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The letters А, В, Е, Ѕ*, І*, Ј*, К, М, Н, О, Р, С, Т, Ү*, Ғ* and Х are strongly [[homoglyph]]ic to Latin letters and, in the event compatibility issues arise, can be used with Faux Cyrillic letters in lieu of their Latin counterparts. (Letters with a *, however, are not in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.)
The letters А, В, Е, Ѕ*, І*, Ј*, К, М, Н, О, Р, С, Т, Ү*, Ғ* and Х are strongly [[homoglyph]]ic to Latin letters and, in the event compatibility issues arise, can be used with Faux Cyrillic letters in lieu of their Latin counterparts. (Letters with a *, however, are not in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.)

==Examples of use==
<!--
please only add true examples of faux *Cyrillic*, not everything at all that has backwards Latin letters
-->
===Cinema===
* Poster art in the film ''[[Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan]]''. The title of the film on movie posters is spelled BORДT.
* "KRЦМ" for [[Viktor Krum]]’s last name (should be "КРУМ"), as spelled on a card mosaic held by a cheering crowd at the Quidditch World Cup, in ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)]]''.
* The film ''[[Red Heat]]'' (starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and [[James Belushi]]), of which a great part takes place in Soviet Russia and concerns a partnership between a Russian and an American officer, has faux Cyrillic in its end credits.<ref>{{cite book
|title = Hollywood's Cold War|last= Shaw|first=Tony| publisher = Edinburgh University Press | year = 2007 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qOMT4oOylAkC&pg=PA288&dq=mock+Cyrillic&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U16azxr4ghIWd2Do1L6a_S_dLWJUg#PPA288,M1 | isbn = 0748625240 | page = 288}}
</ref>
* The poster for international releases of the Russian film [[Night Watch (2004 film)|Night Watch]] (written NIGHT ШATCH) features a faux Cyrillic transliteration of the original Russian title ''Ночной дозор/Nochnoi dozor'': "ИOCHИOI DOZOR". This graphic effect reinforces at a glance the film's Russian origin and serves as a guide to pronunciation of the original title for English speakers. It does not, however, represent a meaningful phrase in Russian.
* The end credits in [[Enemy at the Gates]] is written in faux Cyrillic (plus Soviet-style propaganda poster imagery) to further represent its plot following Russian sniper [[Vasily Zaytsev]] during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]].
* The English-language poster for the 1995 Serbian film ''[[Underground (1995 film)|Underground]]'' is written in faux Cyrillic as ЦNDЕRGЯОЦND.<ref>[http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/hilltop/updated%20page/Underground.jpg Image of film poster for ''Underground '']</ref>
* The posters for the 1977 film ''[[Telefon]]'' spell the title as "TELEFOИ", which mostly transliterates the Russian word for "telephone" ("телефон") but uses the И character to give it a Russian flavor.

===Popular music===
* [[Oi! punk]] band [[Angelic Upstarts]]' 2001 album "Anthems Against Scum" features Faux Cyrillic writing for the band's name (ДИ☭eLIC UФSTДRTS).
* [[Leningrad Cowboys|LЭИIИGЯAD COWBOYS]], a Finnish, but "fake Russian" band, spelled with varying amounts of faux Cyrillic (Actual Cyrillic: Ленинград).
* The poster in the scene on the cover of [[Firesign Theatre]]'s album ''[[How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All]]'' reads "ДLL HДIL" ([[Groucho Marx|Groucho]]) "MДЯX" ([[John Lennon|John]]) "LЗИИФЙ".
* Frank Zappa's "I don't wanna get drafted" single features the text [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~dt8i-smz/sinzr1001d.htm IБ ТНIБ ТЯIP ЯEДГГУ ИEСEББДЯУ ?] (IS THIS TRIP REALLY NECESSARY ?)
* [[Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand's]] music video for "[[This Fire (song)|This Fire]]" features "И"s instead of "N"s as well as the phrases "БГЗAKING NЗШЖ" (Breaking News) and "РHEИOМЗИД" (Phenomena) on a Russian news station.
* [[Indie rock]] band [[¡Forward, Russia!|¡FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД!]] (FORWARD, RUSSIA!) use both faux Cyrillic and decorative [[Inverted question mark and exclamation point in Spanish|inverted exclamation points]] to add the effect of foreignness in their wordmark.
* The gothic/doom metal band [[Type O Negative]]'s 2007 album '[[Dead Again (Type O Negative album)|Dead Again']] features Faux Cyrillic writing for both the band's name (ТЧРЭ О ИЭGДТІVЭ) and the album title (DЭДD ДGДІИ).
* Japanese band [[Terra (group)|Terra]] has logo written TЁЯRA
* Italian melodic death metal band [[Dark Lunacy]] dealing with such themes as [[World War II]] and the [[Siege of Leningrad]] uses the Faux Cyrillic in track listing on the back cover of the 2000 album entitled [[Devoid]].

===Videogames===
* The videogame [[Tetris (Tengen unlicensed)|Tetris]], sometimes shown as TETЯIS (Actual Cyrillic: Тетрис)
* The PC game [[Republic: The Revolution]] contains many examples of Faux Cyrillic during gameplay.
* The PC game [[DEFCON (computer game)|DEFCON]] has Faux Cyrillic as part of its title on the logo (И is used to write N).
* The [[8-bit]] Computer Game [[Rasputin]] which originally came out for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore-64, used Faux-Cyrillic in the Title Screen, the Loading screen, in much of the advertisement for the game and in the game itself where faux Cyrillic is written on some of the blocks used as platforms.
* In [[Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride]], the main antagonist, Grandmaster Nimzo, has dialogue in faux Cyrillic.
* In the computer versions of ''[[Strider (arcade game)|Strider]]'' and ''[[Strider Returns|Strider II]]'' produced by Tiertex and [[U.S. Gold]], the title screens say "STЯIDER". [http://www.c64gg.com/s46.html][http://home.flash.net/~rayearle/Sfiles/Strider2.html][http://www.lemonamiga.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php%3Fid%3D1010][http://www.zxscreens.i12.com/zxscreens/strider_2.htm]
* The video game [[Singularity (video game)|''Singularity'']] uses SIИGULAЯITY title in its promotion.
* In [[Call of Duty: Finest Hour]], when doing the Eastern campaign you can see many poster and banners written in Cyrillic. Also in the intro movie you can see a banner written in Cyrillic.

===Other===
{{Trivia|date=December 2009}}
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[File:Chernobyl day.gif|right|thumb|Faux cyrillic for 26th of April, [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl day]], commemorating the world severest [[Nuclear and radiation accidents|nuclear accident]] in Chernobyl, [[Ukraine]]]] -->
* ''[[Apparatchik (fanzine)|APPAЯATCHIK]]'', a [[fanzine]] (Actual Cyrillic: аппаратчик)
* In [[Copenhagen]] (in Denmark) you can buy shirts with the names of parts of Copenhagen. ([[Nørreport|ИФЯЯЕРОЯТ]], [[Freetown Christiania|СНЯІЅТІАИІА]], [[Copenhagen|КФЬЕИНАVИ]] etc. Here Ф corresponds to [[Ø]].)
* The website [[Exquisite Corpse (magazine)|Exquisite Corpse]] uses it in their letterhead (i.e. CФЯPZe).
* The early seasons of the television series ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' used faux Cyrillic signs to indicate an "[[Iron Curtain]]" location.
* The [[Airfix]] model kit of the standard [[Russia]]n [[Soyuz (rocket family)|launch vehicle]] included a [[decal]] for the display base, bearing faux Cyrillic designations for the Sputnik, Vostok and Soyuz programs, and for the [[USSR]] itself.
* The [[Khachaturian]] CD ''Piano Concerto; Dance Suite; Waltz; Polka'' <ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Khachaturian-Piano-Concerto-Dance-Suite/dp/B0000030WK Amazon.com]</ref> features an egregious example of Faux Cyrillic, including upper-case [[lambda]]s and a lower-case [[upsilon]] (both recognizably from the [[Greek alphabet]]) and a reversed [[short I|i kratkoe]] (nonexistent in Cyrillic).
* In the Nicktoon [[El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera]], the opening card of the episode '''[[List of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera episodes|El Tigre, el Jefe]]''', which literally translates as "El Tigre, the chief", is written in faux Cyrillic (EL TIБЯE EL JEFE) because, in this episode, Manny, the main character, decides to help his schoolmates to the point of unknowingly establishing a [[Stalinist]]-like [[dictatorship]] at the school.
* [[Glenn Beck]]'s book "Arguing with Idiots" features the spelling "AЯGUING WITH IDIOTS." This is apparently a [[double entendre]], both invoking idiocy and Soviet-style authoritarianism as evidenced by Beck appearing on the cover of the book in a Russian-style military uniform.


==Notes and references==
==Notes and references==

Revision as of 20:07, 24 August 2010

Faux Russian T-shirt print "ШЗДЯ" (WEAR). A Russian-speaker would read this as "shzdya", a word which does not occur in the language.

Faux Cyrillic, pseudo-Cyrillic, pseudo-Russian[1] or faux Russian typography is the use of Cyrillic letters in Latin text to evoke the Soviet Union or Russia, regardless of whether the letters are phonetic matches. For example, R and N in RUSSIAN may be replaced by Cyrillic Я and И, giving "ЯUSSIAИ". Other examples include Ш for W, Ц for U, Я and Г for r, Ф for O, Д for A, Б or Ь or Ъ for B, З or Э or Ё for E, ☭ for G, Ч and У for Y.

This effect is usually restricted to text set in all caps, because Cyrillic letter-forms do not match well with lower case Latin letters.[2]

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This is a common Western trope used in book covers, film titles, comic book lettering, artwork for computer games, or product packaging[3][4] which are set in or wish to evoke Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, or the Russian Federation. An early example was the logo for Norman Jewison's film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming; more are listed below.

Not all examples of typography with mirror-imaged Latin characters are Faux Cyrillic. For example, Toys "R" Us and Korn use a backwards letter R, both with the intent to mimic a child's handwriting. "NIИ" wordmark of Nine Inch Nails uses a reversed capital N to create a formalistic symmetry. Furthermore, Cyrillic is not the only alphabet that provides transformed characters: for instance, the Latin Zhuang alphabet features "tone two" (ƨ), which resembles a reversed S, used often to symbolize childlike script, and the International Phonetic Alphabet features numerous "turned" characters for use as phonetic symbols and to rotate text upside-down.

Characters

Cyrillic letter Latin look-alike Actual pronunciation
Б G, S /b/ as in "boy"
Г r, L? /ɡ/ as in "goat" or /h/ as in "hot"
Д A /d/ as in "day"
С C /s/ as in "slave"
Ж X /ʐ/ similar to "treasure"
З E, 3 /z/ as in "zoo"
И N /i/ as in "machine" or /i/ as in "tin"
Л, Ԓ J /l/ as in "love"
У Y /u/ as in "rule"
Ф O /f/ as in "fox"
Ц U /ts/ as in "cats"
Ч Y /tɕ/ similar to "check"
Ш W /ʂ/ similar to "shrunk"
Э E /ɛ/ as in "echo"
Я R /ja/ as in "yard"
P P /r/ as in "republic"
Х X /x/ as in "loch"
П N /p/ as in "pond"
Ь B indicates the palatalization of the previous consonant as in "union" as opposed to "unite"
Ю IO /ju/ as in "you"
Є E, C? /je/ as in "yes"
Ы Bl bl /i/ as in "very"

The letters А, В, Е, Ѕ*, І*, Ј*, К, М, Н, О, Р, С, Т, Ү*, Ғ* and Х are strongly homoglyphic to Latin letters and, in the event compatibility issues arise, can be used with Faux Cyrillic letters in lieu of their Latin counterparts. (Letters with a *, however, are not in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.)

Notes and references

  1. ^ Jen Chen, "Sweater Hip Check", The Pitch (Kansas City), February 15, 2007 online
  2. ^ In Cyrillic typography, most upright lower case letters resemble smaller upper case letters, unlike the more distinctive forms of Latin-alphabet type. Cursive Cyrillic upper and lower case letters are more differentiated. Cyrillic letter-forms are originally derived from tenth-century Greek manuscript, but the modern forms more closely resemble Latin since Peter the Great's civil script reform of 1708.
  3. ^ "American Perceptions of Vodka Shaken, Not Stirred: An Analysis of the Importance of Vodka’s Foreign Branding Cues and Country-of-Origin Information", Jon Kurland, October 26, 2004 full text
  4. ^ Englis, Basil G. (1994). Global and Multinational Advertising. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 123. ISBN 0805813950, 9780805813951. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

See also

External links

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