Lukashisms () are peculiar utterances of

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council of Belarus, Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Supreme_Counc ...

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

, a frequent target of Belarusian and Russian humor. Apart from being

gaffe A political gaffe is a mistake or blunder in speech or action made by a politician that attracts media attention and public scrutiny. While often unintended, political gaffes can have significant consequences, as they may reveal the politician's p ...

s, the humor of Lukashisms relies on the peculiarity of Lukashenko's speech: to a significant degree it contains elements of ''

Trasianka Trasianka or trasyanka (, ) is an informal term for mixed form of speech in which Belarusian and Russian elements and structures are combined arbitrarily.Hentschel, Gerd, "Belarusian and Russian in the Mixed Speech of Belarus". In Besters-Dilg ...

'', a mixture of Belarusian and Russian languages and accents, seen as a sign of a poorly educated rural dweller, " kolkhoznik".Nina Famichova, "Internet Jokes as a Means of Communicating Belarusian Identity", In: Dorota Brzozowska, Władysław Chłopicki (eds.), ''Culture's Software: Communication Styles''
p.80

Notable examples

*"Не успел я узяцца за яйца как масла ишчэзла" (I had hardly seized the eggs when the butter disappeared). He was talking about his struggle with food supply shortages in Belarus. The humorous effect comes from heavy ''trasianka'' and the fact that "eggs" (яйца) is a Russian slang term for "balls" (

testicles A testicle or testis ( testes) is the gonad in all male bilaterians, including humans, and is homologous to the ovary in females. Its primary functions are the production of sperm and the secretion of androgens, primarily testosterone. The ...

), a popular butt of many Russian jokes. So this may read as, "I had hardly grabbed the balls when the butter disappeared." *"Наш народ будет жыць плоха, но не долга" (Our people will live poorly, but not for long.) *"Я регулярно ''ператрахиваю'' все кадры и точно знаю, кто ''врот'', а кто не врот!" In correct Russian it should be "Я регулярно ''ператрЯхиваю'' все кадры и точно знаю, кто ''врЁт'', а кто не врЁт!" meaning "I regularly ''shuffle'' all the cadre and know for sure who ''lies'' and who doesn't". As a result of ''trasianka'' the sentence sounds like, "I regularly ''fuck'' all the cadre and know for sure who '' (takes it) in the mouth'' and who doesn't." *"Я свое государство за цивилизованным миром не поведу." (I will not lead my state after the civilized world.)Александр Лукашенко: «Я свое государство за цивилизованным миром не поведу!»
/ref> The humor comes from the fact that among Russian conservative-leaning populace the term "the so-called civilized world" (essentially meaning

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

) has become an insult aimed at their opponents when, after a brief period of post-Soviet de-escalation, Russia pitched itself against the West again. *"Я атеист, но я православный атеист." (I am an atheist, but I am a '' pravoslavny'' atheist.) (A "Christian" or "pravoslavny" atheist is an

oxymoron An oxymoron (plurals: oxymorons and oxymora) is a figure of speech that Juxtaposition, juxtaposes concepts with opposite meanings within a word or in a phrase that is a self-contradiction (disambiguation), self-contradiction. As a rhetorical de ...

; Lukashenko meant that he associated himself with the secular Christian culture.) *A minor political scandal happened in 1995 when Lukashenko uttered a praise to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

in an interview to ''

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was es ...

'': "Germany rose from the ruins thanks to very severe rule, and not everything connected with Adolf Hitler in Germany was bad. " ("В свое время Германия была поднята из руин благодаря очень жесткой власти. Не все только плохое было связано в Германии с известным Адольфом Гитлером.")Belarus leader defends Hitler praise
/ref>Положительные стороны Гитлера и бедность белорусского языка: самые спорные высказывания Лукашенко
/ref> See more of his controversial utterances in Alexander Lukashenko#Controversial statements.

References

{{reflist category:Alexander Lukashenko category:Terms for quotations of notable persons

Notable examples

See also

References