Was there a boy - where did the phrase come from? Where does the phrase "was there a boy."

Often people try to embellish their speech with beautiful and vivid expressions, the meanings and origins of which are not fully understood. Catch phrases tend to somewhat modify their original meaning and context of use over time. As, for example, the meaning of the phraseological unit "was there a boy." In what cases today can it be used to show off a rich vocabulary?

Where does the phrase "was there a boy"

There are several historical versions of which boy we are talking about. According to one of them, Ivan the Terrible sent his wife to a distant monastery because she was barren. Suddenly the news came that the queen had given birth to a son. Boris Godunov, who at that time was already close to the tsar and did not want to lose his actual power, sent his people there to check. But upon arrival, it turned out that the newborn prince died a strange death as a result of an accident. And the phrase, which later became winged, 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.

Phraseologism "was there a boy" is quite popular. It is used in the absence of confidence in the existence of the object of the dispute, when there is a big question about the existence of the very reason for the disagreement; when in doubt about something: on the one hand, no matter how denying the fact itself, and on the other, paying attention to the fact that there is no evidence to the contrary either. Moreover, instead of the word "boy" you can use any other word denoting an object in the presence of which great doubts are currently creeping in.

The expression "was there a boy" is pronounced mostly in a joking manner. And although phraseology 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 the largest work of Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”, the years of writing of which stretch from 1925 until the death of the writer in 1936.

One episode that happened to the main character of the novel Klim Samgin in childhood is connected with the expression “was there a boy”.

Once in winter, Klim and his comrades, Boris and Varya, were skating. Suddenly, the ice cracked, and his friends were in the water. Trying to somehow help, Klim used his belt and handed it to Boris. Boris, clinging to the end of the belt, began to pull Klim to the water. Frightened, Klim released the belt from his hands and ... the children drowned. During the search for the drowned, someone incredulously said:

“- Yes - was there a boy, maybe there was no 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, squealing, closed his eyes and let go of the belt. And opening his eyes, he saw that the dark purple, heavy water was clapping more and more often on Boris’s shoulders, on his bare head, and that small, wet hands, gleaming 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 hat swayed on the agitated water, lead pieces of ice floated and humps of water stood up, reddish in the rays of sunset. Klim sighed deeply, relieved, all this terrible continued for a painfully long time. But although he was stupefied with fear, it still surprised him that Lydia just now rolled up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, hit him with her knee in the back and screamed piercingly:

“Where… where are they?”

Klim watched as the water, calming down, flowed in one direction, playing with Boris's hat, looked and muttered:

- She drowned him ... He shouted - let him go, scolded her. He broke the belt...

Lydia screeched and fell onto the ice.

The ice creaked under the skates, the black figures of people rushed towards the opening, a man in a sheepskin coat thrust a long pole into the water and yelled:

- Disperse! Fail. It's lumpy here, gentlemen, the machine was working here, or you don't know!

Klim got to his feet, wanted to lift Lida, but they hit him, he fell on his back again, hit the back of his head, a mustachioed soldier grabbed his arm and drove him across the ice, shouting:

- Disperse everyone!

And the peasant, stirring the water with a pole, shouted something else:

- Educated gentlemen, dispose, but do not know the law ...

And Klim was especially struck by someone's serious, incredulous question:

- Yes - was there a boy, maybe there was no boy?

"Was!" - Klim wanted to shout and could not.

He woke up at home, in bed, in a cruel heat.

Then, throughout his life, Klim recalled 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.

“The horror experienced by Klim in those moments when red, tenacious hands, protruding from the water, moved towards him, Klim firmly forgot; the scene of Boris's death was remembered to him more and more rarely and only as an unpleasant dream. But there was something intrusive in the words of the skeptical man, as if they wanted to establish themselves with a funny, winking saying: “Maybe there was no boy?”

So, 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” got a start in life.

In fairness, it is worth mentioning one bike, for the reliability of which I can not vouch.

They say that the theme, which was played 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 there was an incident. Instead of congratulations, some boy dared to ask a question about the famine in Ukraine. After that, 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 averted their eyes and answered: “Was there a boy?” Perhaps this incident prompted Gorky to use this situation and the expression “was there a boy” in his novel.

0 Quite often, in everyday speech, people use vivid and figurative expressions, the meaning of which not everyone can correctly interpret. Today we will talk about one of these phrases, " Was there a boy?".
However, before continuing, I would like to advise you to read some more interesting news on the topic of phraseological units. For example, the phrase Better a tit in the hands than a crane in the sky; translation Enfant terrible, meaning Klin is kicked out with a wedge, which means From the fire to the frying pan, etc.
So let's continue whence the phrase Was there a boy? This is an incomplete quote, the full one sounds like this: "Yes, was there a boy, maybe there was no boy." Then the next question arises, who is the author? In fact, this phraseological unit appeared in the work of Maxim Gorky " Life of Klim Samgin", later the phrase was shortened, and it began to sound more ironic.

Was there a boy- means the speaker's doubt in the very fact of the existence of the object of discussion

This quote is in the first part, the first chapter of the novel " Life of Klim Samgin". This phrase is uttered by one of the characters in this work, expressing doubts about whether the boy actually drowned when he was skating. And the situation was as follows. On a cold winter day, Klim takes two children with him and goes to the ice-covered river. He was supposed to look after the children, but this is quite difficult to do, because the kids are very restless. There was a tragedy, two teenagers, a boy and a girl go to the bottom. After the search, only the body of the girl was found, and the boy seemed to have dissolved in the water.
It was this circumstance that made the hero wonder if there was a boy?

It is possible that Klim just made up a second child because he was under stress? Be that as it may, you need to familiarize yourself with the Russian classics in order to be aware when you are asked where the phrase comes from Was there a boy? Although, if you are used to stupid Hollywood scenarios, then know that all of Gorky's books are rather gloomy and hopeless.

Although, after reading about the suffering of heroes, the reader may want to change his life for the better, and will make every effort for this, and the literature of Maxim Gorky will be his incentive.

Today, this phraseological unit is used in cases where:

Discuss strangers with doubt.

They try to show their powerlessness, solve a problem or find something.

Express skepticism to their counterpart.

They try to show their doubt about something.

If you tell or affirm something, and the phrase " Was there a boy", then you have the right to get angry and demand additional

There are two versions of the origin of this phrase: historical and literary.
Historians attribute the phrase "Was there a boy?" Boris Godunov. When Prince Ivan died, Ivan the Severe had only one heir - Fedor, but he was in poor health and mind. Boris Godunov married his sister Ira to Fedor in order to be even closer to power. Ivan the Severe sent his wife Solomonia Saburova into exile in a distant monastery because she was unable to have children. However, after some time, news came from the monastery that the queen had given birth to Dmitry's offspring. To verify this information, Boris Godunov sent his own people to the monastery. However, when they arrived there, it turned out that the baby had fallen either on a knife or on scissors and died. Many then began to incriminate Godunov in the death of the baby, to which he excused himself “Was there a boy?” implying that the disgraced queen invented everything in order to take revenge on Ivan the Severe. By the way, history is silent about whether there was, in fact, a boy.

It is not uncommon to hear the catchphrase “Was there a boy?” Usually it is used in a situation of doubt about the existence of the object of the dispute. Where did it come from, that it has become so firmly entrenched in our speech?

More widely known is the phrase "Was there a boy?" acquired after the release of the novel by M. Gorkovaty "The Life of Klim Samgin". According to the plot, the main character sets off with 2 children, a boy and a girl, to skate, and at some point the children fall into the wormwood and drown. The girl was found, but the boy was not. In impotence from fruitless searches, the question suddenly sounds in Klim's head: "Was there a boy, maybe there wasn't a boy?"

In this formulation, instead of “boy”, any other words are often substituted, depending on the object, the existence of which is in doubt.

Materials provided from the website www.otvetin.ru

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

Quote from Boris Godunov

The history of our state has more than one hundred years. One can recall examples of good rulers and not so good ones, moments of greatness and decline. Opinions about reign of Ivan the Terrible they go completely different, but every Russian knows at least something about this autocrat:

1. The king had a wife, whom he exiled to a distant monastery, since she could not bear him an heir.
2. Quite suddenly, the exiled wife gave birth to a child.
3. Wanting to strengthen his position, Godunov tried to find out Is it so? Not personally, of course, with the help of his people.
4. A couple of months later, the capital was shocked by new news - the baby died, falling on knives.
5. Already in those days, such statements were met, to put it mildly, with distrust.
6. Trying to whitewash himself, Boris Godunov first used the very phrase about the boy.
7. It is possible that no child really existed. It's just that the wife tried to take revenge on her husband, in such an unpretentious way.

In any case, all such statements are already impossible to check. Often such stories come from literary rather than historical sources. And then go understand, the author had fun with his fantasy or described 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 read it: “ Life of Klim Samgin»:

• One of the frosty winter days, the main character went to the river.
• He took two children with him, a girl and a boy.
• There were problems with looking after children at all times, so Klim did not notice the kids, they went under water and drowned.
• Subsequently, only a 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 kind of cruel, given all the suffering of the protagonist. But on the other hand, where could the body have gone? The river is small, sooner or later it had to endure 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 an additional hope? In any case, you need to know the classics of Russian literature, so acquaintance with this work is recommended to everyone. It is only necessary to take into account that Gorky wrote not 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 active and fruitful activity.

Pugacheva's album and the meaning of the statement

Your tribute national history and literature was given by the modern pop singer - Pugacheva. One of her albums is called: “Was there a boy?”.

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

Now it is used:

1. When trying to express doubt.
2. When they do not believe what the interlocutor says.
3. When they try to demonstrate their inability to find something and solve the problem.
4. When strangers are discussed with skepticism.

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

What was good about raising Spartan boys?

At all times, boys did not have so much fun, even if they did not fall on knives. In Sparta, falls were even more dangerous, because sometimes newborns were thrown right off 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:

Benefits of Spartan Parenting	Disadvantages of Spartan Education
From a young age, children were trained for military affairs, each knew his craft.	Cruelty was shown to children from the earliest years.
Constant training helped to survive in battle, in adulthood.	The principles of the classical family were massively violated.
Life in those days was “not sugar”, children were prepared for a cruel reality.	From children who did not know love and affection, poets and artists rarely grew up.
The Spartans went down in history precisely because of their upbringing and discipline.	"Excessive" learning was not welcome, the pace of development slowed down.

Now modern children can only be glad that no one is raising them in such harsh conditions. Fortunately, times are very different now. Although, recently the number of "hot spots" on the planet has increased dramatically. And we are talking not only about some distant lands.

Was it really a boy?

When asked about the origin of the phrase can be answered in three ways and:

• Godunov said it, justifying the "accident" with the fall of the queen's child on knives.
• This is a quote from Maxim Gorky. Read his Life of Klim Samgin.
• This is how Alla Pugacheva called one of her albums.

In principle, already by what answer the interlocutor gives, we can draw some conclusions about him. But do not hastily judge people, because the majority uses figurative expressions and catchphrases without even thinking about the original meaning and origins of origin.

It's hard to blame them, because Russian language is multifaceted, and our culture is too rich to know all the quotes of great people. So do not be sad and do not be ashamed of not knowing something, there is nothing to be ashamed of. 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?” - where the phrase only historians will tell. And even then they will not be 100% sure, given how many centuries have passed since the death of Godunov.

Video about the meaning of the phrase

In this video, Anton and Peter Starousov will talk about the meaning of the phrase “Were there a boy?”, Why and in what situations it is used: