С-198

ОТ СИХ (И) ДО СИХ PrepP these forms only adv fixed WO

(to read sth. , do a job, carry out an order etc) within the strict boundaries of what is assigned ( usu. used sarcastically with the implication that by doing so one demonstrates a lack of initiative, intellectual curiosity etc): from here to here (there)

(in limited contexts) within precise limits from point A to point В (and no further).

...В их головах не укладывается, чтобы парень без образования, вроде меня, сам читал Ленина или что-нибудь ещё. Они сами-то его читали «от сих до сих» (Марченко 1). ...Their minds couldn't contain the idea of an uneducated fellow like me actually reading Lenin-or anything else for that matter. They themselves had read only "from here to here" (1a).

Это же вдуматься: земля - тюрьма, кругом запреты, всё нормировано от сих до сих, всё разгорожено и перегорожено, ходи только так, живи только так (Кузнецов 1). When you came to think of it, the whole world was a prison: restrictions on all sides, everything laid down within precise limits, everything concreted up and divided off: you can go only here, live only like this... (1b).