Putin khuylo!
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Anti-Putin_graffiti_in_Luhansk%2C_May_2014.jpg/200px-Anti-Putin_graffiti_in_Luhansk%2C_May_2014.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Vladimir_Putin_at_the_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2009_002.jpg/200px-Vladimir_Putin_at_the_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2009_002.jpg)
"Putin – khuylo!" (Ukrainian: Путін - хуйло, lit. 'ˈputin xujˈlo', Russian: Путин - хуйло, IPA: [ˈputʲɪn xʊjˈlo], a possible English translation: Putin is a dickhead)[1] is a Russian- and Ukrainian-language slogan mocking the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Growing from a football chant "Surkis Khuylo!" by FC Metalist Kharkiv fans in 2010, in March 2014 it was performed in its current form and became a nationwide hit in Ukraine during the events of the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine and received significant international media coverage.
The words are identical in both Russian and Ukrainian and the chant has become widely popular in Ukrainophone cities in the west of the country and in largely Russophone cities of eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as in Kiev, the nation's capital.
Language and meaning
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/PTN_KhYLO_1.jpg/200px-PTN_KhYLO_1.jpg)
The mat (Ukrainian and Russian vulgarity) хуйло́ is variously transliterated as huilo, huylo, khuilo, khuylo, or xujlo. Its core is хуй (khuy), literally "dick" in both Russian and Ukrainian. In combination with "-lo" it may be translated as "dickwad", " dickhead ", "prick". The words are identical in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian.
In May 2014, media outlets reported that the Russian profanity khuilo had been added to the Urban Dictionary as a synonym for Vladimir Putin.[2][3][4][5][6]
The expression may be abbreviated as птн x̆ло (ptn kh̆lo). (The letter ' x̆ ' is an overlay of the Cyrillic letters х, у and й, a well-known joke about "a new Russian letter".[7]) Another abbreviation containing a similarly suggestive meaning is ПТН ПНХ (PTN PNKh), which stands for Путин, пошёл на хуй (Putin, poshol na khuy, literally "Putin, go fuck yourself").[8]
History
The chant has its origins in "Surkis Khuylo!", a football chant that was initiated by the ultras of FC Metalist Kharkiv some time in 2010, during the height of a feud between two Ukrainian oligarchs, Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, then-owner of "Metalist", and Hryhoriy Surkis, then-president of the Football Federation of Ukraine.[9] The Kharkiv fans, who sided with their club president, chanted "Surkis Khuylo!" to express their dislike of the Football Federation president in vulgar and profane form.
Beginning in March 2014, football fans began chanting "Putin khuylo!" in Kharkiv, a major city in East Ukraine which was then in turmoil and a centre of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine.[10][11][12] Soon the Putin song gained much wider popularity, spreading among other clubs, such as the fans of rivals Shakhtar Donetsk (Donetsk) and Dynamo Kyiv (Kiev) who sang it together.[10][13] During the Russian intervention and partial occupation of Ukraine,[nb 1] the ultras of various Ukrainian clubs set aside their rivalries and chanted the song in joint street marches.[9] The chant continued to grow in popularity and became "a nationwide cultural meme" according to The Guardian.[17] Alexander J. Motyl reported, "A shorthand, more modest version of the lyrics has even entered the popular discourse. If you want to express your views of Putin, all you need do is say, “la-la la-la la-la,” and everything's quite clear."[18]
Artemy Troitsky identified the melody of the chant[19] as coming from the song "Speedy Gonzales", a hit for American singer Pat Boone in 1962.
In mainstream rock music
Several Ukrainian mainstream rock music bands included or adapted the chant into their music. A metal remix, released on April 21, 2014 by AstrogentA, added instrumentation and reworked the video of the March 30 protest chant to depict its spread throughout Ukrainian football clubs.[20] The Ukrainian band Teleri received international attention following the May 6, 2014 release of a song and a video titled "Putin Hello!" Their song uses a double entendre, substituting the objectionable word "khuylo" with the English word "Hello!" Alluding to the "Putin Khuylo!" chant, the video features band players wearing Ukrainian football club colors and posing as ultras marching and chanting "Putin Hello" as the refrain of the song. The band members asserted, tongue-in-cheek, that the linking of their song to an offensive anti-Putin chant was a misunderstanding and insisted that the only people who found the chant objectionable were Russians unfamiliar with English.[21]
Hromadske.TV aired a live performance of the song by Lemonchiki Project on May 29, 2014.[22] The rock band Druha Rika performed the song at their concert on June 13, 2014.[23] Other rock adaptations were made by Mad Heads[24][25] and Haydamaky.[26] The Kyiv Post reviewed nine video versions of the song and two other related songs.[27]
References by notable Ukrainian politicians
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Andrii_Deshchytsia.jpg/200px-Andrii_Deshchytsia.jpg)
Among Ukrainian notable politicians caught on camera performing the song is a member of the Ukrainian parliament Oleh Lyashko in May 2014.[28] Hromadske.TV aired a clip of Andrii Deshchytsia, then-acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,[1][29][30] using the words during a discussion with protesters in front of the Russian Embassy in Kiev on the evening of 14 June 2014. Deshchytsia stated: "He (Putin) is a khuylo, but - disperse, please!" Shortly afterward, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko nominated a different diplomat to lead the Foreign Affairs ministry.[31] According to the Ukrainian media, the presidential plan to replace the minister was known prior to the incident,[32] being proposed as part of a bigger reshuffle of Ukrainian government members. Poroshenko praised Deshchytsia's work and the parliament gave the outgoing minister a standing ovation.[33]
Deshchytsia's use of the wording caused widespread discontent among the Russian leadership.[1] However, Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine, wrote on Twitter that minister Deshchytsia's use of the chant had been "seeking to defuse a dangerous situation", calling Deshchytsia "a skilled diplomat and credit to Ukraine."[1]
International reception
The song has been performed outside of Ukraine, including in Mexico,[34] Japan,[35] the United States,[36] Canada, the Czech Republic,[37] Poland[38] and many other Western European countries.[39]
The song received attention from international newspapers such as The Guardian,[1] The Washington Post,[40] Süddeutsche Zeitung,[41] The Wall Street Journal,[13] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty[42] and Le Monde.[43] It also received coverage from many leading national newspapers such as Gazeta Wyborcza,[44] Lidové noviny,[45] The Atlantic,[46] Israel HaYom,[47] and others.[48][49]
The Ukrainian television channel TVi and numerous online and printed media also covered the Wikipedia coverage of the song in 12 languages (at the time of publication).[50][51]
Monty Python's July 2014 performance included an animation of Putin's talking head over perineum of Michelangelo’s David, apparently referring to the chant.[52][53]
In October 2014, Belarusians joined visiting Ukrainians in a performance of the chant by "nearly the entire stadium" at a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match in Barysaw, Belarus resulting in more than 100 football fans being detained and questioned, reportedly on suspicion of using "obscene language".[54] Seven, all Ukrainian, were sentenced to five days in jail for obscene language.[55]
Namesakes
In July 2014, Ukrainian astronomers named a star, TYC 3541-945-1, Putin - Huilo! in recognition of the chant and as a response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[56][57][58] The star is located between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. The Irish publication TheJournal.ie reported, "On a clear night, you can see ‘Putin Is A Dickhead’."[59]
In Zhytomyr, a popular newspaper started using "Putin-khuilo" as its masthead in July 2014. According to the editor, the decision was made at the request of the newspaper's readers.[60]
Gallery
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The song is performed by a crowd in Olympic Stadium in Kiev before Okean Elzy concert
-
The car has Vehicle registration plate "ПТН-ХЛО", abbreviation of the phrase
-
Label on car in Poland (2014)
-
Musical notation template for the song
-
Inscription on the garages in Luhansk: Luhansk is Ukraine, and Putin - huylo!
See also
Notes
- ^ Russia has denied supporting the pro-Russian militia forces of the 2014 insurgency in Donbass;[14] but on 17 April 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian troops were active in Crimea during the March 2014 Crimean referendum that asked if Crimeans wanted to secede from Ukraine to join Russia, claiming this facilitated self-determination for the peninsula.[15][16]
References
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{{cite news}}
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- ^ "Путин попал в американский словарь сленга". BelGazeta. June 2, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
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- ^ http://fakty.ictv.ua/ru/index/read-news/id/1514470
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- ^ Anna T. (March 30, 2014). "Это Харьков,детка! "Пу#ин х#йло!" ФК Металлист+Шахтер". YouTube.
- ^ "Ukraine crisis timeline". BBC News Online. July 5, 2014. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014.
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- ^ "President of Russia". Eng.kremlin.ru. June 1, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
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- ^ Ольга Бычкова (June 18, 2014). "Особое мнение: Артемий Троицкий" [Special opinion: Artemy Troitsky (An interview with Artemy Troitsky)] (in Russian). Echo of Moscow. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
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- ^ «Друга Ріка», «Mad Heads» и Кузьма Скрябин спели на концертах хит про Путина.
- ^ Белорусы на рок-фестивале «Басовище» пели известный хит о Путине. Наша Ніва
- ^ Goncharova, Olena (July 11, 2014). "Kharkiv, with new anti-Russian song, becomes capital of anti-Putin music (VIDEO)". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on July 11, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
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External links
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- You won’t believe these savage political insults…, The New Daily.