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I frequently play gomokunarabe, a Japanese strategy game, on an international server and sometimes face Russians as opponents, as a variant of this game is apparently popular in Russia and known as "пять в ряд."

Recently I saw a Russian player using the expression "отведать тунца" ("to taste tuna") in a chat with his compatriot on that server. The expression was apparently used figuratively or idiomatically as the guys were discussing a past gomokunarabe game and were not talking about any cuisine preferences. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the exact wording, but the idea was that if a certain move or a course of action had been chosen in the game, the opponent would have "tasted tuna."

Being a seafood lover and having enjoyed tuna sashimi so many times, I got very much curious about the meaning of that Russian phrase and, in particular, whether it is a game-specific term or a broad idiomatic phrase.

Searching in Google, I could not find a direct answer about the meaning, but found numerous examples of figurative or idiomatic use of that expression, for example:

(1) Итог: в сервисе ОД "накручено": диагностика двигателя (1000 Р), замена свечей с их стоимостью (2000 Р), промывка инжектора (1000 Р), подтягивание ручника (450 Р). Если такое и повторится, то ОД в следующий раз отведает тунца... (Source)

(2) Первые аргументы были, что МКПП побьет АКПП. Мой вариант ответа - отведает тунца, особенно если с АКПП еще и подрулевые переключатели-лепестки (что уже совсем даже не редкость). (Source)

(3) Как же у меня бомбит от этого ****** меха. Единственная радость, что BJ-A дает ему отведать тунца практически без шансов на " программный уворот". (Source)

(4) - Вот делаешь для людей, все что бы им было хорошо, комфортно ... А этого не ценят ... А так скажем "Мать Терезой" надоедает быть. Что вы делаете в таких ситуациях?! ... - Спустя время предлагаю таким людям отведать тунца. (Source)

(5) Что мы знаем о Пенни? На турнире, где он был - отведал тунца. В сетах проигрывает спаси господи АрнКратосу ... (Source)

I am so much confused by such examples, as I cannot surmise the meaning. The only more or less obvious thing is that since the examples are not related to gomokunarabe and seem to be pretty diverse, the expression must be a general idiom. Being highly curious and unable to find the answer on my own, I decided to ask here.

My question is this: What is the meaning of "отведать тунца," and how is it logically related to literally tasting tuna? I am also very curious to learn about the origin of this idiom, especially in view of the fact that tuna does not live in historical Russian waters.

shabunc
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Mitsuko
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3 Answers3

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It’s a rhyming euphemism for сосни хуйца. The article by the link provided lists lots of similar euphemisms. All of them are born in Russian Internet culture, I would not expect an infrequent Internet user to understand it.

Your particular phrase originates from «лососни тунца», which is a more obvious euphemism and a nonsense phrase, as there’s no verb «лососнуть» in Russian. The noun лосось means salmon, so the phrase is a funny wordplay (“salmoning a tuna”).

The phrase itself is a softening of соси хуй, which means that the person will not receive what they want, or will generally fail. Originally it probably meant a rude denial to a request, telling the requestor to perform a humiliating action (blowjob) to get what they want. It is unlikely they’d agree to that, so they would walk away empty-handed.

As the word хуй and other Russian mat words are considered offensive, many Internet discussion boards may automatically censor them, which may be the original cause of such euphemisms. They also are obviously humorous.

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It's a rhyming euphemism for соснул хуйца (sucked a dick), in other words - failed miserably and in a very humiliating fashion. That said I honestly never heard it. It's just that it's immediately obvious from the context.

shabunc
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  • Ohhh... Are you sure? There is so much distance between отведать тунца and the phrase you just typed... I do not get it how it is possible to see such a connection. I also saw the expression отведать тунца being used to mean literally tasting tuna... – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:14
  • Also, how does the meaning "to fail miserably" fit Examples (1) and (4)? – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:14
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    @Mitsuko yes he's sure, because other native speakers are as well, it could be отведать хуйца as well, this is euphemism, like хрен instead of хуй, звезда instead of пизда and писец instead of пиздец – Баян Купи-ка Jun 07 '19 at 17:17
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    @Mitsuko in ex. 1 & 4 it means they will eat a dick and fuck off, that is won't get anything – Баян Купи-ка Jun 07 '19 at 17:23
  • @БаянКупи-ка : Do the Russians frequently use rhyme euphemisms? This was really hard and tricky! An euphenism rhyming with an idiom... – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:25
  • @Mitsuko not really, but rhyming helps to drive home the real meaning of the word, хуй could sometimes be replaced with буй – Баян Купи-ка Jun 07 '19 at 17:27
  • @БаянКупи-ка : I just found this article title: "Ученые предложили отведать тунца при сильном стрессе" (http://barnaul.bezformata.com/listnews/uchenie-predlozhili-otvedat-tuntca/68611161). Doesn't this title sound funny to Russians in view of the idiom? – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:36
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    Or did the journalist choose this title on purpose, being fully aware of the idiom? – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:37
  • @Mitsuko Double-entendre title are common in Russian internet media, so I’d say it was on purpose. «Отведать» is a wrong verb here, it means taste something, maybe just a bit or just once, and to get health benefits you need to eat it regularly, so the correct verb would be simple «есть». –  Jun 07 '19 at 17:52
  • @Neith : Ohh, I see that sometimes subtle double meanings can go unnoticed for an inexprienced foreigner learning Russian.... – Mitsuko Jun 07 '19 at 17:54
  • @Mitsuko i'm sure he did, have you seen such ads as Вы уху ели? – Баян Купи-ка Jun 07 '19 at 17:56
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    @БаянКупи-ка : I now have. Apparently the Russians enjoy playing with their swear words. I also found this example: ах, уел! – Mitsuko Jun 08 '19 at 13:36
  • @Mitsuko i don't find it particularly amusing, this is a lowbrow stuff – Баян Купи-ка Jun 08 '19 at 13:52
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You have encountered this phrase among Russian gamers playing gomokunarabe renju 「五目並べ連珠」.

I believe this may be an intentional adoption from Japanese emphasizing the alternate (to put it mildly) usage of the word maguro 「鮪」 as shown in here.

Thus, a literal translation of　マグロを味わう　using the "other" meanings of both words.

ゑ０１
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