Category: Unit 1 (Page 1 of 7)

I’m proud to say, that I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Most people in Ukraine speak Ukrainian, which belongs with Belarusian, Russian and East Slavic family. Ukrainian is written with Cyrillic alphabet form and has close relationship with Russia but has recognizable similarities to polish language.  Most of Ukrainians are bilingual and code switching between Russian and Ukrainian is a common event evident in meetings, court hearings, broadcast media, and even in the country’s parliamentary debates. It is common to find two Ukrainians in a conversation, and one talks in Ukrainian and the other replies or answer in Russian.

Today it is no surprise to hear the phrase “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine) in the streets. However, the reaction to it may be different. Someone will cheerfully respond, “Heroyam slava!” (Glory to the Heroes); yet other will pass by, muttering something with displeasure. Some even consider it fascist, which is used only in “banderivska”, “nationalist” Western Ukraine. “Glory to the Heroes” has become an important slogan during Kiev’s Maidan protests. “Glory to the Heroes” were the first words former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko publicly uttered, after she was released from prison on February 22. I think it is important to remember that she is one of the former Komsonol-affiliated nomenclature, and comes from central Ukraine, a region not known for political radicalism, whether right or left. “Slava Ukrainy”, “Glory to Ukraine”, was the greeting of the OUN, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1941.  The more responsive defenders reply to critique would be some trivial explanation of what this slogan means to the today demonstrators on Independence Square. One would be informed one that the cry has no deeper historic connotation for many protesters, that it expresses their emotions in such historic times, that it unites people from different regions, including russophone ones, coming to Kyiv, and so on. Not what do the protesters mean when they shout the slogan, but what do many Eastern and Southern Ukrainians feel when they hear “To the heroes – glory” For the protesters on the Maidan, including those from Donbass or Crimea, “heroes” may be a generic term that means little beyond the concrete context of the protests. Events of the end of 2013-2014 in Ukraine, known worldwide as “Ukrainian crisis”, are multidimensional and multifaceted. Their internal content is most accurately described by the term “Revolution of dignity”, based on a painful Ukrainian breakup with post-Soviet past and the struggle between different social and political powers to choose the direction of its further development. An aggressive intervention of Russia put question about Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state in the cornerstone of the revolution and led to Ukrainian crisis, which became one of the most serious challenges for the post-bipolar international system. Furthermore, events of 2013 – 2014 clearly showed the desire of Ukraine to play a full-fledged role in international relations.

Russia could be blamed for igniting the bloody conflicts on the territory of Ukraine, however there is no doubt that Putin had more relevant reasons to go hard, then just his own aspirations to create a new empire. Western world, who tried to incorporate Ukraine into its institutions and take it out of Russian sphere of influence literally provoked Moscow. According to national security policy of Russia, buffer zones are essential to became a super power and avoid NATO’s influence. It is not acceptable for Russia to lose their strategically important neighbor to the EU. That is why, Putin opted to take over Crimea as he feared it could host a NATO naval base. As well, destabilizing of Ukraine was designed to force Kiev abandon its efforts to join EU. Ukrainian crisis highlighted all the most important differences between decision-making processes in the EU and Russia.

All these day I can’t stop worrying about my parents, family, friends, who live there. And every time when I look at photos and videos, showing shootings and blood in my home town, I can’t believe that it might happening in the 21st century. But I’m so proud for our people, who keep fighting for Ukraine, for people who they loved. And believe me, it’s terrible when your mother call you at 6 am in the morning to say, that war has begin, there is nothing to say. “Slava Ukraini!” means a lot for me today. It means a nation, who not afraid of anything and I’m glad to be a part of it.

In Ukrainian, when we miss someone or if we are waiting for something, we say “я чекаю на тебе”, which translate to “I’m waiting for you”. I’m (чекаю) waiting for my country to become a safe place, I’m (чекаю)  waiting for my friends who must stay alive for their families, wife and kids, I’m (чекаю) waiting for the end of all conflicts and I’m (чекаю) waiting for peaceful sky underheard all Ukrainians, I’m ( чекаю) waiting for my family to call me with the words “everything is fine”.  I’m (чекаю)  waiting…

The Fudge

Evie Althkefati

English 1121 O450

2/25/2022

A word that a community I belong to uses mostly is the word fudge. Many think that they know the meaning of the word fudge but they do not. Under official circumstances, fudge is a word used to describe a type of candy that almost resembles chocolate. However, for the community that I belong to, it is a word used as a less offensive way of expressing the emotions one has. For example, we use the phrase “what the fudge” instead of “what the f**k” because the former is less offensive. Also, we may use the statement “the fudge” or only use the word “fudge” when expressing ourselves. After describing the community I belong to, the paper shows how the word fudge is used to hide offense as an alternative to the more offensive word that would have heads turning when used under several circumstances.

The community I belong to is that of youths who wish to express themselves but also want to remain cautious of what they say. The generation I live in is considered to have the highest level of exposure to knowledge at the moment. I am certain that in 200 years to come, that generation of youths will be 200 years more knowledgeable than we are at the moment. Therefore, the point to note is that we are knowledgeable because there is knowledge at our disposal, and we are not to blame for that. However, exposure to knowledge comes at a cost. Whereas we have become more educated from the knowledge we have, it has equally brought harm to us. As a friend of mine told me once while we were teenagers, there was nothing his parents could tell him about any topic that he did not already know.

Therefore, as a generation, we have absorbed both educational and destructive knowledge, and they all have positive and negative consequences in our lives. The youth community I belong to is the one that is aware of this fact, and tries its best to avoid destructive knowledge, whether in learning it or passing it to other people who are also being exposed to knowledge. For that reason, we try our best to avoid words that can be considered offensive. For the case where other youths or adults use the word b**ch, we use the word chick, and in the case where others use f**k, we use the word fudge. Fudge is only understandable by our community, unless it is used in contexts where individuals easily relate with them or when a member of our community has to explain the word to someone else. It is the same example with the word fuku used by Diaz. 

Fuku is a new word that remains unknown to the reader, and one only understands it after Diaz explains what the word means. As he describes, it is a curse of doom (Díaz, 2007). All through the text, where the curse comes from, and how it affected individuals who lived before. Similarly, it is difficult for others outside the community I am in to know what the expression fudge means when they hear the word. At first, they always think that it means the candy that almost resembles chocolate, and they often misplace the word in accordance to the context being used. After an individual has had the word explained to them, it is common for them to nod their head in silence, and one is never certain what they are thinking. For those that hear the statement “what the fudge,” they always join the dots and make their conclusions about the subject.

The history of using the word fudge remains unclear. It cannot be pointed out that the community I belong to started using the word at a specific point in history. Like several other slang words, it could have been formed from its use in different parts of the world. However, I am certain that the word is not as old as many other words in English are. An example of a case when such a word was used and the person next to me did not understand it was late last year when several friends of mine and I had gone to watch football. We could not all sit on the same row, so we distributed ourselves on the different seats. I sat next to an older lady that I found there. When one of the team members that we were supporting was tackled and had the ball taken away from him, one of my friends behind me shouted “fudge.” The lady next to me tapped me and asked whether the word spoken was a lucky word. I did not want to be disrupted from watching the game, so I nodded and assured her that it was. Moments later, she was shouting “fudge!” This proved that she did not find the word offensive.

The word fudge is used in the community I belong to, and it is a less offensive word used in the place of a more offensive word. Statements such as “the fudge” or “what the fudge” make individuals easily understand the context in which the word is used together with its meaning. The community I belong to that commonly uses the word is that of youths who want to express themselves but they are also cautious of their language. Hence, we use terms that others will not find offensive. There are two conditions in which it becomes possible for someone who is not of our community to understand what the word means. The first is the context in which it is used. For example, when a member of our community says “what the fudge,” it becomes easier for an outsider to know because it is a phrase they can easily relate to. The other case is when a member of our community explains to them what the word means. Else, they cannot understand it. An example is an encounter I had with an older woman late last year when watching football, and she thought that the word is used to bring about luck. She did not find it offensive. Reference

Díaz, J., (2007). The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. New York: