Yanukism

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Yanukisms (Ukrainian: янукізми, romanized: yanukizmy) is a humorous term for various linguistic blunders and mistakes that Ukrainian politicians make. The phenomenon is named after the previous president Viktor Yanukovych who was trying to put up a façade of a well-educated man but ended up embarrassing himself due to numerous mistakes.[1]

One of the best known examples of a Yanukism is probably proffessor (Ukrainian: проффесор), which got started as Yanukovych misspelled the academic title in his registration form during the 2004 presidential election. In the same form, Yanukovych made in total 12 different mistakes: he misspelled the names of his wife and his hometown.[2] In addition, Yanukovych has made so many other mistakes that his doctor's degree in economics has been called into question.[3] Also, the fact that Yanukovych was among the best-selling authors of Ukraine in the early 2010s raised questions about the true author of his books due to all his past mistakes.[4]

Yanukisms can also be manifested by factual mistakes instead of misspellings or other mistakes language-wise. Yanukovych has said among other things that Mount Athos is located in Palestine (actually in Greece), called the Winter Olympics 2022 'a World Championship' and said that Israel is a European country.[5][6]

Examples[edit]

Yanukism Explanation Ref.
проффесор (proffesor [uk]) extra ф (f); also the Ukrainian language seldom uses geminates in foreign loanwords [2]
Welcome in Ukraine! wrong preposition (to instead of in); Yanukovych uttered this while on a state visit to Japan in 2011 [7]
Isaak Bebel Yanukovych mixed up the Ukrainian author Isaac Babel and the German politician August Bebel [5]
йолка (yolka) means 'a Christmas tree'. The correct Ukrainian term is ялинка (yalynka), which Yanukovych forgot. [7]
прємьєр-міністр (premyer-ministr) correct spelling: прем'єр-міністр, means 'a Prime Minister'
the incorrect spelling is derived from the Russian "Премьер-министр", substituting е and и with the Ukrainian letters є and і (which carry the same pronunciation in Ukrainian as е and и do in Russian — although е and и exist in the Ukrainian alphabet as well, they are pronounced differently). 		[2]
курасани (kurasany) correct spelling: круасани (kruasany), means 'croissants' [8]
Secretary General Clinton while meeting Hillary Clinton, Yanukovych mistitled her as 'Secretary General' instead of 'Secretary of State' [5]
People from Lviv are "the country's best genocide" Yanukovych mixed up the words for gene pool (генофонд, henofond) and genocide (геноцид, henotsyd) [9]
Anna Akhmetova correct spelling: Akhmatova [5]
"when you see with your own hands (– –) you touch it with your own eyes" Yanukovych describes reports from regional governors [10]
"Розмовляють угорською, румунською, болгарською, грецькою, єврейсько тощо (Rozmovlyayut ugorskoyu, rumunskoyu, bolharskoyu, hretskoju, yevreysko toshcho)" Yanukovych lists down languages spoken by Ukrainians but forgot what's "Hebrew" in Ukrainian. Yanukovych said yevreysko while the correct word is ivrytom (івритом). [11]
Го́мер (Hómer) stressed the wrong syllabus; in the name of Homer, the stress is on the final syllabus (Гоме́р, Homér). [12]
"revival and development of Pridnestrovie and all of Ukraine" Yanukovych mixed up the Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk (Ukrainian: Дніпропетровська область, romanized: Dnipropetrovska oblast) and the self-proclaimed unrecognized country of Transnistria (Ukrainian: Придністров'я, romanized: Prydnistrovia), which is a part of Moldova. [13]
демілітація (demilitatsija) Yanukovych forgot the word делімітація (delimitatsiya), means ’delimitation’. [14]
"Energoatom" while visiting a power engineering company called Turboatom, Yanukovych called it "Energoatom" thrice. [15]
"low-enriched Iran" Yanukovych was meant to tell Barack Obama that a new research center in Kharkiv will focus on researching low-enriched uranium; he mixed up the words for "Iran" (Ukrainian: Іран, romanized: Iran) and "uranium" (Ukrainian: уран, romanized: uran). [16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Янукізми". Український тиждень (in Ukrainian). 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  2. ^ a b c "Тому що "проффесор"". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  3. ^ "The proFFesor's latest flub: Yanukovych without a clue". Kyiv Post. 2010-09-30. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  4. ^ "Ukrainian President's Millions In Book Fees Raise Eyebrows". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  5. ^ a b c d "35 курйозів, що сталися в житті екс-гаранта України Віктора Януковича". Погляд – новини Чернівці та Чернівецької області. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  6. ^ "Черговий конфуз Януковича. Тепер спортивний". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  7. ^ a b "Янукович помилився, вимовляючи класичну англійську фразу". Корреспондент.net (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  8. ^ ""Самсунг" вам й "курасани" з маком: найкумедніші ляпи Януковича за рік". Gazeta.ua (in Ukrainian). 2012-12-28. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  9. ^ "Янукович назвав львів'ян "кращим геноцидом країни"". tsn.ua (in Ukrainian). 2010-03-11. Archived from the original on 2010-03-11.
  10. ^ "В Луганске Янукович рассказал об украинской традиции "увидеть руками, глазами потрогать"". Сегодня (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  11. ^ "«Мовні» спекуляції влади,". День (in Ukrainian). 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  12. ^ "Актуальні новини зі всієї України". Експрес онлайн (in Ukrainian). 2012-09-14. Archived from the original on 2012-09-16. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  13. ^ "Янукович пополнил свою коллекцию оговорок". Комментарии (in Ukrainian). 2012-02-24. Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  14. ^ "ЯНУКОВИЧ ЗНОВУ ПЕРЕПЛУТАВ СЛОВА. АУДІО". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  15. ^ "У Харкові Янукович тричі неправильно назвав "Турбоатом"". Тиждень (in Ukrainian). 2012-10-25. Archived from the original on 2021-08-10. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  16. ^ "Янукович винайшов "низькозбагачений Іран"". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
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