# ё-моё



## bjoleniacz

Hi folks,
Watching Star Trek, Pavel Chekov says "yamayo!" when he manages to accomplish an impossible feat.  I am wondering the correct way to spell this word and what it means?

Thanks!


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## lectrice

*ё моё *• (jó mojó)


(colloquial) _Expresses disappointment or surprise. Euphemistic form of ёб твою́ мать (jób tvojú matʹ)._
— Ё моё, — говори́л он себе́ негро́мко, изумлённый, — да она́ про́сто краса́вица!
"Damn!", he said to himself softly, amazed, "she’s just beautiful!"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ё_моё#Russian
*holy shit/Damn *- https://glosbe.com/ru/en/ё моё


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## Rosett

I think there's no standard meaning for ё-моё. For a vast majority of substandard interjections, it can't be properly defined. I wouldn't recommend to use ё-моё by a foreigner learning Russian.


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## Rjnrjn

it is very indecent expression means ... the same as the English word beginning with "f".


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## Kirill V.

Rjnrjn said:


> it is very indecent expression means ... the same as the English word beginning with "f".


Right.
Some gentlemen in the English section of this forum might say something like: In that way you can _eff up_ your test.
_Ё-моё_ is a Russian way of saying that - equivalent for _eff up_ in the above example


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## Maroseika

I can't agree this Russian interjection has analogy to the English f-word, because they are used quite differently. As already said, the Russian interjection expresses only suprise or disappointemnt and nothing more.
Besides, ё-моё is just colloquial, but not indecent, according to the dictionary.
And I hardly doubt that too many natives associate it with its etymological source.


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## Rjnrjn

" the Russian interjection expresses only suprise or disappointemnt"

You may have noticed that a bunch of Russian expressions (completely meaningless, if not understand the subtext) - begins with the letter Ё - for example,  "ёшкин кот", "ёперный театр", ёпонской городовой", "ёлки-моталки" - yes, all they express surprise, admiration or, on the contrary, the disappointment, but the meaning (connotation) is the same - to the English letter F))


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## Maroseika

Rjnrjn said:


> You may have noticed that a bunch of Russian expressions (completely meaningless, if not understand the subtext) - begins with the letter Ё - for example,  "ёшкин кот", "ёперный театр", ёпонской городовой", "ёлки-моталки" - yes, all they express surprise, admiration or, on the contrary, the disappointment, but the meaning (connotation) is the same - to the English letter F))


I am not sure what you mean by "connotation", but ё-моё is not obscene or indecent word, like the English f-words. It is just colloquial, as well as all those you mentioned (with just a minor correction: японский городовой). 
Of course, foreigners ought to use it carefully, but this recommendation refers to any emotionally coloured word, as it is too easy to use them unnaturally.


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## Rosett

Although it's not obscene, ё-моё is a low-end colloquialism, borderline obscenities. It requires an adequate emotional status not just of the speaker, but also (and mainly) of the listeners. Good judgement and full language control, when talking this way, is highly recommended to avoid any misunderstanding.


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## bjoleniacz

So, just to be clear, ё моё means something like, "eff me!", as a euphemism for "fuck me!"...?  And ёб твою мать means something like "motherfucker!"...?


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## Rosett

bjoleniacz said:


> So, just to be clear, ё моё means something like, "eff me!", as a euphemism for "fuck me!"...?  And ёб твою мать means something like "motherfucker!"...?


Unfortunately, not. Моё is added to make a rhyme out of ё and in order to exclude possible offense of others.


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## bjoleniacz

Rosett said:


> Unfortunately, not. Моё is added to make a rhyme out of ё and in order to exclude possible offense of others.


"Unfortunately" as in, ё моё is worse than "eff me", or as in, "unfortunately it's not that clear?"


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## Rosett

bjoleniacz said:


> "unfortunately it's not that clear"


You can also notice that "ё-моё!" sounds approximately as "Oh-My-Yo!" and would mean almost the same as "OMG!"
Russian ё makes it more vulgar in Russian than the English expression.


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## igusarov

My opinion is that exclamation words like "ё-моё", "ёлки-палки" are not perceived as f-word substitutes. Colloquial - yes. Not suitable neither for a scientific conference nor for a political speech. But etymological connection to the f-word is very loose. They only convey emotion. One has _to want_ to see an obscene meaning in order to actually see it in them.


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## girlymonkey

I would say ё-моё is not as strong as the F word in English. It is a swearing substitute, a bit like saying sugar instead of shit. Maybe a bit stronger than that, but I certainly knew some parents who would happily use it in front of their children.


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## yakor

It means "wow"


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## elek91

I see many people here say that ё-моё is a swearing word, or an equivalent to the f-word, or obscene word, and I can't agree with that.
In my opinion it is in no way an offensive word, though I agree that it originated from an obscene phrase.
I'd say it's rather close to such exclamations as "good grief" or "geez".
Speaking of the movie, the way Chekov used this word seems a bit weird to me.  But it's still sounds funny. He could have used "фух" to express relief, or "есть!" or "ура!" to express triumph.


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## yakor

Е-мое может выражать много чувств. От "блин" до "вот это да".


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## antonovich

Maroseika said:


> As already said, the Russian interjection expresses only suprise or disappointemnt and nothing more.


I'm pretty sure lots of Russian of Russians would disagree, from @yakor above to everyone I know. Ё моё can at the very least also suggest annoyance (which is not the same as disappointment), exasperation and vexation in the situations I have heard it uttered.


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## Şafak

antonovich said:


> I'm pretty sure lots of Russian of Russians would disagree, from @yakor above to everyone I know. Ё моё can at the very least also suggest annoyance (which is not the same as disappointment), exasperation and vexation in the situations I have heard it uttered.


Give us an example, please. A mere description of how the expression can be used isn’t of any help unless there’s a good bunch of example sentences.


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