>This reminds me of a classic Russian saying, whereof #2834381 is an unchecked
>translation that you would be nice to check :>

@ Ooneykcall

Russian is not one of my languages so I can't address the translation part.

"Whoever doesn't smoke or drink will die healthy." is grammatical and understandable, but just a bit stilted. (But stilted may still be okay. It's just another register of speech, after all.) For me personally, it would be much more natural to say:

"If you don't smoke or drink, you'll die healthy."
or
"People who don't smoke or drink will die healthy."
or
"Those who don't smoke or drink will die healthy."
or maybe even (also stilted)
"He who doesn't smoke or drink will die healthy."

The "whoever" is odd, though.

I'll leave it to those who understand Russian to decide if any of those are good translations of the original.

"Those who don't smoke or drink will die healthy" is definitely my choice.

This is a common case of an overly literal translation, because while the closest options in terms of literalness are "he who" and "whoever", these belong to an upper register, whereas the Russian sentence is perfectly spoken. (Too bad the hearty diminutive cannot be translated, because 'healthy' cannot be diminished like that.)

Поскольку astynk неактивен, не будет ли кто из хранителей так любезен и не сменит предложение на более уместное "Those who don't smoke or drink will die healthy"?

The member is inactive. Correcting.

>(Too bad the hearty diminutive cannot be translated, because 'healthy' cannot be diminished like that.)

@Ooneykcall,

Well, it is possible to say "sort of healthy" or "kind of healthy," or slangy "healthy-ish." They would serve to diminish the adjective, but the first two can also add a tentative note that might make people wonder if you're being serious. You'd have to speak the sentence using proper vocal inflections and a big smile to preserve the joking aspect. :)

The "-ish" option added to words that normally wouldn't take it is humorous all by itself.

In Russian, diminishing an adjective often connotes the speaker's attitude to it (either light-hearted [generally for good qualities]: jocular, sweet, heartfelt, merry; or disapproving [generally for bad qualities]: condescending, spiteful, belittling) rather than weakening the adjective itself. Sometimes the proper reading has to be inferred from context. In this sentence, though, it is clearly the first type, making fun of the irony in it.

Thanks, Ooneykcall. Very interesting. :)