keep their community.
Also, the "letter" is called a letter of recommendation that accompanies the future prisoner in prison. It is written by more authoritative "convicts" for the beginner. In such a report, they talk about all the misconduct of a future member of the prison family and about all his "achievements." They write about what you can expect from a person, how to relate to him, whether you can trust him. The fate of the future prisoner depends on such a “little thing” - whether or not he will be accepted into the prison community, and what place he will occupy in it.
Well, the fourth meaning of the word is negative for prisoners. In this case, the "little thing" is a denunciation. A message to the head of the prison about one or another misconduct of a prisoner, violation of discipline, about an impending escape ... But you never know what can be told to the authorities! "Roll the penny" - this is the surrender of his comrade in prison - a low and despicable thing. Such scammers are not respected in prisons, information about them is also distributed in other colonies in order to prevent the close communication of other "good prisoners" with a vile traitor. That is why most prisoners prefer not to knock on others.
In addition, the "little thing" can be "rolled", being at large - to report to the police about the impending or already committed crime. At the same time, not only the criminals themselves, but also ordinary residents can “dash off” it. So, for example, if some woman wrote a statement to the district police officer about a rowdy neighbor who robbed her apartment, then he would tell his fellow friends that she had “rolled a dime” on him.
Thus, the “little thing” in jargon is a multi-valued word. Its meaning depends on the specific situation in which it is used, on the speaker’s intonation, on his position in the prison hierarchy.
The origin of the word "little one"
What does this mean, we figured out. Now let's think about how this word could have been formed. Well, of course! "Malyava" is something that is "painted", that is, painted, written ... In a word, portrayed on paper. By the way, however strange it may seem to us, the original word is borrowed from the children's language. After all, many remember the name of children's drawings - "kalyak-malyaki", and the fact that children still do not draw, but only "paint", many also know. And so it turns out that the “little thing” is not just jargon, but the word migrated from the innocent language of children to a completely different sphere of existence.
Why do we need this?
Of course, we do not wish anyone that this word, and indeed jargon, should be used for its intended purpose where its use is, in general, most appropriate. However, to know your language, all its facets, each side of it - this is a really interesting and extremely exciting affair. In addition, sometimes the use of jargon in ordinary speech can be a means of expressiveness, a way to convey special emotions, to make speech more expressive, vivid. Therefore, the more we know about our mother tongue, the more means in our arsenal of means for its unusual and expressive use.