Word: carpe
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Igor Petrovich has a good idea. He would like to import a small population of carp to eat the grass that has overgrown the pond. The pond is the pride and joy of Ranina, a resort community in the vast forested flatlands of eastern Belarus, and the grass has grown so thick that swimming and fishing have become difficult. The grass is a source of constant aggravation and conversation among residents who own properties along the water's edge. The homeowners agree that carp would be a simple, low-cost, environmentally friendly solution to the problem...
...ahead and buy some carp for the pond? Well, that would require a consensus on how much carp is needed, on how to pay for them, and on who should be entrusted to bring them to the village. And such consensus is hard to achieve in Ranina. In part, this is because communication is difficult - there is no Internet, and land lines are non-existent. But the problem goes much deeper...
...civic-mindedness required to, say, pool money to buy some carp to take care of the pond's grass, has not exactly taken root in this environment. The owners spend every spare minute of the summer working on their dachas, but have no enthusiasm for doing anything for the greater good. "It's not that people can't afford it," says a homeowner who gives her name only as Tanya, "it is that people do not believe that if they hand over some money, no matter how small, and no matter how positive the cause, that something will actually come...
...knows that that, too, is unlikely. Like Lukashenko, he is a holdover from the Soviet era, and no plans are in place to explore his replacement. He will, in all likelihood, remain chairman for life. And the grass in the pond will remain free of the attention of hungry carp...
...These were fish stories, and WWN had plenty of those: the mermaid sushi and the fish with legs that washed up on a Riviera beach, not to mention "Miracle Carp Says the End Is Near!" The paper also indulged in rampant francophobia, evident in such headlines as "Vengeful Frogs Eat French Chef's Legs" and (one of our favorites) "Sissy French Kids Trade Cards of Female Impersonators...