# Low Life or Low-Life



## RhoKappa

This is often a derogatory expression.  A low life is someone of lower social class, usually an indictment of poverty or habits attributed to poor people.  Here are some examples.

1. Oligarchs want nothing to do with those low-life peasants.
2. Drinking, doing drugs and looking for sex are all the only things low lives think about.
3. Low lives are the people you see in metros always begging for money.

Есть ли русское выражение?


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## Rosett

1. ...с нищебродами.
2. ...дно (общества)/отстой...
3. Жалкие люди (in the sense of: попрошайки, побирушки)


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## Awwal12

Rosett said:


> 2. ...дно общества/отстой...


I cannot remember when I actually heard or read the word "отстой" in relation to people for the last time.
The word "быдло", however, suits this context well enough.
Sadly, there is seemingly no general term that would be able to replace the English "low-life" at least in most contexts.

It seems Russians as a whole still don't consider poverty a vice, unlike Americans. Considering that half a country lives in poverty - by European standards, that is, - it doesn't look surprising at all. Even the word нищеброд, which recently gained popularity, implies rather some kind of dissonance between person's wishes, words and financial possibilities, than the poverty itself.


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## Rosett

Awwal12 said:


> I cannot remember when I actually heard or read the word "отстой" in relation to people for the last time.


Отстаёте от жизни... "Сегодня словом «отстой» может быть обозначено всё, что угодно: от не понравившегося вам человека до гибнущей вселенной".
Что такое отстой - Значение слов «отстой»

Ответы Mail.Ru: Обьясните мне такую тему Я живу в Москве, а ...
Обьясните мне такую тему: Я живу в Москве, а некоторые мне пишут: "Фу Москва отстойный город и *люди там отстой*"
ООО “Эра Ремонта” Россия - Отзывы сотрудников компании - О ...
Рейтинг: 1,7 - ‎7 голосов
*люди там - отстой*. руководитель, алексей просто никакой. полудурок. а его помощница, катя ещё хуже. вечно недовольная, злая крыса. заявок нет ...
База отдыха Каскад на сайте САНАТОРИЕВ.NET
... он отстой и *почти все люди там отстой*...


Awwal12 said:


> The word "быдло", however, suits this context well enough.


"Быдло" is a hundred per cent Polish loanword, the fact I can only deplore.
Urban Dictionary: Bydlo
"Bydlo is mostly used for agressive and unclever people."


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## Awwal12

Well, I stand corrected: it may be used in regard to people indeed (like any derogatory word, in fact), but I hardly can imagine a standalone word "отстой" meaning people. A sentence "в метро ездит какой-то отстой", for instance, would strike me as highly unusual at the very least.


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## Rosett

Awwal12 said:


> Well, I stand corrected: it may be used in regard to people indeed (like any derogatory word, in fact), but I hardly can imagine a standalone word "отстой" meaning people. A sentence "в метро ездит какой-то отстой", for instance, would strike me as highly unusual at the very least.


You are correct about the passengers: metro is not for отстой. 
Демотиватор: БЫДЛО - только оно ездит в метро


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## Awwal12

Rosett said:


> You are correct about the passengers: metro is not for отстой.
> Демотиватор: БЫДЛО - только оно ездит в метро


I don't see how it is relevant.
For instance, Google gives only ~6 results of "ходит отстой" which would more or less suit the described use (from 56 results total). And I surely wouldn't recommend it.


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## Q-cumber

The slangy word "отстой" means something bad or low-quality. It's kinda similar to the English "sucks".

Эта машина - полный отстой. This car sucks.


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## Rosett

Q-cumber said:


> The slangy word "отстой" means something bad or low-quality. It's kinda similar to the English "sucks".
> 
> Эта машина - полный отстой. This car sucks.


Prompted by reverso, I guess.
Russian "отстой" is far not limited by English "sucks," and contextually may cover a great variety of things, including low-life people.
Matching examples given the OP context:
26 мая 2016 г. - Это такие люди, которые в 1980-е нюхали бы кокаин со своих органайзеров, и они — отстой.
Когда Стен говорит о голубых, Кенни говорит «Они отстой»
Поскорее объясни им, Что они — отстой и лохи. И напомни им про место, Куда надо им идти! (Елизавета Гуменюк)
Перевод слов музыкальной композиции - Lowlife с английского. ... Я lowlife, отстой какой-то
12 июл. 2013 г. - вятские вы,нищеброды, отстой российский, позор российской империи.


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## Vovan

Rosett said:


> Russian "отстой" is far not limited by English "sucks," and contextually may cover a great variety of things, including low-life people.


True! Semantically, it's quite close to the English "scum" which is well used to call people names.


*RhoKappa*


> Low lives


In Russian, that would be "низы общества".


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## RhoKappa

Scum is a little more derogatory than low life.  It is a pejorative term specifically toward despicable people, more of a slur than low life.  Low life is equally used as a noun as well as an adjective.  Scum is specifically a noun.  They refer to the most hated people in society.  Low lives are a slightly more general term.


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## Vovan

RhoKappa said:


> Scum is a little more derogatory than low life.  It is a pejorative term specifically toward despicable people, more of a slur than low life.  Low life is equally used as a noun as well as an adjective.  Scum is specifically a noun.  They refer to the most hated people in society.  Low lives are a slightly more general term.


Then you can happily go with "низы (общества)". It is also sometimes derogatory, sometimes not.

A representative of "низы общества" might be "человек из низов (общества)".
A few/several/many of them - "люди из низов (общества)".

As for a corresponding adjective, it is better not to use any but to use the noun. For example, "из низов" when describing a person or a society ("человек из низов"). Or just "низов (общества)" in "культура низов (общества)".

Adding "общества" is advisable when you _introduce_ this new topic - in order to provide an understandable context. Just in case, so to say.


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## Q-cumber

This is what a dictionary says about "отстой":



> Отстой
> 1. О любом плохом предмете, лице или явлении. /оттенок пренебрежения/ /обычно оцен. констр./
> Новый клип Мадонны - полный отстой.
> отстойный - прил. от отстой
> Достал этот отстойный музон
> 2. Нечто, не заслуживающее внимания (сборище, фильм, анекдот).
> 
> _Словарь криминального и полукриминального мира: мат, сленг, жаргон. Мельник Ярослав. 2004._


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## Ben Jamin

Rosett said:


> "Быдло" is a hundred per cent Polish loanword, the fact I can only deplore."


It is interesting. Why do you deplore?


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## Vovan

It turns out that 'lowlife" can well be found in the New English-Russian Dictionary (which was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in the early '90s and is the largest English-Russian dictionary):


> *lowlife
> 1.* [ʹləʋlaıf] _n_
> 1. 1) жалкое существование; дно жизни
> 2) человек из низов общества
> 2. _разг._ подонок; опустившийся тип, босяк
> *2.* [ʹləʋlaıf] _a_
> 1. жалкий, убогий
> 2. _разг._ вульгарный, низкий
> 
> НБАРС


Hope it helps as well.


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## coloboc66

"Отстой" is the unliterature new word and used by uneducated persones.
Do not use it!


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## Rosett

Ben Jamin said:


> It is interesting. Why do you deplore?


There are much better words to borrow... but I am afraid of going off topic.


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## Particle

1. Oligarchs want nothing to do with those low-life peasants = Олигархи не хотят иметь ничего общего с этими босяками-крестьянами.

2. Drinking, doing drugs and looking for sex are all the only things low lives think about = Пьянка, наркотики и секс – вот и всё, о чём думают люмпены.

3. Low lives are the people you see in metros always begging for money = Бедняки, которых вы видите в метро, всегда клянчат деньги.

It can be translated as ‘люди с низкими доходами’ in formal text.


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