The Russian ''avos (russian: авось) describes a philosophy of behavior, or attitude, of a person who ignores possible problems or hassles and, at the same time, expects or hopes for no negative results or consequences. It is an attitude that treats life as unpredictable and holds that the best one can do is count on luck.
Origin
''Avos' '' (авось) proper is a
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
word that can be used either as a particle or a noun. As a particle, ''avos' '' is close in meaning to "hopefully" or "maybe." When used as a noun, ''avos means "pure luck" or "blind faith." It means to have hope, but not necessarily based on anything. Culturally, it can be considered both good and bad. On one hand it is a form of resiliency, but on the other a form of fatalism, where a person won't take any measures to save themself or improve their situation, but relies purely on avos'. The avos' attitude is believed by many to be intrinsic to the Russian character, just as is the notion of ''sud'ba'' (судьба) meaning "destiny," or "fate."
This kind of attitude has been described in
Ivan Goncharov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (, also ; rus, Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в, r=Iván Aleksándrovich Goncharóv, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡənʲtɕɪˈrof; – ) was a Russian novelist best known for his ...
's novel ''
Oblomov
''Oblomov'' ( ru , link=no, Обломов; ) is the second novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is the central character of the novel, portrayed as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, ...
''; earlier,
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
ironically called ''avos' '' "the Russian
shibboleth
A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwo ...
" (
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...
, chapter X).
See also
* ''
Avoska'', or ''perhaps-bag'', a type of shopping bag widespread in the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in the form of a netted sack.
*
Besiyata Dishmaya
''Besiyata Dishmaya'' (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ) is an Aramaic phrase, meaning 'with the help of Heaven'. The acronym () has become a popular term among Orthodox Jews, reproduced at the top of every written document (beginnings of correspond ...
, a comparable concept from
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
*
Divine providence, a comparable concept from
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
*
Inshallah, a comparable concept from
Islam
* ''
Shikata ga nai
, , is a Japanese language phrase meaning "it cannot be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". , is an alternative.
Cultural associations
The phrase has been used by many western writers to describe the ability of the Japanese people to mai ...
'', a stock phrase in the
Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
which literally translates to "it cannot be helped"
References
{{reflist
* Зализняк Анна А., Левонтина И. Б. Отражение национального характера в лексике русского. языка // Russian Linguistics, vol. 20, 1996.
External links
Review of Russian Periodic - Politics, History, Philosophy
Russian culture
Destiny