Question: I understand that questions that could potentially be answered by using the dictionary are frowned upon however there are multiple words that I see for cheating, which have overlapping meanings because English isn't very precise.

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PzyI9m.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PzyI9m.jpg)

I've included this picture mostly because this comes from a Russian-English Telegram channel and it doesn't appear to be right. In the video, the man is using the dog to read the newspaper and beneath that, it says, *обманывать*. *обманывать* to my [understanding](https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C) means to deceive someone through lies. Cheating also can be breaking rules in a game to gain an advantage which seems like *жульничать*.

In English, we may even call this a life-hack. Alternatively, it seems like I could use *изменять* as well. Is this correct?

Answer: 
The situation in the picture can be described with different Russian verbs, but *обманывать* is definitely **not** one of them. For a native Russian speaker the combination of the picture and *обманывать* looks weird and practically inexplicable, it is like one of difficult IQ test puzzles, barely to be solved without the knowledge that it was an English speaker that associated the verb with the picture and that the connection of *обманывать* and the picture lies in a partial overlapping of the meaning of *обманывать* and an English verb that the author of the picture used to call the situation. It looks like ***to trick*** is the English verb.

A Russian verb that fits well the situation in the picture is [изворачиваться](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F#Verb), particularly the meanings

3. *(figuratively) to find a way out of a predicament, to be resourceful*

and

5. *(figuratively, colloquial) to use cunning or **trickery**, to contrive*.

*Обманывать* [means](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C#Verb)

1. *to deceive, to cheat, **to trick**, to swindle*
2. *to disappoint, to let down*

As for me, the best verb I would use for the picture is [*выкручиваться*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F#Verb), especially in the expression *выкручиваться из сложного положения*. Note, that both *изворачиваться* and *выкручиваться* are associated not with deception, but with twisting and turning around in order to find a way from a complicated situation, these two verbs do not have connotation as negative as *обманывать* has.
I am not really sure what the "proper use of a dog" is, and how exactly it is improper to train it to hold the newspaper.

Russian has *лайфхак* which is a loanword from English.

Russian also has *смекалка* ("practical wit, ability to think outside the box and find unorthodox solutions to everyday problems by using available resources")

I would also note that it's not a common trope in Russian memes to provide fake dictionary articles, complete with pronunciation.

It's much more common to use the first letter of a word, similar to the way they do this in the children's books: *Л — лайфхак*, *С — смекалка* etc., as if the picture were an illustration of the word starting with this letter.