What does the expression according to Hamburg counting mean? Intuitive understanding of expression based on context
What is a Hamburg bill? If you don’t know the real history of the appearance of this catchphrase in the Russian language, then you can put forward as many different versions as you like, and none of them will be correct. Meanwhile, the verbal expression, firmly established in our speech, was born relatively recently. This is a rare case when we have the opportunity to name the exact date of the origin of a phraseological unit.
Origin of phraseology
The expression “Hamburg score” came into everyday use thanks to the Soviet writer and publicist Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky. In 1928, a collection of essays and notes was published, where the author, as a literary critic, analyzes the creative activities of his contemporaries - fellow writers. The writer evaluates the works of Y. Olesha, M. Gorky, Vs. Ivanov, V. Khlebnikov, M. Zoshchenko, O. Mandelstam, M. Bulgakov, S. Yesenin, A. Tolstoy, V. Mayakovsky and many others.
Shklovsky’s book “The Hamburg Account” contains a parable about Russian athletes who performed in the circus arena. To please the public, fights in classical or, as it was also called, French wrestling were short and planned in advance, and were more of a demonstrative and artistic than a sporting nature. But once a year, the athletes traveled to Hamburg, Germany, where competitions were held in one of the taverns closed to spectators in order to identify the real champion. Obviously, the meaning of the phraseological unit “Hamburg score” corresponds to such synonyms as “fair deal” or “unadorned reality.”
Artistic allegory
Modern researchers suggest that the historical fact described by Shklovsky did not exist in reality, and this author’s fiction was created in order to become a platform for the humorous ranking of writers of the first half of the 20th century. Shklovsky, who has a keen command of the literary word and an inexhaustible sense of humor, continued with a certain amount of sarcasm the story about identifying the winners among the wrestlers: “The Hamburg score is necessary in literature.”
Next, the writer arranges his colleagues according to the imaginary steps of the literary Olympus, which, in his opinion, they deserve. The championship title goes to Velimir Khlebnikov, and Bulgakov finds himself in the role of a red-haired clown at the carpet. Probably, current school graduates will be interested in covering the topic of Hamburg counting in an essay on the Unified State Exam. Moreover, the story invented by Shklovsky is distinguished not only by its beauty and laconicism. It has acquired some interesting facts. They said that Mikhail Bulgakov was offended by this critical attack and for some time did not shake hands with its author. However, the phrase instantly gained popularity among writers, and then spread beyond the writing community.
Meaning and examples of use of the idiom
Hamburg account... We have already found out what this short phrase means. Its meaning is interpreted quite simply: the true alignment, the real state of affairs, a truthful assessment. This expression is often used in various areas of life. For example, you watched a film that, although outwardly colorful, does not have any artistic value, or you simply did not like it. Here you can be sarcastic: “By and large in Hamburg, that is, to be honest, this film is not worth a penny.” And it doesn’t matter whether this opinion is strictly objective or based on one’s own, individual vision. This expression has long lost its fundamental meaning and is used with a touch of light, gentle humor.
Doubt of competence and well-deserved approval
The phraseological unit is applicable to assess the professional or personal characteristics of a person: “He’s a good guy, of course, but judging by the Hamburg account, he can’t be trusted with a serious matter.” Most often, when uttering this phrase, they are trying to reveal some shortcomings of an animate or inanimate object, event, or phenomenon. Less often praise can be heard here: “The work was done “excellently”, even according to Hamburg standards.” The meaning invested in this verbal expression serves as a kind of measure of quality of the highest standard on the endless scale of universal human values.
Fixed exchange rate
Let's try to figure out whether this phrase existed outside of Shklovsky's work, does the writer take the lead in its creation? In the financial and credit sphere there is such a concept as “banko”, which denotes the established rate at which securities are purchased and sold. According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, this term was first introduced by the Hamburg Bank at the beginning of the 18th century. As is known, until the 19th century, Germany was an imperial union of many sovereign states, each of which had its own currency. Not only did gold thalers wear out with prolonged use and lose their original weight, but they were also not always accepted for settlements in neighboring lands.
Only in a bank in Hamburg could one deposit the currency of any of the German states into an account. One conventional coin (marka-banco) had a face value of 528 ac of pure gold. Since 1763, the Hamburg account has been adopted by financial organizations in many countries around the world. Coins were minted in England, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, and accepted in Dutch, Italian, German and other banks. With the introduction of the metric system, such a mechanism for mutual settlements gradually began to lose its position, and in the territory of united Germany it was abolished in 1873.
The most accurate way to bank payments
The phraseology “Hamburg account,” according to historians, most likely arose in the accounting field and was known to a narrow circle of professionals. At a time when complex computer technology did not exist, and all mathematical calculations were carried out manually, the so-called Hamburg method was in use, which made it possible to obtain the most accurate results.
This method of balancing bank balances was considered labor-intensive and was therefore used only in special cases. It must be assumed that in the 20s of the last century, when Shklovsky created his now famous note, the main tool of a financial worker was an abacus with wooden knuckles. Information about a special ultra-precise technique could have been heard.
How legends are born
It is likely that Viktor Shklovsky could have known both about the existence of the Hamburg settlement system and about the universal currency of European banks. But, you must admit, a legend telling about wrestling competitions looks much more romantic and attractive to readers than a dive into the jungle of financial paperwork. Apparently, Shklovsky was guided by these considerations when creating his note.
If the writer had not put this expression into an artistic form, it is unlikely that it would have become known to a wide circle of the reading public and reached the people. An indisputable fact: many proverbs and sayings considered folk are actually lines from original works. It is enough to recall the phrase “staying with nothing,” which came from Pushkin’s fairy tale “About the Goldfish,” or the wonderful expression “Happy people don’t watch the clock,” given to us by A. S. Griboyedov. Today, catchphrases are part of our speech thanks to the extraordinary work of film directors, the skill of actors, the ingenuity of conversational artists, the talent of songwriters, and even the sometimes unsatisfactory speeches of some politicians.
Term adopted in social psychology
Interestingly, the phrase “Hamburg score” is nowadays a semi-official term used in social psychology to determine the true status of an individual in society. The real position of an individual, according to the conclusions of individual studies, often does not correspond to his formal position on the level of the social ladder assigned to him. To find out the actual status of a particular entity, experts resort to a method conventionally called the Hamburg count. This phrase is present in the professional slang of practicing psychologists and is even used in thematic reports and publications. Let's joke a little, let's say that Viktor Shklovsky not only enriched his native speech with a beautiful catchphrase, but also made a contribution to modern science.
Film by German filmmakers
Many times I have heard the statement that the phraseological unit “Hamburg account” exists only in the Russian language. But in 1999, a feature film produced in Germany was released, the title of which includes this phrase. What does it mean? Was director Sönke Wortmann, who filmed the story about the events of Friday night in one of the areas of the port city, aware of our idiom?
The question is resolved quite simply. The original title of the film is “Night in St. Pauli” (St. Pauli Nacht). And the film was renamed “The Hamburg Account” for Russian distribution according to the plans of domestic translators, since the plot develops in Hamburg. Of course, it turned out well. In any case, it’s succinct and recognizable. But, unfortunately, this film has nothing to do with the works of Viktor Shklovsky, the work of Russian writers and the legend of athletes.
"The Hamburg Account" is the name of a collection of literary critical articles by Viktor Shklovsky published in 1928. In the brief programmatic article that opens the collection, the author himself explains the meaning of the book's title: " The Hamburg count is an extremely important concept. All wrestlers, when they fight, cheat and lie down on their shoulder blades on the orders of the entrepreneur. Once a year, wrestlers gather in a Hamburg tavern. They fight behind closed doors and curtained windows. Long, ugly and hard. Here the true classes of fighters are established - so as not to get shortchanged ". According to A.P. Chudakov, a commentator on the modern edition of the book, the real basis for this plot was for Shklovsky the oral story of the circus wrestler Ivan Poddubny. However, it is much more likely that the authorship of the expression “Hamburg score” belongs to Shklovsky himself. It immediately became a catchphrase, especially fashionable in literary circles, the expression " " Hamburg account serves as the equivalent of an impartial assessment of something without discounts or concessions, with extreme demands . It is possible that the no less popular phraseological unit "", which has the same meaning, is nothing more than a transformation of Shklovsky's idea. For the first time in literature, the phrase "by and large" is found in the novel "Fulfillment of Desires" (1935), created by Veniamin Kaverin, a writer close to Shklovsky's circle. And Today, more and more often in our speech we hear the expression " according to Hamburg account" is a contamination of two phraseological units invented by writers.
Critic Irina Rodnyanskaya in the article “Hamburg hedgehog in the fog” ( New world.- 2001.- No. 3), dedicated to the problems of literary strategies of today, notes: “Shklovsky could have been pleased - almost like Dostoevsky, who was proud of enriching the Russian language with the verb “to be obscured.” The expression “Hamburg account” separated from the parable he told in the 20s and went for a walk around to the world in an undeniable and generally understandable sense. Not so long ago, even the most colorful Duma deputy publicly threatened to judge someone “on the big Hamburg account.” But in vain it is useful to listen to the people’s understanding. “a big score,” believing that it lies somewhere nearby. Yes, he is not the only one who has imagined it for a long time.
"Hamburg account"(has become commonly understood) is a large aesthetic account in literature and art. Identification of the first, second, and last places on the scale of the genuine, the present. "Big" - because it opposes the "small" accounts conducted by officialdom, groups, parties in the interests of their situational needs. “Big” - because it appeals to the “big time”, in whose epochal contours the fog will clear, the bubbles will burst and everything will fall into place. The connoisseur who attracts the “Hamburg score” acts as a guesser, an oracle, listening to the noise of the big time. , comparing signals from there with his aesthetic instrument."
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Today people use expressions and phraseological units without thinking at all about their origin. It gets to the point where you have to scour the Internet in search of the proper answer. It is for this reason that the site was created, a site in which we constantly explain the meaning and meaning of various words and expressions. Today we’ll talk about a fairly well-known phrase, this Hamburg account, you will be able to discover the meaning of the phraseological unit a little later.
However, before continuing, I would like to show you several informative articles on the meaning of proverbs and sayings. For example, what does it mean to cheat yourself; how to understand Bursting at the seams; what does Set Bath mean? who is called Versta Kolomenskaya, etc.
So let's continue Hamburg score meaning phraseology?
Hamburg account- this is an assessment of something without any concessions or discounts, with extreme accuracy and exactingness
Hamburg account- means something fair and honest, which is judged without falsehood and fraud
Synonym for Hamburg account: actually, in fact.
Example:
You bastard will still answer me about the Hamburg account!
This guy is a novice specialist, but in Hamburg terms, will he be able to withstand the fierce competition in this field of activity?
Wrestling was popular in Germany at one time, and many spectators came to watch two sweaty men wrestle each other around the arena. Cunning coaches and entrepreneurs have learned to benefit from such spectacular competitions. They distributed roles between the wrestlers in advance, said how the competition should take place, and who should ultimately become the winner and who would lose. In fact, from beginning to end, these were fixed fights, and many spectators did not even suspect it.
However, the wrestlers themselves were wondering which of them was actually the strongest and most dexterous. Therefore, once they all got together, they decided to hold fights with each other once a year to find out the strength of each athlete.
For this, they chose one small tavern, which was located in Hamburg. In this place, the fight was extremely fair and honest, but almost no one knew about the results of these fights.
True, if you dig a little deeper, you will find out that no one in Hamburg had ever heard of this mysterious tavern or the fights taking place in it. More likely Shklovsky, and it was through him that everyone learned this beautiful story, used unreliable information, or simply lied for the sake of a catchphrase.
After reading this insightful article, you learned the meaning of the expression according to the Hamburg account, and now you won’t get caught
Linguists classify the expression “Hamburg account”, or “according to Hamburg account”, as phraseological units whose meaning is not equal to the sum of the meanings of the words. In other words, knowing what a “Hamburg” is and what a “count” is will not shed any light on the meaning of this phrase.
Intuitive understanding of expression based on context
However, the expression “Hamburg account”, or “according to the Hamburg account”, is usually intuitive from the context and is often equated with the phraseological unit “by and large”. In general, this is true, but only an intuitive understanding of a phraseological unit usually does not make it possible to freely use it in one’s own speech, since the boundaries of the meaning are not entirely clear, and secondly, there is always doubt about whether it is understood correctly and what it has relation to the city of Hamburg.
Knowledge of what a “Hamburg count” is, as well as the history of the origin of the phraseological unit, will help you understand the nuances of meaning and the specifics of using this expression.
Viktor Shklovsky on the etymology of the expression “Hamburg score”
The origin of phraseological units is closely connected with the name of the famous literary scholar and critic Viktor Shklovsky. His book is called “The Hamburg Account”. The meaning of the phraseological unit becomes clear after getting acquainted with the parable told by Shklovsky and explaining the title of the book.
The parable says that professional sports wrestlers never fight honestly, their task is to perform as ordered. They must lose (lie down) when the entrepreneur tells them to. This scam is for making money. However, every year in one of the taverns in Hamburg, wrestlers gather for a fair fight. Their fight takes place without spectators, from whom both the fight itself and how long, unaesthetic and difficult it really is for the wrestlers are hidden. At this non-spectacular event, it becomes clear which of the wrestlers is stronger and which is weaker.
This is done in order to find out the real value of each wrestler, regardless of where he occupies in the open arena.
"Hamburg Account" in literature
It is this struggle, hidden from everyone, in which official titles and titles are not important, that Shklovsky calls the “Hamburg score.” important in relation to literature, or more precisely, to what place a particular writer occupies in the literary arena. What the phraseological unit “Hamburg account” means for Viktor Shklovsky becomes clear from the use of the expression “according to the Hamburg account” in the text of his short article. “According to the Hamburg account, Serafi-movich and Veresa-ev are not there. They don’t make it to the city,” the author writes and then continues his allegory, saying that in Hamburg, that is, at hidden competitions where the true strength of a wrestler is revealed, Bulgakov would have found himself at the mat, Isaac Babel would act as a lightweight wrestler, the strength of Maxim Gorky would be questionable, since this “athlete” is not always in shape, but Velimir Khlebnikov would be a champion.
One of the areas where the expression “Hamburg account” is used is economic. The etymology and meaning of the phraseological unit are such that it can be used in the sense that they are built on honest, open principles, when all parties to the contract are equal both formally and in essence.
"The Hamburg Account" in literary criticism
As can be seen from the retelling of Shklovsky’s short article, the Hamburg score is important in literature, as in sports. The significance of phraseological units in the context of literary criticism lies in the fact that in literature, as in wrestling, any figure can be assessed according to two systems. For the first, the official “alignment” of forces is important, and for the second, the real one. In the first case, formal indicators of the success of the author and work are important in literature, and in the second, his real scale of talent is important.
Of course, in literature it is much more difficult to find out which writers “don’t make it to the city” and who is the champion than in sports. Ultimately, according to the Hamburg account, only time can evaluate a writer and a work, but what is meant is that when evaluating a literary phenomenon, it is important not to follow momentary criteria, but to look at it as if it existed outside of time.
"Hamburg Account" in various fields of culture and art
Since the time of Shklovsky (his book was written in 1928), the expression “Hamburg score” has become familiar in many spheres of culture. The meaning of phraseological units has expanded. Most often, an assessment “according to the Hamburg score” means an assessment of a cultural phenomenon or cultural figure, regardless of any opinions, official recognition, awards, awards, popularity and fame.
Thus, a scientist, by coincidence of circumstances, may not have a high scientific title - not be an academician, or even a professor, but just an associate professor, not occupy leadership positions, not participate in official events, but “according to the Hamburg account,” that is, in reality , to be an interesting scientist, whose thoughts, works and achievements are truly important for science.
This approach to evaluation is possible not only in relation to a person, but also, for example, to a book. One book can be published by a major publishing house with a circulation of ten thousand copies, widely known among readers, have a lot of fans, and a TV series can be made based on it, but according to the Hamburg account it is just a commercial project or a temporary, momentary phenomenon. Another book may be published in a small provincial publishing house with a circulation of five hundred copies and known only to a small circle of readers, receiving negative reviews from critics, but by Hamburg standards it may turn out to be a truly talented work.
Allegorical meaning of the expression “Hamburg score”
However, these are not all possible meanings of the expression “Hamburg score”. The meaning of phraseological units in modern language is even broader. It is used when they want to talk about the real, honest price of something, about the true state of affairs. You can judge and evaluate according to the Hamburg score not only phenomena and cultural figures, but also your actions, relationships in the family, relationships between people, events in the country, etc. - in a word, everything that can have a formal, official side and an actual, true.
Examples of the use of the expression “Hamburg bill”
The specificity of a phraseological unit is such that even with a clear understanding of its meaning, its use can cause problems, since examples of grammatical “fitting” of an expression into a phrase are needed. There really aren’t many grammatical and syntactic options:
- Pelevin is a strong satirist and a very successful commercial project, a successful writer, but, according to the Hamburg account, then this is emptiness, like all the phenomena of postmodernism.
- He very willingly talks on a variety of topics, but in front of Ivan Ivanovich he becomes silent: he understands that, according to Hamburg, all his knowledge is superficial.
- I trust this vet. He will never say too much or give advice if he does not understand the situation. He works according to the Hamburg account, his goal is not to pretend that he understands everything, but to save the animal and not harm it.
- Of course, they won this match. But, according to the Hamburg account, they played poorly. They were just lucky. This was their day.
Appropriate and inappropriate contexts
A phraseological unit is one that, if its meaning is transparent, is used freely and promptly in its use. The same thing happens with the expression “Hamburg score”: the origin and meaning of the words are transparent. This means that you can safely experiment. However, in this case, you should beware of using the expression even in cases where it is well understood what a Hamburg account is.
The fact is that this expression itself is intended for conversation “according to the Hamburg account” and resists ordinary, everyday, unimportant topics and contexts. It will be inappropriate when talking about whether the birthday party went well, whether the cake was a success, or what level of service was in the cafe. In these situations, the expression “Hamburg score” is not redundant only if everyday events for some reason are important in someone’s life or are significant for the life of a city or country.