I Christen Thee Chebarkul!
Sergei Yolkin
2013
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Of course, a literal translation was impossible here. A “чемодан” is a suitcase and a “чебурек” is a traditional Tatar food (click here for a description). Therefore, I chose “carry-on” and “chipolata” as substitutes (they begin with “C” and they’re of the same sorts as the Russian words (one is luggage and the other’s food). That is, the spirit of Yolkin is catered to; I’ve put my pinch of incense on the altar, which means that this is a righteous translation.
The crocodile is the famous character Gena the Crocodile from the Cheburashka series of multifilms, and the meteorite fragment is in the shape of the much-loved Cheburashka. Any Russian would see this in a flash! It’s like putting up Popeye or Taz… it’s that much a part of Russian “visual culture”. Below is a vid of Gena singing his “birthday song” (his most famous number) in a full-length Cheburashka multifilm (it’s at the beginning).
BMD
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The Ural meteorite received the name “Chebarkul” after the nearest settlement to the place of its fall.
18 February 2013
Sergei Yolkin
RIA-Novosti
Voices from Russia 
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