Phraseologisms and winged phrases occupy a separate place in the vocabulary of the Russian language. They have special histories of origin and unusual, often unpredictable, meanings.
We often hear them and use them in speech. So for native speakers there is nothing unusual in expressions such as “Like a cow licking your tongue” or “Goal like a falcon”. Many do not pay attention to how strange these expressions sound, for example, for foreigners.
The meaning of "pies with kittens"
The peculiarity of phraseological units and winged expressions is that when explaining their meanings, it is not necessary to interpret each word separately, it is enough to remember and know their meaning as a whole.
The main feature of the expression "These are pies with kittens" is that it does not carry a strong semantic load. When you insert this phraseology into your speech, you might as well not have done so. Because the idiom “Here are such pies with kittens” can be easily replaced by the interjection “Like this”.
Why then use this expression? Like many others, it is used for the emotional component. This phraseology is appropriate to say when you reported something, and the conclusion is not very comforting, or describe a situation that ended in sadness.
Use
Consider some examples of situations in which it is appropriate to use the phraseology "pies with kittens":
"Honey, I got kicked out of work because I didn't indulge the stupid desires of my boss. These are the pies with kittens." Here the expression is sadly ironic.
"If we moved to another area earlier, we would not have lost so much money. These are the pies with kittens." And here phraseology sounds even darker.
“It seems that the athletes will participate in the race much more experienced than me, but I promise that I will train hard and will do my best to come to the finish line first. These are the pies with kittens!” In this case, phraseologism has an encouraging and even encouraging character, which should brighten up the sad meaning of the phrase itself.
Origin
So why all the same pies with kittens? Turning to the origin of phraseological units, one should already interpret their meaning literally. The direct meaning of the expression "pies with kittens" already sounds horrific. Especially if you know the continuation of this phrase. "These are the pies with kittens - they eat, and they squeak." And this phraseological unit originates, like many others, from ancient times.
Many years ago, crop failure often occurred in Russia due to insufficiently well-developed agriculture and an unstable climate. The result was severe hunger. In such a rainy season, people had to eat cattle first, and then even pets. However, eating cats was considered nonsense, and they were always left last. But when the hunger was so strong, people had to reluctantly start eating cats.
This phenomenon entered into the memory of the people, and the expression “pies with kittens” appeared, meaning an extreme case of a very sad state of things. It is good that now the origin of this expression has already been erased from the memory of the people.