What does the expression “stuck like a banya leaf” mean?
People often say annoyingly: «Пристал как банный лист!» (“Pristal kak banniy list!” or “Stuck like a banya leaf!”) to a person who is overly intrusive.
It’s all about banya brooms, which are made from birch or oak leaf-covered branches. When applying them to one’s body in the banya, their leaves can stick or cling to the body. That’s where the expression comes from, but in a figurative sense – about someone who is sticking their nose into the affairs of others and can’t leave them alone.
An English equivalent would be: “Stick to somebody/something like glue/a leech.”
