Knock, knock...

Okay, a friend of mine came up with this, and it's so awful, so wonderful, and so funny on several levels that I have to share it with you.

One thing you have to know: in Russian, "kto ehto?" is "who's that?"

Okay, we were discussing the Georgian situation, and another friend made an off-hand reference to the "fictional difference between the Chechens and the Ingush." Friend 1 asked him to explain, and he did:

The Chechen name for themselves is "Nakh", which (as is common) means "people", or "Vai Nakh", which means "our people". The Ingush name for themselves is "Nakh" or "Vai Nakh".

In the Caucasus Wars of the 19th century (a continuation of the conflicts in the 18th century), some Nakhs fought for the Russians, and some against them. When the war was over the Russians called those who had fought for them "nashi Nakhi (our Nakhs)" and the others "ne nashi Nakhi (not our Nakhs)". They gave each group some territory and named them after the primary village. Thus, the "good" Nakhs became the Ingush and the "bad" Nakhs the Chechens. (Note please that things haven't changed all that much in the last couple of centuries or so...)

So Friend 1 immediately fired back with:

"Nakh, Nakh."

"Kto ehto?"