Б68
ИГРАТЬ В БИРЮЛЬКИ
coll,
disapprovVPsubj:
humanoften
neg or
infin with хватит, перестань(те)
etc) to occupy
o.s. with trifles (with the implication that one should be doing
sth. serious, productive instead)
X в бирюльки играет \Б-68 X fritters (fiddles) away the time
X fiddles (fools, putters) around
Neg X не в бирюльки играет (with an emphasis on the seriousness of the matter) X is not playing games (with person Y).
ИГРА В БИРЮЛЬКИ
NP - fiddling (fooling, puttering) aroundtriflestrifling matters.
From the name of an old game in which a large number of very small objects («бирюльки») were scattered on a table and the players tried to pull out one item at a time with a small hook without disturbing the other objects. Cf. jackstraws, pick-up-sticks.