Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

if only the tsar knew

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.16 in modern English

Syllables
if on-ly the t-sar knew
IPA
33
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
3
Syllables
14
Unique Chars

Meaning

phrase

If only somebody at the top of an abusive hierarchy were aware of the abuses, they would take action to stop them.

Etymology

A phrase attributed to Russian peasants who suffered mistreatment in the tsarist era. Peasants in the tsarist era often attributed their misfortunes to the aristocracy and imperial administration, believing the tsar did not know of injustices being committed and, if he did, would immediately correct them. Compare good tsar, bad boyars and German wenn das der Führer wüsste.

Inflected Forms

if only the czar knew (alternative)

Questions

What does if only the tsar knew mean?
If only somebody at the top of an abusive hierarchy were aware of the abuses, they would take action to stop them.
Where does if only the tsar knew come from?
A phrase attributed to Russian peasants who suffered mistreatment in the tsarist era. Peasants in the tsarist era often attributed their misfortunes to the aristocracy and imperial administration, believing the tsar did not know of injustices being committed and, if he did, would immediately correct them. Compare good tsar, bad boyars and German wenn das der Führer wüsste.

How to pronounce if only the tsar knew

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