海角大神

Each time the Olympic Games roll around, an organizing committee is tasked with distilling the unique character of the event into a punchy slogan. In 2008, Beijing went with 鈥淥ne World, One Dream.鈥� Barcelona's, in 1992, was 鈥淔riends Forever."

And Russia鈥檚? Three words, three periods, no spaces in between. 鈥淗ot.Cool.Yours.鈥�

The motto drew chuckles from observers at home and abroad when it was unveiled in September 2012. that it sounded more like 鈥渢he title of Katy Perry's next album鈥� or a 鈥渞ejected marketing campaign for McDonald's 1980s flop, the McDLT,鈥� which featured the head-scratching tagline "keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool."

Sochi organizers helpfully provided an 听of the slogan, describing it as 鈥渋ntended to reflect the national character of Russia and the values of the Sochi 2014 brand, as well as Sochi 2014鈥檚 progressive and innovative approach to the organization and staging of the Games.鈥澨�

And the periods between the words? 鈥淭he dot after each word draws a parallel with high technologies (.ru) and the emblem of the Winter Games in Sochi.鈥� (The logo to the word 鈥淪ochi.鈥�)

Does the quirkiness of the slogan have something to do with the vagaries of Russian-English translation? Yes, partially, although it sounds equally awkward in Russian and plenty of Russians were thrown for a loop by its announcement, even if they have since come to embrace it.

Below is a quick linguistic tour of the motto.听

Hot

The original word is a bit more colorful in Russian. Translators opted for simplicity, but they lost some of the context.

The Russian adjective zharkie is often used to mean 鈥渨arm鈥� or 鈥渂almy,鈥� with connotations of something that鈥檚 too heated 鈥� bringing to mind that moment in skiing when you realize you may be wearing a layer too many. Or an old Soviet apartment heated to 90 degrees by a cranked-up radiator. Or, as one Russian commentator听 when the motto was announced, 鈥淵ou think this might be referring to socks?鈥�

To be fair, the Russian word also translates as 鈥渉eated鈥� 鈥� as in 鈥渉eated competition.鈥� This was probably the shade that organizers were trying to capture, as they explained: 鈥淭he word 鈥楬ot.鈥� reflects the intensity of sporting battle and the passion of the spectators.鈥�

The translators鈥櫶�听鈥� to emphasize 鈥渢he location of the Games, the southern resort city of Sochi鈥� 鈥� is somewhat problematic, given that critics have warned that the location isn't wintry enough and may run into weather or snow problems.

Cool

Again, lost in translation, somewhat.听

The Russian version uses the word 鈥渨intry鈥� (zimniye)听instead. That word calls to mind images of snow, ice, and white mountain tops 鈥� as opposed to something merely 鈥渃ool,鈥� weather-wise.

In picking the word, the organizers seemed to be after other English shades of the term. 鈥淐ool鈥� stood not only for the Games鈥� time of the year," 听the Sochi Olympics chief executive, Dmitry Chernyshenko,听but also 鈥渇or how Russia is perceived by the rest of the world.鈥�

Fair enough. But the result is a dash of cognitive dissonance between hot and cool, temperature-wise.

Yours

No translation problems here. Yours means yours, in both languages.

The word was chosen to indicate that no one is excluded from the party. As Mr. Chernyshenko , 鈥淭he Sochi 2014 slogan demonstrates that it is impossible not to participate, watch, experience, and be proud because this is Your Games."

But many Russians, especially those in the political opposition, balked at this non-negotiable offer of a personal stake in a vanity project they regard as corruption-ridden and overpriced. 鈥淭he [Games] are yours because they鈥檙e yours, end of story,鈥� a Russian commentator in 2012. 鈥淲hether you want to or not, you鈥檙e subscribed, and don鈥檛 try to bail out.鈥�

But with construction completed, and the curtain about to rise on the greatest spectacle ever organized by Russia in modern history, some former skeptics were coming around to the slogan and the spectacle.听

An opposition blogger recently posted a photo of of young, blond female volunteers grinning into the camera with a backdrop of the snowy slopes of Krasnaya Polyana听mountain and asked, mockingly, 鈥渟till want to boycott the Games?鈥�