The word "limit" has a stable negative meaning and is most often used as a usual curse word. It is a synonym for dullness, limited interests and causeless aggressiveness. At the same time, few people think about what the limit is and where it came from in Russian reality. And this, at least, is not without interest.
From the history of the issue
The answer to the question of what “limit” means should be sought around the seventies of the last century. The capital of the Soviet Union, the hero city of Moscow, was traditionally attractive to the entire population of the country. The standard of living in the capital was very different from the average. Should we say that there were many who wanted to settle in Moscow for permanent residence, and it was not so simple to do this? On the way of those who wish there was such an administrative barrier as registration. It was impossible to live in the capital without finding a passport mark. Meanwhile, Moscow was in great need of labor; without its constant influx, a multi-million megalopolis simply could not exist. Numerous construction projects and utilities of the city would simply have stopped without working hands.
Soviet way to solve personnel problems
Indigenous Muscovites categorically did not want to work on construction sites and in structures ensuring the vital activity of the capital. For owners of a Moscow residence permit this was neither prestigious nor profitable. It was these circumstances of an economic and social nature that caused the attraction of nonresident labor to the capital. Its quantity was limited by the administratively approved planning norm - the limit. It is from here that the definition of "limit" (with emphasis on the last syllable) entered the colloquial vocabulary of Moscow. This is the common name of visiting workers who agreed to hard and prestigious work in order to receive in the future a Moscow residence permit, which they promised for work for the benefit of the capital.
Moscow limiters
Visiting workers lived in special dormitories, mostly located in areas remote from the center, often beyond the Ring Road. In order to decide on moving to Moscow and readiness for hard work for the promised in the future stamp in the passport, it was necessary to have considerable strength of character. Or simply do not have roots in their homeland. Without an understanding of these circumstances, it is impossible to answer the question of what the limit is.
Places of mass residence of Moscow limiters often became centers of social tension and increased criminality. Limiters, to put it mildly, did not like the owners of Moscow registration. The main motive for their aggression was a feeling of overt social injustice. And the native Muscovites do not need to explain what the limit is. Even the simple fact that a significant part of modern Moscow was erected by limited workers cannot change the negative attitude towards it. But over the years, some of the limiters still got Moscow registration and today they prefer to call themselves "Muscovites in the first generation."
