Subbotnik and voskresnik (from Russian: суббо́та, IPA: [sʊˈbotə] for "Saturday" and воскресе́нье, IPA: [vəskrʲɪˈsʲenʲjɪ] for "Sunday") were days of volunteer unpaid work on weekends after the October Revolution, though the word itself is derived from суббо́та (subbota for Saturday) and the common Russian suffix -ник (-nik). The tradition is continued in modern Russia and some other former Soviet Republics. Subbotniks are mostly organized for cleaning the streets of garbage, fixing public amenities, collecting recyclable material, and other community services. The first mass subbotnik was held on...

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko (Russian: Михаил Михайлович Зощенко; Ukrainian: Михайло Михайлович Зощенко;10 August [O.S. 29 July] 1894 – 22 July 1958) was a Soviet and Russian writer and satirist. == Biography == Zoshchenko was born in 1894, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, according to his 1953 autobiography. Other sources suggest that he was born in Poltava, in present-day Ukraine. His Ukrainian father was an artist and a mosaicist responsible for the exterior decoration of the Suvorov Museum in Saint Petersburg. His mother was Russian. The future writer attended the Faculty of Law at the Saint...

Ewe (Eʋe or Eʋegbe [ɛβɛɡ͡bɛ]) is a language spoken by approximately 5 million people in West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Togo. Ewe is part of a group of related languages commonly called the Gbe languages. The other major Gbe language is Fon, which is mainly spoken in Benin. Like many African languages, Ewe is tonal as well as a possible member of the Niger-Congo family. The German Africanist Diedrich Hermann Westermann published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists who have worked on Ewe and closely related languages include Gilbert Ansre (tone...