# All Slavic languages: saying nothing - letter



## Encolpius

Hello, it's almost impossible to find the idioms which means something like he hasn't said anything using a letter or short word. In Czech and Slovak if someone hasn't even said a word you can say he hasn't even said a "bú" [what cows say, mooh in English] or "ň". Do you have similar idioms in your language as well? Thanks. 

*Czech*: Neřekl ani ň. Neřekl ani bú. [lit.: he hasn't even said a ň, a bú]
*Slovak*: Nepovedal ani ň. Nepovedal ani bú.


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## Duya

Iit isn't particularly common in BCS, but there are ~100 hits for "nije rekao ni A." Thus, "A" you got


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## Encolpius

Duya said:


> Iit isn't particularly common in BCS, but there are ~100 hits for "nije rekao ni A." Thus, "A" you got



So you find it uncommon, you haven't heard it or used it?


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian:

*Ni rekel niti mu. *(*mu* = moo [what a cows says])
*Ni rekel ne bu ne mu.* (*bu* = boo [what you would say to scare someone])
*Ni niti muksnil. *(This is pretty much the only context where the verb *muksniti* is ever used. I don't know what its etymology is, or whether it's related to *mukati* [= to moo])


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## Pajapatak

Serbian:

*Nije ni beknuo. 
*Or even better (to my ear): 
*A on ni da bekne.
*Beknuti = say bê (like sheep)


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## Azori

Encolpius said:


> *Czech*: Neřekl ani ň. Neřekl ani bú. [lit.: he hasn't even said a ň, a bú]
> *Slovak*: Nepovedal ani ň. Nepovedal ani bú.


In Slovak also:

ani bú, ani mú (or: ani mú, ani bú)
ani a, ani b
ani f
ani mäkké f (not even a soft f)


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## BezierCurve

> In Slovak also:
> 
> ani bú, ani mú (or: ani mú, ani bú)



Polish:

ani me, ani be or: ani mee, ani bee - (more like sounds that sheep make; so, not really letters).


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## Pajapatak

In Serbian you can also say:
*ni a ni be.
Nije rekao ni a ni be. *(It refers to the first two letters of the alphabet, I suppose).


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## swintok

BezierCurve said:


> Polish:
> 
> ani me, ani be or: ani mee, ani bee - (more like sounds that sheep make; so, not really letters).



Interesting.  In Ukrainian I've heard the term ні бе, ні ме, ні кукуріку, but it usually refers to not understanding or not knowing anything, rather than not saying anything.  The first time I heard it was when someone from Kyiv went to the Carpathians on vacation and had a hard time understanding the local Hutsul dialect.  She said:  Я ні бе, ні ме, ні кукуріку не розуміла!


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## bibax

In fact, the Czech letter *ň* stands for *nic* (= nothing).

So you can say: Nerozuměla (= не розуміла ) mu ani ň.


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## ymar

swintok said:


> Interesting.  In Ukrainian I've heard the term ні бе, ні ме, ні кукуріку, but it usually refers to not understanding or not knowing anything, rather than not saying anything.



This is what it means in Polish too, in my experience. Or something in between: it could be said about a student during an oral exam. "Ani be, ani me, ani kukuryku."


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## itreius

Aside from the ones that have already been mentioned for BCS, there's also

_Nije rekao ni bu ni mu_.

but, yeah, not referring to letters.


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## Encolpius

itreius said:


> Aside from the ones that have already been mentioned for BCS, there's also
> 
> _Nije rekao ni bu ni mu_.
> 
> but, yeah, not referring to letters.



Don't worry, they are also very good examples!


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## Sobakus

In Russian there's a similar expression:

А он в этом ни бэ ни мэ (ни кукар*е*ку) = And he can't say a single word on the matter = He's no good at it

I believe as a stable expression it doesn't require any commas, and the stress shift is likely to preserve the rhythm 

The sounds imitate a goat or a sheep, btw.


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## Thomas1

There is a similar expression in Polish 'ani mru-mru', but this one is used in the imperative to mean 'don't say/breathe a word', 'stay silent'. The 'mru' part is the sound a cat gives out while, for instance, stroked (purr).


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## iobyo

*Macedonian:*

Не рече ни „а“.
Не рече ни „а“ ни „бе“.


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