Peter and His Peruke or A Slavic стричь

It’s common knowledge that Peter the First (sometimes known as “the Great,” though whether he was great is still up for debate) introduced a beard tax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_tax). In short, he did everything he could to get those hairy Russians looking more “civilized.”  But beards are not really today’s subject (If you recall, I have a…

Church Slavonic Primer Lesson Eight

Lesson eight of the Church Slavonic Primer is now available. It covers "For unto Thee are due all glory, honor, and worship: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages." You will find the link to the video, the transcript, and listening practice on…

Does Your Insurance Policy Cover Fear?

Recently we talked about reflexive verbs, and we saw that бояться (to be afraid) is in this category. I submit that this verb also, similar to жаловаться, is about an internal action; after all, I could assume that we know the seemingly immortal phrase, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”; not saying that…