с душком

• С ДУШКОМ coll

[PrepP; Invar; subj-compl with copula or nonagreeing modif]

=====

1. [subj: a noun denoting food]

⇒ not fresh, decaying:

- X с душком{{}}≈ X is going bad;

- X is spoiling;

- X smells bad (like ift going bad).

     ♦ Выброси эту рыбу, она с душком. Throw out this fish-it's going bad.

2. с (,каким) душком disapprov [subj: human, collect, or abstr; while in Russian the modifier may be only implied, the English equivalent in most cases will specify it]

⇒ (used to show that the speaker thinks the views of some person or group, the direction taken by a newspaper, some theory etc has a tendency to be ethically, politically etc wrong; in the Soviet context was also used to show that some phenomenon contradicted official ideology) sth. is undesirable, harmful, marked by some unacceptable (as implied or specified by the context) tendency:

- X с (нехорошим) душком{{}}≈ X has a nasty smell to it;

|| X с либеральным (консервативным, антисемитским и т. п.) душком{{}}≈ X is tainted by liberalism (conservatism, anti-Semit ism etc);

|| X с сомнительным душком{{}}≈ X has a dubious (doubtful) air (about it <him etc>).

     ♦ ...Преуменьшать значения молитвы... нельзя. Далеко зашел старик. С душком, с нехорошим душком молитва (Абрамов 1). ...The importance of the prayer could not be underestimated. The old man had gone too far It had a nasty smell to it, that prayer (1a).

     ♦ ...Он [отставной активист] высказался в том духе, что... квартира в жилтовариществе советских фотографов превратилась в пристанище для сборищ с определённой подкладкой, с сомнительным душком (Аксенов 12). ...The retired activist expressed himself to the effect that...an apartment in a housing community for Soviet photographers has been "turned into a haven for gatherings of a certain element, with a dubious air" (12a).