Zapoi / Zapoy
A couple of my favorite experiences are trying to explain to non-Russians the concept of "zapoi" and conversely, trying to explain to Russian people that the rest of the world has no idea of what "zapoi" is and are totally stumped when it is explained to them, that it exists, and what it means. But over the years of pondering Zapoi, I came to the conclusion that it exists only in Russia for perhaps a certain set of reasons and that it is not a completely random phenomenon. For centuries Russia has had an unusually high portion of its male population composed of men who have experienced war. While some other countries have had that for periods of time around World Wars, Russia has had more wars from Napoleon to World Wars and a higher percentage of its male population participate in them than anyone else. When people are exposed to horrors of war they are often left with PTSD. Or what is now referred to as PTSD but 50 years ago was an undiagnosed and unknown me...