Byt

Sign informing everyone that there is grechka (buckwheat) available for anyone who wants it. Byt means mode of life, and is synonymous with the everyday and the banality of everyday life (hence the title of this photo!). It's one of those annoying words that various pretentious scholars claim is "untranslatable" into western languages. This is supposedly because of the strong opposition to everyday banality that is only known by Russians. I have to admit this seems largely like romanised rubbish to me although Sveltana Boym who is a social anthropologist in Russia points out the interesting difference between the "American dream" and the "Russian dream". The former is supposedly the private pursuit of family happiness, that being your civic duty, while the latter is a heroic spiritual homelessness and deep soul. If unpractical daydreaming is not part of the American myth of individual self-sufficiency, then privacy is not important for the Russian "heroic personality". Either way, there's buckwheat if you want it but you'll have to heat it up in the microwave first.