A. V. Zelenin, Ph.D. philologist. Sciences, Institute of Linguistic Research RAS, St. Petersburg
Phraseologism wise after the event is included in the system of linguistic means that reflect one of the features of the Russian national character, and is one of the so-called auto-characterizing verbal signs; it appeared on the basis of the Russian language and is not borrowed. This stable phrase belongs to the category of nationally, culturally oriented vocabulary that requires commentary for a foreigner, however, the situation itself, which formed the basis of this expression, is not unique and is inherent in many linguistic communities. Consideration of Russian stable usage against the linguistic background of some European languages, linguocultural comparison of lexical means expressing the idea of a “delayed reaction to events” among different peoples will be the purpose of this note.
Morphological structure of phraseological units ( short adjective + creative pad. noun) has deep roots in the history of the Russian language.
In the etymological and phraseological literature there are two hypotheses for the appearance of this phraseological unit: 1) as a result of crossing phrases backdating And think in hindsight; 2) as a truncation of a proverb The guy is strong in hindsight. Even if we accept these hypotheses, the question still remains open: why “hindsight”? In the Old Russian language such an expression is unknown, the formation of the phrase backdating(put, mark, write) should be attributed to the 18th century, when state clerical activities became widespread and paper documents became an integral part of Russian life. The ability to mark a document with a date that has already passed led to the appearance of phraseological units in the clerical lexicon of employees in the Peter the Great era in hindsight(later version backdating), which then quickly penetrated the common language.
Collocation hindsight finds analogous support in the word-formation and syntactic features of the Russian language of the 18th century. With a fair degree of probability, one can even establish the time of origin of the expression: the turn of the 30s-40s of the 19th century: it is not yet found in the language of the 18th century, it is also not recorded in the Pushkin Dictionary of the Language, however, writers of the 40s (Gogol, Dal) already it is being used.
The paradox of phraseological units wise after the event is that it contains an intraphrase oxymoron. In the linguistic consciousness of the 19th century, the semantic unusualness of the combination hindsight required semantic support either in synonyms or in antonyms or oppositional phrases.
What verbal signs was this phraseological unit closest to semantically? Obviously, the verb catch yourself“suddenly remember, grab something, think of something needed or forgotten” or particle maybe.
That the semantic scope of the verb catch yourself (too late) turns out to be the closest phraseological unit wise after the event, is confirmed at least by the fact that when interpreting the latter, lexicographers resort to the help of this verb.
Russian maybe this is the subject’s almost total hope for a future positive (or at least neutral, painless for him) result and outcome of the matter, embracing the entire consciousness and behavior of a person and paralyzing his activity.
What is more in phraseological units? wise after the event for the Russians themselves - bravado, bitterness, narcissism, irony or grin?.. It seems like a little bit of everything.
So, is it really so “hopeless”? hindsight, which strong Russians? Do not despair, because in the national character as well as in proverbs and sayings not everything is so unambiguous and straightforward.
Belated intelligence is, of course, not only characteristic of Russians, but the verbal expression of this concept in different languages is carried out in a unique way. Self-critical Poles, like the Russians, also generalized this manifestation of intelligence, character and behavior as their national characteristic mądry Polak po szkodzie“The Pole is wise (smart) after trouble, damage.” The Czechs call it this: late bycha honí“the rush would be too late” or mysli mu to až třeti den“thoughts (reach) only on the third day.” Bulgarians call this quality: I'm sure they'll die“It came to mind too late” , kusno sescha“It’s too late to realize it, to guess.”
The Germans associate a similar action or state with delayed thoughts: ihm kommen die besten Gedanken hinterher“The best thoughts always come late.”
The English express this concept as follows: to be wise after the event"to be smart (wise) after the event"
In the French, the concept in question is expressed by the phrase (avoir) l'esprit de l'escalier“smarts on the stairs.”
Thus, the birth of phraseological units wise after the event(through variable components) in Russian can be attributed to the 30s and 40s of the 19th century. The semantic scope of the phraseological unit was formed at the semantic “crossroads”: under the influence of the verb phrase it's too late to realize it, particle words maybe, and also possibly a non-verbal gesture scratch your head. A contrastive comparison of this Russian phraseological unit with similar phraseological units in other languages, which generalized different ideas about the situation “to realize it too late, to be late in making the optimal decision,” shows its original, unborrowed character.
- - With hindsight, guess, understand, etc. Simple. Iron. Later, some time after the incident, after thinking about it...
- - See MIND -...
- - Smart, but backwards...
IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people
- - See RANKS -...
IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people
- - REAR, -yaya...
Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
- - Living with hindsight is smart and backwards. How could a gypsy have the same mind in front that a peasant has in the back! Wed. As this trouble began, Grigory guessed, you see, he is also strong in hindsight, that things were bad.....
Mikhelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
- - A Russian person is strong in hindsight. Living with hindsight is smart and backwards...
Michelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (orig. orf.)
- - Razg. Iron. Hears poorly; somewhat deaf. Then they talked about some kind of funeral, about some kind of wedding... Ustinya didn’t understand anything - she had a hard ear...
Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
- - Living in hindsight...
IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people
- - see Russian back...
IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people
- - People's Disapproved First do something, then think about it. SHZF 2002, 556; DP, 482...
- - Razg. Iron. Not able to think in time and make the right decision. DP, 642; FSRY, 212, 494; ZS 1996, 109; BMS 1998, 586; SHZF 2001, 79; BTS, 320, 468, 1385; FM 2002, 557...
Large dictionary of Russian sayings
- - French crepon, from crepe, crepe. A type of woolen material...
Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
- - See inappropriate.....
Synonym dictionary
- - noun, number of synonyms: 2 strong matter...
Synonym dictionary
- - adj., number of synonyms: 1 deaf...
Synonym dictionary
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Last updated: 08/22/2015
Almost always, when we look back at the past, we understand: everything was so predictable, how could we not have foreseen this then?
This tendency of people to believe that past events were more predictable than they actually were is called hindsight bias or the fallacy of retrospective determinism.
Usually only after the event itself do people begin to believe that they knew in advance what its outcome would be. This phenomenon has been demonstrated by scientists in a number of different situations, including politicians and sporting events. In experiments, people often believed their predictions were much more accurate than they actually were.
Examples of delayed judgments
For example, researchers Martin Bolt and John Brink (1991) asked college students to predict how the U.S. Senate would vote on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Before the Senate vote, 58% of participants were confident that Thomas would get the job. After the appointment, 78% of respondents said they were confident that it would take place.
A belated judgment is characterized by a single phrase: “I knew it.” For example, after a match we insist that we knew who would win.
During your studies, you may also have encountered this phenomenon: when reading a complex text that ends with completely logical conclusions, we begin to think that the information is quite simple. “Well, naturally,” we say to ourselves after reading about the results of the experiment. - “I thought so.”
This can be a dangerous habit for students, especially when exam time comes around. Assuming that you already know everything, you may refuse the opportunity to repeat the material again and be in trouble.
When it comes to testing your knowledge, having confusing answers to test questions will force you to admit that you weren't all that well prepared. By being aware of this problem, you can avoid awkward situations and problems in your studies.
Reasons for the tendency to make delayed judgments
So what exactly causes this cognitive bias?
- First, people tend to distort or even forget their previous forecasts. Just like when we look back on past thoughts, we tend to believe that we actually knew everything in advance.
- Second, people tend to view past events as inevitable. When assessing what happened, we tend to believe that it was inevitable - which only enhances the effect.
- Finally, people also tend to believe that they can foresee certain events.
When all three factors are present, we are more likely to succumb to delayed judgments. When the film ends and we find out who the killer really is, we remember our initial impressions of this character and understand that even then there was something wrong with him. We go through all the situations, go through the minor characters - and come to the conclusion that, taking into account all these variables, it was already clear what would happen. One could even leave the session before the end of such a predictable film, but in most cases people do not do this. This says something.
(meaning) - about an improvident, late-realizing person (Explanatory Dictionary, 1935-1940, for the word “back”).
- "The Rusak is smart, but with hindsight"
- "Russian back is smart"
The Rusak is strong in hindsight.
This is how the famous Russian historian (1841 - 1911) in the “Course of Russian History” describes the origin and meaning of this proverb:
“In the fight against unexpected snowstorms and thaws, with unforeseen August frosts and January slush, he became more cautious than prudent, learned to notice consequences more than set goals, cultivated the ability to sum up the art of making estimates. This skill is what what do we call in hindsight. Proverb Russian man is strong in hindsight completely belongs to the Great Russian. But hindsight is not the same as afterthought. With his habit of hesitating and maneuvering between the unevenness of the path and the accidents of life, the Great Russian often gives the impression of indirectness and insincerity. The Great Russian often thinks in two ways, and this seems like double-mindedness. He always goes towards a direct goal, although often not well thought out, but he walks, looking around, and therefore his gait seems evasive and hesitant. After all you can't break through walls with your forehead, And only crows fly straight, Great Russian proverbs say. Nature and fate led the Great Russian in such a way that they taught him to take a roundabout route onto the straight road. The Great Russian thinks and acts as he walks. It seems that you can come up with a crooked and more tortuous Great Russian country road? It was as if a snake had slithered through. But try to go straighter: you will only get lost and end up on the same winding path. This is how the action of the nature of Great Russia affected the economic life and tribal character of the Great Russians."
Examples
(1809 - 1852)
" " (1842), vol. 1, ch. 10 - The postmaster suggested that Chichikov was actually Captain Kopeikin. He talked for a long time about Captain Kopeikin, who was missing an arm and a leg. Having finished the story, he realized his mistake, since Chichikov had all the limbs:
“Here the postmaster screamed and slammed his hand as hard as he could on his forehead, calling himself publicly in front of everyone a veal. He could not understand how such a circumstance had not occurred to him at the very beginning of the story, and admitted that the saying was absolutely true: “ Russian people are strong in hindsight"."
Hindsight
hindsight no different from the front. He is also smart in Africa. Expressionstrong in hindsight illustrates the habit or manner of some people to act first and think later. That is, such people begin to think or reflect on their actions after they have done something, and done it wrong. After which, after thinking carefully, they begin to redo it as it should. (for example, when looking for a job, you sometimes need to update your resume, for which you use a special resume update service). Although simple life logic dictates that you first need to think carefully, and only then do it. Then the result will be positive. Calculations made by various analysts and economists show that time spent on preliminary thinking about upcoming actions saves time by 150-200%. For example, I thought about it for half an hour and completed the work in an hour, which would have taken an hour and a half to two hours without thinking about it.Hindsight - a very interesting expression. I wonder what it looks like and how the back mind differs from the front mind?
Nothing
Still with an expression strong in hindsight related to the (purely Russian?) habit of scratching your head when something doesn’t work out. Puzzled scratching of the back of the head (as in the back of the head) is associated with in hindsight .
Other interesting expressions from Russian speech:
Know by heart - this expression is familiar to everyone from school. Know on
The expression tit for tat is quite simple and understandable, like Newton’s third law. Means
One of the main versions of the origin of the expression If the mountain does not go to Mohammed,
Expression There is life in the old dog yet with a high degree of probability it went
One more, last legend, and my chronicle is finished...