Ah, Leonid, thanks. But that's the thing: that<em> скучный</em> seems to have a wider meaning than the separate English ideas of <em>boredom</em> or <em>missing/longing</em>. It's curious. The <em>busy</em> I mean is, for example, what you'd experience down on the metro at peak times. You know, <em>много народа!</em> Is there a simpler way to express that?

I've thought of a couple more. One is modes of transport. Perhaps words in your own language are so natural that the etymology is sort of hidden, or that English etymology is just murky at the best of times, but many Russian words look so literal and logical in their meaning that they're somehow comical to me.

<em>само-лет</em>! <em>тепло-ход</em>! <em>поезд</em>.

It's funny - following the logic, I assumed for a couple of years that a <em>теплоход</em> was a hot air balloon.

I totally agree with Peachey's, too. Possession seems to have some slightly different mental process altogether going on. Very interesting.

I also like, yet find weird, just how many different things you can <em>сделать</em>.

Almost forgot another good one! <em>Сон!</em> The whole idea of dreaming/sleeping: <em>Видеть сон, видеть во сне.</em> Are dreams just <em>sights-I-see-in-sleep</em>? It's odd to my English mind that dreams are something you <em>see</em>, and that they don't have their own verb.

This is a good topic.

It's actually something quite common: how Russian expresses the concept of "I have" as "У меня есть ..."  My English brain sees the Russian phrase as almost saying that I've done nothing to possess the thing, and the thing's presence almost seems coincidental. I think there are a couple of other common expressions which are expressed personally in English, but indirectly in Russian. Just something to get used to. :)

By the way, your French example ("<em>Tonight we're gonna party like it's one-thousand-nine-hundred-four-twenties-ten-and-nine.</em>" haha) reminded me of Humon's cartoon about Danish counting:

<em>http://satwcomic.com/just-a-number</em>;

For me it's funny how you write some western names of places, music bands and institution

for example AC/DC = Ай Си Ди Си, New York= Нью-Йорк ( it looks and sound funny)

@Dominic to say "I am busy" in russian - "Я занят" or "Я занята" - the easiest way. 

I miss you - "Я скучаю по тебе" or "Мне тебя не хватает".

I am bored without you - "Мне скучно без тебя". 

As you can see, there is the difference. 

Why is Russia so difficult?

I guess the funny thing I see in Russian is not so much the language, but how differently women and men talk.

American English has become sex-less in our presentation of the language. But, Russian still allows men and women to talk differently.

Roy