The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry and Translation Difficulties

It has been obvious for a while that Russian and U.S. leaders have almost ceased to understand each other, because they live in different realities. New problems have emerged as a result of their different versions of the English language.

On Feb. 27, a ceasefire was supposed to begin in Syria. At a briefing the previous day, U.S. Department of State Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner answered a journalist’s question about why Washington believes Moscow’s current promise to not conduct airstrikes on groups the United States considers part of the moderate opposition. “I don’t know how to put it any better than saying it’s ‘put up or shut up’ time. It is time for them to show, through action rather than words, that they are serious about what they profess to be serious about, which is a ceasefire or a cessation of hostilities and a political process that leads to a transition.”

Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova reacted harshly to this statement. “Mark had better order his own colleagues to shut up, if such an idiomatic style of communication is common among American diplomats,” she wrote on Facebook. Then, in a live broadcast on the TV news channel Russia-24, she declared, “What do such harsh statements from the American side tell us? Firstly, of course, they proclaim a lack of any sense, and secondly, a lack of good manners. But most importantly, such rants indicate that the American side does not have any other arguments.”*

It is indisputable that the verb “to shut up,” especially when used in the imperative tense (“shut up” or “be quiet”), is not gracious language. But Toner, unlike Zakharova, used the verb in the expression “put up or shut up,” which is not offensive. The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Thesaurus gives the following definition: “If you say someone should put up or shut up, you mean that they should either take action in order to do what they have been talking about, or stop talking about it.” Ultimately, in his second — long and elaborate — sentence, Toner reiterated the dictionary definition by applying it to a concrete political situation.

The British comptroller and auditor general, for instance, often uses the expression “put up or shut up.” If rumors that a company wants to acquire another company are stirring up the markets for a while, the comptroller may demand that the former “put up or shut up” — in other words, that they make an official bid or turn one down. In the former scenario, the company will genuinely have to shut up, or it will lose the right to make a new acquisition attempt for six months. Such linguistic usage, however, is probably not being taught at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Western countries claim the Russian air force is carrying out strikes against the Syrian opposition (Russia denies this). The Financial Times recently featured a story about a moderate opposition fighter who defected to the Islamic State group (which is banned in Russia) when, as he believes, Russian planes bombed his sister’s house (the entire family died, including three children). If Russia wants peace in Syria, it should truly “put up,” or the rest of the world will simply stop listening.

*Editor’s Note: Full quote provided for context.