«Любовь зла; полюбишь и козла» (transliterated as: Lyubov zla; polyubish i kozla). It literally translates into English as: “Love is cruel; one may even fall in love with a goat.”
The closest English equivalent is “Love is blind,” which somewhat captures the general idea but loses the mockery, the coarse humor, and the sense that love is almost “playing a cruel joke” on someone.
In tone, these English expressions come somewhat closer:
“Love is cruel.”
“Love makes fools of people.”
“Love is an illness.”
“Love makes one blind to the flaws of the object of affection.”
“You can fall for a complete jerk.”
But English still does not have a full cultural equivalent.
In Russian, the phrase works idiomatically: love is so irrational and mischievous that a person can fall for someone completely unsuitable, pathetic, or ridiculous. And “goat” is also an insult in Russian, not just an animal. Roughly speaking, it means something like “asshole.”
Why are we even talking about this Russian saying? Well, the reason is Trump, yet again. The man is a complete jerk. And that is obvious to almost everyone except those still blinded by affection for him. Many Americans are still failing to notice that he is, in Russian terms, a complete kozyol — a goat. Hopefully, a useful one.
