Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Every day Beast
It’s truthful to say that Ukrainians prefer to swear, even in regular instances. However now, with their nation preventing off a Russian invasion, they may simply rank because the sweariest folks on Earth.
From the courageous defenders of a Ukrainian island within the Black Sea telling a Russian warship to “Go fuck your self!,” to an Odessa MP delivering a curt “Fuck you, Lavrov!” to the overseas minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin’s newest neo-imperialist journey has already produced some fairly loud F-bombs. Even the street indicators to Kiev have been modified to ensure the Russian invaders know the place to get off.
However nowhere is the swearing angrier or extra intense than on the battlefield videoclips posted on Telegram and Twitter: of burnt-out Russian convoys, of Russian troops being confronted by Ukrainian civilians, or of Russian rockets slamming into condo blocks. The swear phrases come thick and quick, actually each different phrase.
Treatises have been written on the glories of Slavic swearing and the distinction between Russian (genitalia-focused) and Ukrainian (extra copro-centric) swear phrases. Right here, in no specific order, is a brief glossary of Ukrainian and Russian slurs and profanities (the strongest ones are typically shared by each languages) that may assist you to decipher the social media footage from Putin’s battle.
Warning: Robust language forward.
Suka (сука): Bitch. A typical insult throughout numerous Slavic languages, together with Russian and Ukrainian. There’s additionally a diminutive, “suchka,” used as a time period of endearment.
Pizda (пизда): Cunt. One other core Slavic insult, though it has historic Indo-European roots, if that helps.
Pizdets (пиздец):Shit. A spinoff of “Pizda,” barely much less offensive. May also be used to imply one thing like “clusterfuck,” or an irreparably fucked-up scenario, like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Khuy (хуй): Cock. Khuy is arguably the bedrock of Russian profanity, mostly used within the expression “Idi na khuy!” (Иди на хуй!) that means “go fuck your self!” That was what the defenders of Snake Island informed the Russian warship demanding their give up on the primary day of the battle.
Poshol na khuy (Пошёл на хуй): Fuck you! One other very fashionable, and impolite, insult; normally accompanied by a particular hand gesture (your proper hand palm throughout the center of the left arm).
Khuylo (хуйло): Dickhead. Typically used with suka as an intensifier to kind suka khuylo! What a fucking dickhead!
Putin khuylo! (Путин— хуйло): Putin is a dickhead! Started as a soccer chant, however rapidly turned the rallying cry of Ukrainian resistance after the Russian invasion of the Donbas in 2014.
PTN PNH (Путин, пошёл на хуй): Putin, go fuck your self! One other anti-Putin message, seen scrawled in graffiti.
Kurva (курва): Whore, Shit: Milder Ukrainian swear phrase, thought to have come from the Polish.
Laino, Givno, Dermo (лайно, гівно, дерьмo): Shit. The Ukrainians have plenty of phrases for it.
Khokhol (хохол): From an previous Cossack surname (bear in mind Nikolai Gogol?) that the Russians use as a nasty ethnic slur in opposition to Ukrainians: akin to “Go residence to Chernobyl, Khokhol!” (The Ukrainians have related slurs for Russians, together with Katsap, or billy goat, referring to previous Russian males with beards.)
Blyat’ (блять): Bitch, Fuck, Shit! Not the strongest however undoubtedly the commonest profanity heard in Ukraine battlefield movies, so in the event you solely be taught one Slavic swear phrase this must be it. Its success comes from its multifunctionality—different phrases will be added in entrance, e.g., suka blyat’—to kind limitless new insults that imply no matter you need them to. The Every day Beast counted no fewer than 25 blyat’s in a two-minute clip exhibiting the stays of a Russian convoy destroyed close to the city of Bucha.
Yebat’ (ебать): To Fuck. Lastly we get there! Mostly used within the expression Yob tvoyu mat’ (Ёб твою мать): Fuck Your Mom! Or Vashu Mat’ (Bашумать):Your mom, which is simply the second half of its longer equal, and barely much less offensive.
Mat’ (мать): Mom. That is the Russian phrase for mom, not of itself an insult however so generally mixed with different profanities (see above) that linguists use matershchina, or simply mat, because the umbrella time period for profane language in Russian and Ukrainian. So, how’s your mat now?
—With due to Svitlana Haverstock for linguistic recommendation.