![Aalst preved](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Aalst_preved.JPG)
Padonkaffsky jargon (russian: язык падонкафф, ''yazyk padonkaff'') or Olbanian (, ''olbanskiy'') is a
cant
Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to:
Language
* Cant (language), a secret language
* Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers
* Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers
* Shelta or the Cant, a la ...
language developed by a subculture of
Runet called padonki (russian: падонки). It started as an
Internet slang language originally used in the Russian
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
community. It is comparable to the
English-based
Leet
Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. ...
. Padonkaffsky jargon became so popular that the former
President of Russia
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Dmitry Medvedev jokingly suggested that Olbanian be taught in schools.
Origin and etymology
The term ''Olbanian'' is an alteration of
Albanian, although Albanian is not used to create Olbanian slang.
Learn Olbanian! (''Russian'': Учи олбанский!) is a popular phrase that was coined in a 2004 incident in
LiveJournal
LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary.
American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, a ...
when an
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
user found a post written in Russian, which he didn't understand and was unable to translate. He asked what language was being used. He was jokingly told that the post was in Albanian. He questioned why people were posting messages in Albanian by saying:
Because? It's LIVEJOURNAL. An American website. Not an albanian; (#*!@()! site.
Plus, being an American means that the rest of the world should have to cater to me. But that's just mypointofview.
In reaction to this comment, an
Internet meme started, urging the English language user to ''Learn Albanian!'' and flooding him with email messages, text messages, and calls to his personal cell phone. Eventually, the English language user wrote an apology in Russian, explaining that he had mastered the Albanian language.
Since then, the request to "Learn Olbanian!" became a friendly response to anyone using incorrect grammar or when saying something that doesn't make sense.
An invitation to "Learn Olbanian!" was directed at
Madonna in 2006, when in her blog she used an electronic translator to address her Russian fans and called them "Russian ventilators" by mistake.
Use and development
The language was first developed in 1997 by
intellectuals with
Internet access who were developing and using
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...
LiveJournal
LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary.
American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, a ...
and Russian
FidoNet. They were
journalists,
system administrators
A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to en ...
and professionals with
academic degrees
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...
.
The language is based on
sensational (mostly
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
, but also counterphonetic) spelling of the
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and
Ukrainian languages often using
profanity
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
. It combines complex
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
with creative use of
idioms
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...
and literary expression. It is often used to express disagreement, amusement, or to create
political satire
Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where s ...
. It was popularized by the padonki subculture on websites like Udaff.com and Fuck.ru (currently defunct) created by entrepreneur
Egor Lavrov and
Konstantin Rykov
Konstantin Igorevich Rykov (''Константин Игоревич Рыков''), a.k.a. Jason Foris (Джейсон Форис) (born 27 May 1979) is a Russian politician.
Biography
Rykov was born in Moscow. Since 1998 he made his mark as one ...
, now a deputy of the
Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.
The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
.
Padonkaffsky
jargon
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...
is difficult to translate with a traditional
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
because many of the misspellings also involve
puns
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...
and cultural slang. Padonkaffsky language has gone mainstream and is common in Russian
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
and
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. As a result, the websites on which Padonkaffsky language originally appeared are now dominated by another kind of high-shock-value material, adult content.
Rules
The unstressed letter is replaced by , and sometimes the other way around. The unstressed letters , , and are also interchangeable. The consonant may become or , the suffix becomes , becomes , becomes , etc. Examples: превед (
PREVED
Preved (russian: Преве́д) is a term used in the Padonkaffsky jargon, a meme in the Russian-speaking Internet which developed out of a heavily circulated picture, and consists of choosing alternative spellings for words for comic effect. ...
, from привет ''privet'' 'hi!'), аффтар ''afftar'' (from автор ''avtor'' 'author'), йад (from яд ''yad'' 'poison'), etc.
Notable examples
See also
*
Argot
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...
*
Dulya
*
Internet slang
*
Kashchenism
*
Mat (Russian profanity)
''Mat'' (russian: мат; матерщи́на / ма́терный язы́к, ''matershchina'' / ''materny yazyk'') is the term for vulgar, obscene, or profane language in Russian and some other Slavic language communities. The term ''m ...
*
Preved
Preved (russian: Преве́д) is a term used in the Padonkaffsky jargon, a meme in the Russian-speaking Internet which developed out of a heavily circulated picture, and consists of choosing alternative spellings for words for comic effect. ...
References
{{internet slang
Cant languages
Languages of Russia
Online chat
Russian Internet slang
Russian language varieties and styles
Russian slang