"To hurt the rapids" - phraseology: meaning and examples

We think that there are no fans to wallow in the rapids. But there are many curious people who will want to know the meaning of this phraseology. Consider it in detail: meaning, origin and examples of use.

Meaning

To break the thresholds means walking, asking for a favor, but more often than not, it is a question of a certain official decision. Thresholds usually suffer in the offices of officials.

There is no adult in Russia who does not know the meaning of this expression in practice. As soon as parents stop accompanying us, there must be a case that will force us to hit the rapids. A characteristic feature of such walking is its senselessness. That is, people do not say this way, when the problem can be solved if you go to one person in one cabinet. So argue, when for a long time you have to visit one institution, then another, then the third. This series can be infinite.

Origin

The people's memory has not preserved a special history on this occasion. Apparently, the phraseology emerged from direct experience.

In Russia, from time immemorial, there were two unconnected realities: physical and bureaucratic. The main snag is that the second dominated the first. In other words, in order for something to move from its place in the physical reality, one must ask for permission and get a written permission in the reality of a bureaucratic one. By the way, that's why "Dead Souls" N.V. Gogol is an eternal work! However, let's not talk about sad things.

Initial cadres of "The Irony of Fate" by E. Ryazanov and phraseology

All the beloved New Year's film is preceded by cadres of the cartoon, which explains how it turned out that the hero boarded a plane in Moscow and left in Petersburg, named the address and was "at home." Very briefly we will retell the essence. In the cartoon, the architect created a project of a standard house. The accommodation was very beautiful. There were other buildings surrounding the house, the entrance, of course, everything was to the limit schematic. The hour came when the author had to cover the thresholds of the officials' offices. And with a slight stroke of the pen they released the project from the "superfluous", until it left a simple rectangle with many windows. The cartoon ends with frames, as typical Soviet dwellings march around the planet. Fortunately, the prophecy did not come true.

This history, unfortunately, is well known to all people of creative professions who can not find a permanent place. Interpreters cover the thresholds of book publishers, writers and journalists - newspapers and magazines, and any unemployed - the offices of their potential leaders.

After the reader has learned that for the expression "to cover the rapids" (we have explained its meaning and explained it), we can only wish him to go and ask the higher ones as little as possible.