Kuzma's mother

ruzuzu commented on the word Kuzma's mother

Kuzma's mother or Kuzka's mother (Russian: Кузькина мать; Kuzka is a diminutive of the given name Kuzma) is a part of the Russian idiomatic expression "to show Kuzka's mother to someone" (Russian: Показать кузькину мать (кому-либо)), an expression of an unspecified threat or punishment, such as "to teach someone a lesson" or "to punish someone in a brutal way". It entered the history of the foreign relations of the Soviet Union as part of the image of Nikita Khrushchev, along with the shoe-banging incident and the phrase "We will bury you".

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kuzma%27s_mother&oldid=878213572 (which also tells us the following: "Because of the phrase's use in Cold War diplomacy, it became a code word for the atomic bomb. In particular, the Tsar Bomba 50 MT yield thermonuclear test device was nicknamed "Kuzka's mother" by its builders.")

February 1, 2019