In a strict approach, there is no adequate reference between Russian idioms and their Hungarian counterparts. For this reason, in the teaching process these kinds of lexical items require descriptions instead of providing their Hungarian “equivalents”. Variations of Russian idioms like „проще/дешевле пареной репы” reveal that their semantic and stylistic features are not completely idiomatized. The author's teaching experience persuades us to deal with the problem non only in synchronic but diachronic aspect, too.