As far as I know, отстой refers to something that’s crappy, no good, etc. That’s not what WHAT A DRAG means.

Скукотище/тягомотина🤔

Maybe. We say WHAT A DRAG when:

(1) we’re faced with doing something tedious or boring: [Connie at work]: What are you doing? Need a hand? [Angie]: Do I ever! I was supposed to print all the dates in red in this report and I forgot. Now I have to unstaple them all and highlight the dates in yellow because it’s too much paper to print again. [Connie]: What a drag! I’ll tell you what… I’ll unstaple, you highlight, and I’ll restaple. We’ll finish in no time!

(2) Upon hearing about something sad or depressing that happened to someone (usually someone we know, not a random person on social media or the news): [Wife]: I spoke to the neighbors this morning. Little Joey’s been sluggish and weak all weekend and they’re horrified his cancer may’ve come back. They’re taking him in for tests on Monday. [Husband]: Poor family. What a drag. [=this is going to weigh on my mind and bring me down until we find out what’s going on].

I think you can use тягомотина for your first snippet. As for the second one, I can’t think of a specific word that would encompass both a horrible situation someone is in and you feeling bad for them. I’d use something along the lines of Какой ужас/кошмар!
Curiously, a lot of people would use Ужас/кошмар when they find themselves in a situation like your first snippet. :)

тягомотина ≈ long-windedness?

Long-windedness refers to somebody who talks too much.

As a drag, I once saw something like как же еботорно!

Tatiana, I think in (2) an expression of sympathy like Бедная семья! would render the meaning of WHAT A DRAG beautifully.

As a drag, I once saw something like как же еботорно!

Yep! 🤣👌Better: какая еботня! But you need to be aware who you’re speaking too:)

I think in (2) an expression of sympathy like Бедная семья!

Better: Бедные соседи! We don’t normally say бедная семья unless we refer to someone who’s broke.
I was considering it too, but you have “Poor family. What a drag!”, so if you translate that excerpt just as Бедные соседи, you’re virtually leaving “What a drag!”off. In fact, saying Бедные соседи… Какой кошмар/ужас!, you’re going to sound really natural.:)

как же еботорно

It’s normally supposed to function as an adverbial modifier as in:
Как же еботорно выделять маркером дату на каждой странице, особенно если страниц под 500.

Better: какая еботня!

Несравнимо лучше! 🤣

Несравнимо лучше!

Елена😅

😂 ебóтня?

Не угадал 🤣 еботня́

I love how bad words from Russians always come with a warning 😝

The majority (but not all) of words ending -отня and meaning a relevant process have their stress on the last vowel: беготня (running around), воркотня / бормотня (muttering), брезготня, брехотня, визготня (squeaking), гавкотня, мотня etc.

еботорно

Never heard. But I see it is originating from ебо- (an obscene root) + муТОРНО ("feel sick", usu. about the soul), which makes the sense clear.

I love how bad words from Russians always come with a warning

Despite the law that forbids to do that. ))
Uly, you can pay attention to the following obscene roots: -еб-, -ху-, -пизд-. The words containing them are often strong and offensive.
If a brick falls on your foot or a car runs over it, it's OK to use them (everybody will understand you). But using the Russian obscene words without any reason ("к слову") is a bad habit and a sign of low society.

Mikhail, thank you. If I had a dime for every time I’ve been given that warning/explanation, I’d be an oligarch 😅

I love how bad words from Russians always come with a warning 😝

Uly, it’s because we absolutely have to warn you. Just yesterday I had to listen to Katya, a friend of mine, who was complaining about a dreadful situation she found herself in. She’s a real estate agent in Russia and she had this customer who wanted to buy a property in Turkey. That’s how she remembered about this unofficial consultant they have who knows everything about the Turkish real estate. Without the second thought, she gave that customer her phone number, which she seemed to be really happy with. The customer went on Telegram, found that consultant’s account… and saw her recent “status” that contained some “bad words”. And here’s where all hell broke loose for Katya.
As much as everyone uses “bad words”, you never know what’s going to come of it.

But isn’t that true of any language?

It IS. I just meant to point out that you always have to keep two options in mind. For example, when talking to someone who you’re not close friends with, it’s better to go with something along the lines of Какая мутота/тягомотина!//Как тягомотно//муторно!

Thank you)) I’m just saying that at least for me, any word built on the roots mentioned by Mikail need no warning. It’s common sense to me at this point. And I’m not ragging on you or Mikhail; I just find it comical that if you ask the meaning of a word like ebotnya on StackExchange, instead of an explanation or a definition, you’ll get a warning lol. Look at the first comment under my response here: https://russian.stackexchange.com/questions/26898/whats-the-russian-equivalent-of-this-song-slaps

Immediately, I got your sarcasm there, and that’s quite understandable - the attempts to warn someone to be careful with those words may look really funny, although the intention is sincere:)

https://russian.stackexchange.com/questions/26898/whats-the-russian-equivalent-of-this-song-slaps

Ага, интересно!:)

👍🏼🤩