Yanukism

Yanukisms (Ukrainian: янукізми, romanized: yanukizmy) is a Ukrainian colloquial term for various linguistic blunders and mistakes made by former President Viktor Yanukovych, who put up a façade of a well-educated man but frequently embarrassed himself with misspellings and other mistakes.[1]

One of the best known examples of a Yanukism is proffesor, which got started as Yanukovych misspelled the academic title in his registration form during the 2004 presidential election. It became an internet meme and a nickname of Yanukovych. 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 2022 Winter Olympics 'a World Championship' and said that Israel is a European country.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Янукізми". Український тиждень (in Ukrainian). 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  2. ^ "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. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Черговий конфуз Януковича. Тепер спортивний". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-04.