“No fluff, no feather!”: the meaning of phraseology and its perception by different people. Neither fluff nor feather - what does it mean

We all use this expression, although more often we shorten it to “No fluff.” And we use it when we want to wish someone good luck in some important matter. Quite strange, in general. Firstly, why we use a negative particle is illogical. Secondly, what do fluff and feathers have to do with it? And thirdly, it is right, after such a wish, to also send the person who wishes to hell. What for?

The fact is that this expression came to us from ancient times, when hunting was one of the most important components of the survival of the clan. The hunters fed the clan, so a lot depended on the success or failure of the hunt. And the hunt itself was nothing like the current one - with a machine gun, and from a helicopter. Hunting at that time was a fight with an animal, not for life, but for death.

It turned out that the hunter was experiencing a double moral burden - not only could he die, but his children, without the bounty they brought, could die of hunger. Well, like all people, then and now, dealing with such loads, hunters became extremely superstitious. Just remember your acquaintances in complex professions - not “last”, but “extreme”, for example.

One of the most persistent superstitions for people going on business related to mortal danger, there has always been and will be a wish for good luck. Why? And for many reasons. The first is that you can simply jinx it. You never know what kind of person wants it for you. Maybe he has a stone in his bosom. That's how he wishes it - and he'll put the evil eye on it. The second reason is evil entities. All sorts of devils-goblins-kikimoras. When some devil hears that they wished you good luck, he’ll do something nasty out of spite. The third one is simply Lady Luck, a flighty, fickle, jealous person. And she herself decides who and what. And there is nothing for anyone to wish for her. Well, in general, a real woman. He will do everything out of spite.

So it turns out that you cannot wish for success in an important matter. What do fluff and feathers have to do with it, you ask? And here's what it has to do with it. In an allegorical form, in ancient times any game animal was called down, and feathers, accordingly, were any game bird. It turns out that the wish “And feathers and fluff to you” carried a wish for good luck in hunting any bird and any animal. You understand, for a superstitious hunter, the knife is sharp in the heart.

This is how it happened - the hunter, going out to hunt, received the wish - “Neither fluff nor feather,” that is, they say, “may bad luck follow you, may arrows fly by, may your snares be empty.” And to show that he took the wish of failure to heart and was really very, very upset, he sent the wisher to hell “to hell,” indicating a quarrel and hostility. All the evil spirits present at the same time calmed down, “he’s already feeling bad, why should he do more nasty things,” and Lady Luck, on the contrary, felt sorry for the hunter, and out of spite, she helped him.

Respect for the hunter, special status, and the desire to imitate him led to the spread of this superstition and further consolidation in the minds of ordinary people, whose occupation is not associated with risk. So it turns out that we still wish someone “No fluff, no feather,” and receive in response: “Go to hell!”

Where did the expression “Neither fluff nor feather” come from? updated: November 13, 2018 by: Roman Gvozdikov

Noteworthy is the version of the explanation of the origin of the word form “neither fluff nor feather” by the Russian pre-revolutionary writer and folklorist A. A. Misyurev. Alexander Alexandrovich collected workers' folklore in Siberia for many years. Misyurev put forward the hypothesis of an “internal struggle” with the past of a Christian Siberian, in which pagan superstitions were still alive.
Before a hunt, A. A. Misyurev believed, the hunter was careful not to use Christian terms in vain: it was believed that this would anger the devil and ultimately cause harm in the hunt. Hence the ritual “denial” of “no fluff or feather,” which was supposed to bring good luck.
This mystical spell, which brings good luck, believes Olga Igorevna Severskaya, Candidate of Philological Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, really preceded a difficult test, some important matter that cannot be jinxed. The traditional response to the phraseological unit is “To hell!” was a logical complement to this ritual verbal action. Olga Igorevna explains the etymology of the phraseological unit “neither fluff nor feather” by the desire of our ancestors before a hunt to “fool” the owner of the forest, assuring him that the hunter “doesn’t need anything” in his domain. O. I. Severskaya gives numerous examples from domestic fiction, where hunters and fishermen thus set themselves up for good luck.
A similar version is shared by Severskaya’s colleague, also a candidate of philological sciences, M. M. Voznesenskaya. Maria Markovna classifies “neither fluff nor feather” to “hunting” phraseological units (in total, according to the calculations of M. M. Voznesenskaya, in domestic phraseological dictionaries there are more than thirty such word forms - “after two birds with one stone”, “sit (lie down) on the tail”, “ the beast runs towards the catcher”, etc.).
In the wish “neither fluff nor feather,” Voznesenskaya draws attention to the metonymy of the tropes “fluff” (fur-bearing animal) and “feather” (bird). That is, they wanted the hunter not to catch either an animal or birds - the opposite, in order to deceive the devil and not “jinx” the future hunt. As an example of the use of common phraseology, Maria Markovna cites Vasily Aksenov’s story “My Grandfather is a Monument”, where one of the heroines wishes “no feather or fluff” to the other hero, and her counterpart “out of hunting habit” replies: “To hell.”

0 Although they talk about Russians" Ivans who don’t remember their kinship", however, our lexicon has preserved a huge number of proverbs and catchphrases that came from time immemorial. Unfortunately, the modern younger generation does not always understand the meaning, much less the origin of such proverbs. Therefore, on the website we try to decipher for you the most popular phraseological units, the meaning which can sometimes be understood only by context. Today we will talk about another extremely interesting expression, this. Break a leg, which means you can read it a little later.
However, before continuing, I would like to advise you to read a couple more news items on the topic catch phrases. For example, what does it mean to kick the bucket; how to understand Pass copper pipes; which means Man is a wolf to man; meaning: Don’t remember in vain, etc.
So let's continue what does it mean? phraseological unit?

Break a leg- this is a parting wish for success and good luck, that is, it is an expressed desire for a person to do well

Origin Break a leg, its roots go deep into the history of medieval Rus'. At that time, the main way to feed yourself and your family was hunting. After all, our country consisted entirely of mighty forests, supporting the heavens with their crowns. In such conditions, farming was complicated by the lack of this very free land. However, there was game in the forests and a variety of animals that were actively consumed as food.

Unfortunately, man is a very superstitious creature, and feeling like a grain of sand in the middle of a huge and terrible world, he believed in various spirits, in damage and the evil eye. Therefore, the relatives wished the hunter who was going to the forest " And fluff and feather"so that everything would be successful for their protector and breadwinner. In this particular case, “down” meant “beast,” and, accordingly, “feather” meant bird.
In order not to jinx such a good wish, it was necessary to traditionally answer “Go to hell!”, which was later shortened to simply - “ To hell".
However, particularly suspicious individuals, who were afraid of the evil eye, slightly changed the saying, which took on the exact opposite meaning - “No fluff, no feather.” In the end, of course, counting on more abundant prey.

After this, the hunter received a traditional parting word, which sounded something like this: " May not a single animal fall into your traps, may your arrows and darts not hit a single bird, and may the hunting hole be overgrown with moss without seeing any prey!" To this the man responded in the usual way - "To hell."
After this procedure, evil spirits must leave behind the strange man who does not want to catch his own living creatures. The stupid entities invisibly present during this conversation, having heard such a wish, will definitely leave behind and go to intrigue the one who, in their opinion, really wants to shoot big game and feed his family.

In general, even in our dedicated time, most people are sure that it is better not to talk about their desires and dreams in advance, otherwise there will be invisible forces that will definitely harm them. Therefore, from time to time, we may hear from our acquaintances or relatives “No fluff or feather,” to which we automatically answer “To hell,” without even thinking about where this strange wish came from.

After reading this article, you learned what does it mean?, and now you will stop being afraid of the evil eye and damage. After all, these are all superstitions of our illiterate ancestors.

No feather or fluff to you

In modern Russian, many expressions have been preserved, using which we do not think about their origin. In particular, this applies to various good luck wishes, which are literally on everyone’s tongue. One of the most common wishes sounds like this: no fluff or feather. The proper answer is: to hell.

The emergence of a wish linguists date back to the time of hunting and gathering, when these types of crafts were the basis for the existence of the tribal community. Hunters have always been superstitious people who believe in evil spirits that take away good luck. Therefore, the wish for “fluff and feather” led more likely to misfortune than to successful fishing. By saying this, it was possible to attract the attention of dark forces and reduce all the efforts of the hunters to nothing. In the language of hunters, as hunters were called in ancient times, feather meant the bird that was being hunted, and down meant the animal. Expression without fluff or feather

And the answer “to hell” can be translated as follows: your arrows will fly past, they will not hit a single bird, not a single animal, traps, trapping pits and snares, let them also be empty. This is how they deceived the evil spirits with a spell, who, having heard about the unsuccessful catch, went home. Even an unsuccessful catcher evil force won't touch him, he's already punished.

Such an unfortunate wish for good luck remains popular to this day. Perhaps the custom of scolding a student before an exam or a student before taking a session also falls into this category. Without thinking, we use ancient spells designed to protect against evil spirits. Perhaps such stability over time of this expression suggests that a modern, civilized person at heart still remains a hunter, perceiving the outside world as hostile, full of evil, from which he needs to defend himself. By the way, this idea is confirmed by other superstitions, as well as conspiracies that persist among the people.