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BBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning all swearing in films, television broadcasts, theatres and the media.

Offenders will face fines - as much as 50,000 roubles (£829; $1,400) for organisations, or up to 2,500 roubles (£41; $70) for individuals.

Where disputes arise a panel of experts will decide exactly what counts as a swear word.

Books containing swear words will have to carry warnings on the cover.

Russia's Vesti news website says that, according to sociologists' research, swearing is common in two-thirds of Russian companies.

The law will take effect from 1 July and will not apply to cases of swearing at performances before that date.

A leading pro-Putin film director and now MP, Stanislav Govorukhin, was one of the new law's architects.

The law harks back to the conservatism of the Soviet period, when the Communist Party required artists and writers to avoid "decadent" Western fashions and to stick to traditional values.

Traders who fail to give consumers warnings about swearing in videos or other audiovisual products will risk having their licences withdrawn.

It is not clear whether the ban on swearing in the media will also extend to Russian users of international social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

I'm not sure what the law actually is, but if it is as reported I certainly find it odd to say the least. I am also somewhat surprised at just who among the people I know is actually supportive of the idea.

frigidmagi wrote:I'm not sure what the law actually is, but if it is as reported I certainly find it odd to say the least. I am also somewhat surprised at just who among the people I know is actually supportive of the idea.

Of the people who've voiced support for such a measure, what were their reasons, out of curiosity?

Russia's Vesti news website says that, according to sociologists' research, swearing is common in two-thirds of Russian companies.

Yeah, no shit, the Russians have an entire dialect of their language that exists for the purpose of meaningfully conversing in swear words. You can sort of do this in English, like say, "Fuck those fucking fuckers. Fuck their douchebag faggot shit, and fuck their retard bitch cunts, and fuck their cumstained nigger asses." However, as you can see I'm more or less limited to expressing aggression and disregard, with varies degrees of intensity and virulence depending on what insults I'm directing at which people. Now imagine that having such a breadth and depth of swear words that you can hold meaningful communication using such language, and you have grasped the basics of what mat is.

For example, here's a Russian joke: An agenda item on working conditions at a trade union meeting of a Soviet plant. Locksmith Ivanov takes the floor: "Mother fuckers! Go fuck yourself! Fuck you and you too again!" A voice from the audience: "Right to the point, Vasya! we won't work without work robes!"

The joke is funny in English because it seems like a non-sequitur, but it's funny in Russian because given context Ivanov's diatribe actually makes sense. Here's another, in the original Russian, followed by a rough English translation:

"Okhuyeli?! Nakhuya dokhuya khuyni nakhuyarili? Raskhuyarivay nakhuy!"
"Khuli?! Nikhuya! Nekhuy raskhuyarivat! Nakhuyacheno nekhuyovo! Pokhuyarili!:
"Fuckheads, why the fuck did you fucking load so fucking much of this shit? Unfuck it the fuck out of here!"
"What's the fucking problem?! Fuck no! No fucking need to unfuck! It got well fucked in! Let's fucking go!"

That one's a very clever play on words, because every single word in there is a grammatical variation of khuy, meaning dick, dong, schlong, cock, prick, pecker, wang. You can't do that in English, the translation is limited to only every other word being a variant of the same swear, for the most part the swears only intensifiers, and even then one of the words had to resort to a different swear. There is just not enough depth to the language's grammar to pull it off.

Much as it amuses me to be pro-Russian in international affairs, it's an authoritarian shit hole and there would have to be some significant monetary incentives for me to even consider living there. This law is par for the course, but mat's been around for ages and it's also been taboo for ages. It flourishes in part because it's taboo. The commies couldn't stamp it out, Putin's little gang of kleptocrats isn't going to either. It's already illegal to swear in public, but the cops that are supposed to enforce that law are just as guilty of violating it as the public they are meant to enforce it on. Now it's illegal to swear in the arts and media, it's unfortunate, but mat isn't going anywhere. I leave you with a funny story from the Soviet period:

"An inspection was expected at a Soviet plant to award it the Quality Mark, so the administration prohibited the usage of mat. On the next day the productivity dropped abruptly. People's Control figured out the reason: miscommunication. It turned out that workers knew all the tools and parts only by their mat-based names: dick, cock, cunt, asshole, nut, ballsack; the same went for technological processes: fucking, riding, fingering, penetrating, thrusting, sucking, licking."

As coincidence would happen I'm reading the most recent book of the Watch series which features, in translation, the fine tradition of Russian swearing. I'm not sure who Putin is pandering to with this law.

See, their appreciation of the fucking finer points of language are why I'll always love the Russian people, regardless of where we stand with their government geopolitically.