In the fall of 2013, senior Russian and Middle Eastern Studies major Chase Philpot ’14 begin blogging occasionally on aspects of the Russian language that caught his attention. “I wanted to have a spot where I could publish some of the less academic but, in my opinion, more interesting aspects of the Russian language that I had learned,” he said. Over winter break, Chase read the book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes, in which the author argues that consciousness is a product of language. As Chase put it, “language simultaneously enables and constrains our consciousness, and I believe idiomatic expressions are some of the best ways to gain insight into the underlying psyche and mentality of the speakers of a certain language. My blog is just an informal exercise in cross-cultural analysis–both linguistic and psychological.”
Keep checking his blog for more idiomatic expressions and word play: http://russianwordplay.blogspot.com/
Chase gives a thumbs up on the shores of Lake Baikal during his 2012-2013 academic year abroad
