Entry · catalog no. 3388

russian

/ /ˈrʌʃən/ /RUH-shun

noun · Harlem / nationwide · 1940s

✓ Verified

A Southern Black migrant newly arrived up North — a play on "rushed up here," hence a "Russian." Nothing to do with the country.

“Fresh off the train from Georgia — they called him a Russian till he learned the city.”

Origin & Attribution

Harlem wordplay of the Great Migration era, recorded by Zora Neale Hurston in her 1942 Glossary of Harlem Slang. From "rushed up here" — a Southerner who rushed North for work — folded into the sound of "Russian."

1942

Recorded in Zora Neale Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang, from 'rushed up here'

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide / diaspora

Harlem / nationwide · 1940s

Spoken by

1940s Harlem

$RUSSIAThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Dormant

84 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

15/100

peak cultural energy

Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1942

in the culture

Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.

Hear it spoken

By region — how it actually sounds

@auntiereg

Atlanta, GA

@deltasoul

Memphis, TN

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

Zora Neale Hurston, Glossary of Harlem Slang — reference · 1942

published

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