Колбасить — Kolbasit'

The slangy verbs колбасить and колбаситься are all-purpose words that describe an enormous range of activities and emotions. I can't think of any verb in English that is so multi-purpose. Even the word "screw" (or the obscenity it replaces) must be modified (screw up, screw around, screw over) to give you even a fraction of the Russian verbs' meanings.
Колбасить is most frequently used impersonally -- меня колбасит -- and seems to describe any intense emotion, from misery to joy, with the misery side the most common. Меня колбасит can mean "I'm freezing" or "this bothers me." If you are standing for an hour at the bus stop in January and hear меня колбасит uttered through chattering lips, you can assume the first meaning. Of course, it could also mean "this cold is a real bummer."
If said in a stern tone of voice, it can mean "to upset someone." Что ты всех колбасишь? Отстань! (Why are you bugging everyone? Lay off!) From here it is short step to "depress someone." Что ты мне рассказываешь про армию -- меня от этого колбасит. (Why are you telling me about the army? It's bringing me down, man.) The day after the night before, you may also hear your teenage neighbor moan Меня так колбасит! (I've got a wicked hangover!)
You have to pay attention to tone of voice with this verb. If someone says, "Паша мне звонил, когда бухал. Колбасило его по-страшному," it could mean, "Pasha called me when he was drinking. He was having a great time." Or it could mean, "He was really bummed out."
Колбаситься has a range of meanings associated with getting high and drinking. "Вчера вечером мы с Пашкой колбасились," could mean "Last night Pashka and I got high on drugs," or "Last night Pashka and I drank a lot." Here you can use the English slang "to get screwed up" or "to get fried," which are also nonspecific about the source of the intoxication.
Колбаситься can also mean "to have a rousing good time" that may involve substance abuse, or may not. Предков нет -- поехали на дачу колбаситься! (My 'rents aren't around. Let's go out to the dacha and party.) Or it can mean "to dance," with the sense of really cutting loose on the dance floor. На дискотеке Паша так колбасился, что чуть ногу не сломал. (At the disco Pasha really got down and nearly broke his leg.) Or it can mean "to fool around," "to get up to mischief." Мы пошли в кино и так колбасились, что нас выгнали. (We went to the movies and jerked around so much they kicked us out.)
There is also a noun колбасня, which means "a fun party" or "a disco with dancing." Колбасня будет у Паши сегодня -- его предки уехали на дачу. (There's going to be a bash at Pasha's tonight -- his parents went out to the dacha.) And there is a related adjective колбасный, which means "fun, the life of the party." Давай пригласим Пашу! Он парень колбасный. (Let's invite Pasha. He's a riot.)
Then there's the meaning of "to joke around," either in a fun or mean way. Кончай колбаситься! Я же серьёзно говорю! (Quit joking around. I'm serious!) Кончай колбаситься! Она же плачет! (Knock it off! She's crying!)
If this weren't enough, колбаситься can also mean "to hang around," or "to spend time unproductively." Весь день в институте колбасился, а без толку. (I putzed around all day at the institute and didn't get a thing done.) Он поехал учиться, потом год колбасился в Париже. (He went to study and then spent a year knocking around Paris.)
The moral of this column is: If your teenage kids use колбаситься or колбасить -- check out the context very carefully. And don't let them колбаситься with Pasha.

Moscow Times
Friday, April 8, 2005. Issue 3142. Page 8.