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"Krymnash" (, ) is a Russian-language

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

and

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

that arose in popularity in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

at the beginning of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

to celebrate the Russian annexation of Crimea. Originally used as a patriotic slogan by nationalistic Russians, it subsequently spread in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

as a mocking

Original form of the meme

According to scholar Mikhail Suslov, "'Krymnash' arose as a serious meme as an attempt at describing reality" in 2014 to promote the idea that Crimea must become part of Russia. In November 2015, a survey said that 52% of Russians believed "Krymnash" was a symbol of their country's "pride and revival". In March 2016, there was an attempt to hold a rally to celebrate the anniversary of "Krymnash" in Moscow, but it did not occur.

Satirical meme

According to Suslov, "literally a day after the referendum, the meme was redefined in an ironic way." The new satirical form of "Krymnash" began to be used in a satirical context to mock Russia's domestic failures in spite of the annexation. In formal writing, the phrase would be written as two words, like "Krym nash", but was written without spaces as "Krymnash" in its slogan form on the Internet. Galina Sklyarevskaya, the head of a computer lexicography department at

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

, says that this kind of

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

-like spelling of slogans is influenced by

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. In the satirical incarnation of the phrase, the two words are always combined. In this ironic context, it is used as "almost a throw-away line – "our toilets don't work but at least Krymnash!"" When the phrase is still used sincerely by supporters of the annexation, it is almost always spelled out in two words with both capitalized, as “Krym Nash”. An ironical

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

"Krymnash"->"Namkrysh" («Крым наш» -> «Нам крыш») was variously used by Russian dissidents. «Нам крыш» is a hint to the expression of panic «Нам крышка» ("We are doomed").У многих появилось ощущение «намкрыш» вместо «крымнаш»
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References

{{Russian nationalism Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Internet memes introduced in 2014 Political Internet memes Internet memes introduced from Russia Russian irredentism

Original form of the meme

Satirical meme

See also

References