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Origin of the phrase was there a boy? Was there a boy? "Was there a boy"

The phraseology “was there a boy” is quite popular. It is used when there is no confidence in the existence of the object of the dispute, when a big question arises about the existence of the very cause of the disagreement; when in doubt about something: on the one hand, as if denying the fact itself, and on the other, paying attention to the fact that there is also no evidence to the contrary. Moreover, instead of the word “boy” you can use any other word denoting an object in the presence of which this moment big doubts creep in.

The expression “was there a boy” is pronounced mainly in a joking manner. And although the phraseological unit has an ironic connotation, the story of its origin is completely sad. Or rather, the circumstances under which it was first used.

The expression “was there a boy” is a quote from Maxim Gorky’s (1868-1936) greatest work, the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin,” the years of writing of which extend from 1925 until the writer’s death in 1936.

The expression “was there a boy” is associated with one episode that happened to the main character of the novel, Klim Samgin, in childhood.

One day in winter, Klim and his comrades, Boris and Varya, were skating. Suddenly the ice cracked and his friends found themselves in the water. Trying to help somehow, Klim used his belt and handed it to Boris. Boris, clinging to the end of the belt, began to pull Klim towards the water. Frightened, Klim let go of the belt and... the children drowned. During the search for the drowned, someone said incredulously:

“- Yes - was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy?”

Here is this excerpt from Maxim Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”:

“Boris caught the end of the belt, pulled it and easily moved Klim along the ice closer to the water,” Klim squealed, closed his eyes and let go of the belt from his hand. And when he opened his eyes, he saw that the dark purple, heavy water was slapping Boris’s shoulders and his naked head more and more often, harder, and that small, wet hands, glistening red, were moving closer, breaking off the ice. With a convulsive movement of his whole body, Klim crawled away from these dangerous hands, but as soon as he crawled away, Boris’s hands and head disappeared, only a black astrakhan cap swayed on the agitated water, lead pieces of ice floated and humps of water stood up, reddish in the rays of the sunset. Klim took a deep breath of relief; all this terrible things continued for a painfully long time. But although he was dumb with fear, he was still surprised that Lydia just now rolled up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, hit him in the back with her knee and screamed shrilly:
- Where... where are they?
Klim watched as the water, calming down, flowed in one direction, playing with Boris’s cap, he looked and muttered:
- She drowned him... He shouted - let her go, scolded her. He pulled out the belt...
Lydia squealed and fell onto the ice.
The ice creaked under skates, black figures of people rushed towards the ice hole, a man in a sheepskin coat thrust a long pole into the water and shouted:
- Disperse! Fail. It’s lumpy here, gentlemen, the machine was working here, or you don’t know!
Klim stood up and wanted to lift Lida, but he was knocked down, he fell on his back again, hit the back of his head, the mustachioed soldier grabbed him by the hand and drove him across the ice, shouting:
- Disperse everyone!
And the man, stirring the water with a pole, shouted something else:
- Educated gentlemen, give orders, but don’t know the law...
And Klim was especially struck by someone’s serious, incredulous question:
- Yes - was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy?
"Was!" - Klim wanted to shout but could not.
He woke up at home, in bed, in severe heat."

Then, throughout his life, Klim remembered this incident. He was tormented by guilt that he could not save his comrade. And trying to drown out and dull this pain, he persuaded himself, inspired that maybe there was no boy at all.

“The horror that Klim experienced in those moments when red, tenacious hands, protruding from the water, moved towards him, Klim had firmly forgotten; The scene of Boris's death was remembered more and more rarely and only as an unpleasant dream. But there was something importunate in the words of the skeptical person, as if they wanted to establish themselves with a funny, winking saying: “Maybe there was never a boy?”

This is how, thanks to the fame of Maxim Gorky and the popularity of his novel “The Life of Klim Samgin,” the phraseological unit “was there a boy” received a start in life.

To be fair, it is worth mentioning one story, the authenticity of which I cannot vouch for.

They say that the theme that was played up by Gorky in the novel was involuntarily suggested by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin himself.

This is due to an incident that occurred at some holiday. As was customary at ceremonial events, children were brought to the leader, who congratulated him and gave him flowers. But an incident occurred. Instead of congratulations, some boy dared to ask a question about the famine in Ukraine. After this, the boy’s family, and the boy himself, disappeared. Gorky, who was at this holiday, of course, heard everything and for some reason after some time decided to find the boy. But those close to Stalin only looked away and answered: “Was there a boy?” Maybe, this case and pushed Gorky to use this situation and the expression “was there a boy” in his novel.

Often people try to decorate their speech with beautiful and colorful expressions, the meaning and origin of which they do not fully understand. Catchphrases tend to somewhat modify their original meaning and context of use over time. Like, for example, the meaning of the phraseological unit “was there a boy?” In what cases can it be used today to show off a rich vocabulary?

Where does the phrase “was there a boy” come from?

There are several historical versions of which boy we are talking about. According to one of them, Ivan the Terrible exiled his wife to a distant monastery because she was barren. Suddenly news came that the queen had given birth to a son. Boris Godunov, at that time already close to the tsar and not wanting to lose actual power, sent his people there to check. But upon arrival it turned out that the newborn prince had died strange death as a result of an accident. And the phrase, which later became a catchphrase, was uttered by Boris Godunov in response to accusations of murdering the heir to the throne with a hint that the disgraced queen never had any child.

Over the years, it is no longer possible to verify the veracity of this story. Therefore, it is believed that the book “The Life of Klim Samgin” is the true source of phraseological units. In this novel by a Russian and then a Soviet writer you can find more full version expressions - “Was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy?” (Part 1, Chapter 1).

Was there a boy?

One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (Part I, Chapter 1) tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood. Klim hands Boris the end of his gymnasium belt, but, feeling that he too is being pulled under the water, he lets go of the belt. Children are drowning. When the search for the drowned begins, Klim is struck by “someone’s serious, incredulous question: “Was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy?” Last phrase became winged as a figurative expression of extreme doubt about something.

Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.

See what is "Was there a boy?" in other dictionaries:

Was there a boy? a stable expression in the Russian language, meaning the person expressing doubt about the very fact of the existence of the subject of discussion. Goes back to a quote from Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (part 1, chapter 1, first published in 1927... ... Wikipedia

From the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (Part 1, Chapter 1) by Maxim Gorky (pseudonym of Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov, 1868 1936). The novel contains an episode from the protagonist's childhood. The boy Klim and his comrades Boris Varavka and Varya Somova were skating.... ...

See: Was there a boy? encyclopedic Dictionary popular words and expressions. M.: Locked Press. Vadim Serov. 2003 ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

Was there a boy?- Razg. Express Did anything actually happen in reality? Expressing doubt about the authenticity of something. When Krymov arrived at the studio, the meeting and conversation with Balabanov... seemed like such a humiliating, worthless vindictiveness that...... ... Russian phraseological dictionary literary language

Was there a boy?- wing. sl. One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (Part I, Chapter 1) tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood. Klim gives Boris the end of his... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

was there a boy?- an expression of extreme uncertainty about something. In M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” there is an episode that describes the skating of the main character and two other children. Klim witnesses how they fall into the wormwood... ... Phraseology Guide

Razg. An expression of extreme doubt about something. F 1, 290. /i> From M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (1923-1936). BMS 1998, 364 ...

This term has other meanings, see Was there a boy?. Was there a boy? ... Wikipedia

BOY, ah, husband. 1. Male child. Boys and girls. 2. A teenage servant in a private house, in which no. establishment, with the owner of the master (obsolete). M. in a merchant's shop, in a hairdresser's, at a shoemaker's. To serve as a boy/in boys. M. on... ... Dictionary Ozhegova

Was it a boy? Razg. An expression of extreme doubt about something. F 1, 290. /i> From M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (1923-1936). BMS 1998, 364. Star boy. Jarg. mol., course. Joking. An officer. Maksimov, 154. A whipping boy... Big dictionary Russian sayings

Books

Was there a boy? Skeptical analysis of traditional history, Lev Shilnik. Is the traditional chronology correct? Do we understand antiquity correctly? How could tiny Hellas give the world so many brilliant names - philosophers, historians, sociologists, mathematicians,...

Was there a boy?
From the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (Part 1, Chapter 1) by Maxim Gorky (pseudonym of Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov, 1868-1936). The novel contains an episode from the protagonist's childhood. The boy Klim and his comrades - Boris Varavka and Varya Somova - were skating. Suddenly the ice broke, and Boris and Varya found themselves in the water. Klim tried to save them, handed Boris the end of his gymnasium belt, but, feeling that he was being pulled into the water, he let go of the belt. The children drowned. When the adults found out about the misfortune, the search for the drowned began, and Klim heard “someone’s serious, incredulous question” that struck him:
“Was there really a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy.”
Used: when there is doubt about the presence of the item itself, which has given cause for concern, trouble (ironically).

- ...
Sexological encyclopedia
- wing. sl. One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood...
Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky
- boy noun, m., used. very often Morphology: whom? boy, who? boy, who? boy, by whom? boy, about whom? about the boy...
Dmitriev's Explanatory Dictionary
- This is a word of the same root as the adjective small. Formed using a diminutive suffix. When we use this word, we sometimes don’t even think about what it means “little man”...
Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Krylov
- Old Russian - maltskoe. The word "" first appears in dictionaries in the 18th century. Boy – “a male child or adolescent.” Related are: Croatian – Malac. Polish – malec ...
Semenov Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language
- Razg. Express...
Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
- From the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” by Maxim Gorky. The novel contains an episode from the protagonist's childhood. The boy Klim and his comrades - Boris Varavka and Varya Somova - were skating...
- One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood...
Dictionary of popular words and expressions
- see Was there a boy? ...
Dictionary of popular words and expressions
- Was there a boy? Razg. An expression of extreme doubt about something. F 1, 290. /i> From the novel by M. Gorky “The Life of Klim Samgin”. BMS 1998, 364. Star boy. Jarg. mol., course. Joking. An officer. Maksimov, 154...
Large dictionary of Russian sayings
- ; pl. boys, R....
orthographic dictionary Russian language
- baby, little one, etc. see small...
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary
- BOY, husband. 1. Male child. Boys and girls. 2. A teenage servant in a private house, in some. establishment, with the owner-master. M. in a merchant's shop, in a hairdresser's, at a shoemaker's...
Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
- BOY, boy, husband. 1. Male child; youth In a Soviet school, boys and girls study together. 2. A very young, inexperienced person. “Finally I hear the speech not of the boy, but of the husband.” Pushkin. 3...
Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
- Cm....
Synonym dictionary
- noun, number of synonyms: 2 her boy lover...
Synonym dictionary

"Was there a boy?" in books

Kny Boy

From the book Polar Pilot author

Kny's boy I was taking a doctor to a distant winter camp where there were sick people. When we arrived, the winterers asked the doctor, first of all, to help the boy Kny, the son of a local hunter. The doctor hurried to the patient. “I really like that you take such care of the boy,”

Lena Sazonov (“A frisky boy, a cute boy...”)

From the book Tenderer than the Sky. Collection of poems author Minaev Nikolay Nikolaevich

To Lena Sazonov (“A frisky boy, a dear boy...”) A frisky boy, a dear boy, Listen to my speech: - You need to put all your might into learning. In order to be healthy and well-fed And not skinny as a skeleton, You need to eat with appetite Without leaving a trace throughout lunch. Do whatever he says

Was there a boy?

From the book General Dima. Career. Jail. Love author Yakubovskaya Irina Pavlovna

Was there a boy? The court verdict on fifty-eight pages talks about how books were stolen from the Russian National Library for years by all and sundry. And whoever is too lazy - they didn’t steal. But there were no such people. Mysterious disappearance books from the library and returning them there

"THAT" BOY

From the book Memories of Babel author Utyosov Leonid

“Was there a boy?”

From the book Passion by Maxim. Gorky: nine days after death author Basinsky Pavel Valerievich

“Was there a boy?” Metric record in the book of the Church of Barbara the Great Martyr, which stood on Dvoryanskaya Street Nizhny Novgorod: “Born on March 16, 1868, and baptized on March 22, Alexey; his parents: Perm province tradesman Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov and his legal wife Varvara

“Was there a boy?”

From the book Passion by Maxim (Documentary novel about Gorky) author Basinsky Pavel Valerievich

“Was there a boy?” The metrical record in the book of the Church of Barbara the Great Martyr, which stood on Dvoryanskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod: “Born on March 16, 1868, and baptized on the 22nd, Alexey; his parents: Perm province mish-mash Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov and his legal wife Varvara

“Was there a boy?”

From the book Gorky author Basinsky Pavel Valerievich

“Was there a boy?” The metrical record in the book of the Church of Barbara the Great Martyr, which stood on Dvoryanskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod: “Born on March 16, 1868, and baptized on the 22nd, Alexey; his parents: Perm province tradesman Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov and his legal wife Varvara

"THAT" BOY

From the book Near and Far author Paustovsky Konstantin Georgievich

“THAT” BOY Many people lived at Babel’s dacha: Babel himself, his quiet and strict mother, his red-haired beauty wife Evgenia Borisovna, Babel’s sister Mary and, finally, his mother-in-law with her little grandson. Babel jokingly and irreverently called this whole society “caudle.” And then one day

Chapter Eight WOLF BOY AND GOOD BOY

From Kipling's book author Livergant Alexander Yakovlevich

Chapter Eight WOLF BOY AND GOOD BOY Nevertheless, before the quarrel with the Balestirs, Kipling, as we have seen, lived quite well in America. And it was written too. Otherwise, there would be no "The Jungle Book" - Kipling's number one bestseller. Kipling wrote nothing but two

Boy!

From the book I'm Always Lucky! [Memoirs happy woman] author Lifshits Galina Markovna

Boy! I gave birth to my third son in our military hospital. Next to the hospital building there was the only one in the city Orthodox church St. Gorazda. My son was born at about five in the evening, and the bells rang, calling for the evening service. I kept track of each of my children.

Was there a boy?

From the book by Eduard Streltsov. Rapist or victim? author Vartanyan Axel

Was there a boy? Immediately there was silence, painfully long, dead, to the point of ringing in the ears. For seven years they tried to convince us that there was no such person and football player - Eduard Streltsov. Everything connected with him is nothing more than a bluff, a mirage, an optical illusion, a hallucination,

Kny Boy

From the book Heaven begins from earth. Pages of life author Vodopyanov Mikhail Vasilievich

Boy “It’s normal that he starts talking later – he’s a boy!”

From the book Everything best practices raising children in one book: Russian, Japanese, French, Jewish, Montessori and others author Team of authors

Boy “It’s normal that he starts talking later – he’s a boy!” Most French parents want the same thing for both a boy and a girl during their first pregnancy. During the second, they most often want a child of the opposite sex. Have great success

Chapter 3 “The boy in pants” and “the boy without pants”...

From the book Russia and Germany: Together or Apart? author Kremlev Sergey

Good boy - bad boy

From the book Awareness: exploring, experimenting, practicing by John Stevens

Good boy- bad boy Pair up with someone you'd like to get to know better. (...) Quickly decide which one of you is A and which one is B. (...) Now I want A to become a bad boy or girl, and B to become a good one. Start a conversation. Tell each214friend about yourself - about

Sometimes in the middle of a conversation a person may use a phrase that seems completely meaningless in a given situation. An example of this: “Was there a boy?” - where does the phrase come from, and how can it relate, for example, to finding a screwdriver lost in the garage?

Quote from Boris Godunov

The history of our state goes back hundreds of years. You can remember examples good rulers and not so much, moments of greatness and decline. Opinions about reign of Ivan the Terrible They are completely different, but every Russian knows at least something about this autocrat:

The king had a wife, whom he exiled to a distant monastery because she could not bear him an heir.
Quite suddenly, the exiled wife gave birth to a child.
Wanting to strengthen his position, Godunov tried to find out Is it so? Not personally, of course, with the help of his people.
A couple of months later, the capital was shocked by new news - the baby died after falling on knives.
Even in those days such statements were met, to put it mildly, with disbelief.
Trying to whitewash himself, Boris Godunov first used that same phrase about a boy.
It is quite possible that no child really existed. The wife simply tried to take revenge on her husband in such a simple way.

In any case, all such statements have already impossible to check. Often such stories come from literary rather than historical sources. And then go figure, the author was having fun with his imagination or describing real facts.

Words by Maxim Gorky

In the twentieth century, our “boy” appeared in one of Gorky’s works. It was written and published already in Soviet Russia, many have read it: “ Life of Klim Samgin»:

On one of the frosty days winter days main character went to the river.
He took two children with him, a girl and a boy.
There have always been problems with looking after children, so Klim did not look after the kids, they went under the water and drowned.
Subsequently, only the girl was found, and the boy literally disappeared.
This was enough for the characters to wonder - was there a boy?

A little naive, stupid and partly cruel, given all the suffering of the main character. But on the other hand, where could the body have gone? The river is small, sooner or later he had to be carried somewhere. If this did not happen, maybe the boy really did not exist?

Maybe, having experienced such a nervous shock, Klim’s consciousness simply came up with another child as additional hope? In any case, you need to know the classics of Russian literature, so familiarity with this work is recommended to everyone. You just need to take into account that Gorky did not write the most cheerful and life-affirming books.

On the other side, back side society and the failures of the heroes can serve as an incentive for the reader to be active and fruitful.

Pugacheva’s album and the meaning of the statement

Your tribute national history The modern pop singer Pugacheva also contributed to literature. One of her albums is called: “Was there a boy?”

Such are the features modern culture, everyone is trying to show that he knows something, to demonstrate his comprehensive development. However, the phrase was popularized and came into use among most of the population.

Now it is used:

When they try to express doubt.
When they don’t believe what the interlocutor says.
When they try to demonstrate their inability to find something and solve a problem.
When strangers are discussed with skepticism.

If they say this in response to some of your statements, it’s not a sin to be offended by this. Of course, you can bring some additional arguments, use all your persuasiveness and force them to lean toward your conclusions. But it’s better to quickly put the person in his place, why would the interlocutor even doubt the veracity of your words or the adequacy of your perception? It's not very pretty, to say the least.

What was good about raising Spartan boys?

At all times, boys did not have much fun, even if they did not fall on knives. In Sparta, falls were even more dangerous, because sometimes newborns were thrown directly from the mountain. But only if the child had visible defects or was weak and sickly.

And the survivors sometimes envied the dead, because the education system in the ancient city-state was not for sissies:

The benefits of a Spartan upbringing	Disadvantages of a Spartan upbringing
WITH youth children were trained for military affairs, each knew his craft.	Cruelty was shown to children from a very early age.
Constant training helped to survive in battle into adulthood.	The principles of the classical family were violated en masse.
Life in those days was not “sugar”; children were prepared for a cruel reality.	Children who did not know love and affection rarely grew up to be poets and artists.
The Spartans went down in history thanks to their education and discipline.	“Excessive” learning was not welcomed, and the pace of development slowed down.

Nowadays, modern children can only be glad that no one is raising them in such harsh conditions. Fortunately, times are completely different now. Although, in Lately the number of “hot spots” on the planet has increased sharply. AND we're talking about no longer just about some distant lands.

Was there really a boy?

When asked about the origin of the phrase there are three ways to answer And:

Godunov said it, justifying the “accident” with the tsarina’s child falling on the knives.
This is a quote from Maxim Gorky. Read his “Life of Klim Samgin”.
This is what Alla Pugacheva named one of her albums.

In principle, based on the answer your interlocutor gives, you can draw some conclusions about him. But you shouldn’t rush to judge people, because most people use figurative expressions and catchphrases, without even thinking about the original meaning and origins.

It's hard to blame them for this, because Russian language is multifaceted, and our culture is too rich to know all the quotes of great people. So don’t be sad or ashamed of not knowing something, there’s nothing shameful in that. If you want to learn something new, that’s great; such a desire compensates for many gaps and shortcomings.

We often use figurative expressions, for example: “Was there a boy?” - only historians will tell where the phrase comes from. And even then they will not be 100% sure, given how many centuries have passed since Godunov’s death.

Video about the meaning of the phrase

In this video, Anton and Pyotr Starousov will talk about the meaning of the phrase “Were there any boys?”, what and in what situations it is used:

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