Nickname for person you don't like

Question

Talking with a russian friend of mine about russian nicknames she said that if you add a letter 'к' to the persons official nickname it means you don't like that person.

For example for Александр the nickname is Саша and if you don't happen to like this person you call him Сашка.

Is this a common practise and does this work with every nickname? For example it would seem hard to add к to катя.

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 08 '16 at 15:57

5

This particle is used as diminutive and not only for names but for any object, for instance, короб - коробок. In case of name it's a diminutive in sense of age or social status, but it doesn't always imply negative connotation. It can be used among friends, colleagues or family members in informal situation. It will be considered derogatory only if context implies use of more formal addressing, for instance, employee addressing to his boss. So, in general it's the most informal way in the line of context formality from the most formal to the most informal: first name with patronymic (Александр Сергеевич), first name (Александр), diminutive of first name (Саша), diminutive of first name with 'к' (Сашка).

answered Oct 08 '16 at 15:57

Anatoly Rybalchenko

461
2
5

i think you have mixed up to different suffixes -к- and -ок – Баян Купи-ка Oct 08 '16 at 16:00
Нет, это тот же суффикс, что и в коробка. – Anatoly Rybalchenko Oct 08 '16 at 16:04
коробка yes but not коробОК – Баян Купи-ка Oct 08 '16 at 18:14
Буква 'о' тут выполняет вспомогательную функцию для присоединения к корню, оканчивающемуся на согласную, функция самого суффикса при этом остаётся прежней. – Anatoly Rybalchenko Oct 08 '16 at 19:31
their connotations doesn't fully overlap, while -ок always adds diminutive connotation, -к- does not, in the lists of suffixes i checked they're listed separately, not as variants – Баян Купи-ка Oct 08 '16 at 20:06
Ага, а в словах коробочка и коробочек тоже разные суффиксы? :) – Anatoly Rybalchenko Oct 09 '16 at 09:42

V.V. · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-08T18:42:31.933

4

Саша--Сашка, Катя--Катька, Оля--Олька, Витя--Витька.

You should take a short name,Саша (from Александр),Катя(from Екатерина)and add a suffix к. If the name ends with a soft ending, put ь before к. It doesn't really mean you don't like the person, it means you don't respect them much.

edited Oct 08 '16 at 18:42

answered Oct 08 '16 at 14:26

V.V.

21,696
1
31
61

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 08 '16 at 14:23

1

Катя - Катька

it's either to express a dislike or extreme familiarity bordering disregard

answered Oct 08 '16 at 14:23

Баян Купи-ка

19,674
1
24
47

Nickname for person you don't like

3 Answers3