Worse than swearing

The phenomenon, when some authorities forbid citizens or categories of citizens to use words from the dictionary, is called linguocide and in international law goes under the heading of genocide. The history of the withdrawal of words from the Russian language for patriotic reasons knew everything. The Minister of Education under Alexander I, Admiral Shishkov, translated the phrase "the dandy is walking along the boulevard from the theater" into his native speech as "a good house is coming along the amusement ground from the stadium." Slavophiles called for a ban on the German word "student". During the Stalinist struggle against cosmopolitanism, the cafe "Nord" on Nevsky was renamed "Sever" and they seriously tried to replace the "elevator" with a "self-lifter", and the "telephone" with a "long-distance conversation". In the Duma of the last convocation, deputy Astrakhankina demanded that the word "condom" be banned. A year ago, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, with a reputation as a liberal, proposed replacing the word "reform" with the phrase "changes for the better."

When in April of this year the secretary of the Public Chamber Yevgeny Velikhov proposed equating the names of foreign monetary units with swear words and penalizing them for their use, it seemed that the academician simply overslept the world April Fool's Day.

An no. Now the State Duma has adopted in the first reading amendments to a number of laws, including the law on the government and the law on the media, which prohibit deputies, civil servants, journalists, advertisers and other citizens of the Russian Federation from reporting information on prices, transaction amounts and "other financial indicators" in anything other than the ruble. Moreover, the deputies immediately violated themselves by proposing to fine violators not in hard rubles, but in the minimum wage (minimum wage). Individuals will face a punishment of 50 minimum wages, legal entities - up to 500 minimum wages.

Finance Minister Kudrin immediately said that he would be better off paying. And the German newspaper FrankfurterAllgemeine, shocked by Zhirinovsky’s speech about the fact that “the Russian ruble is rolling further, the next stop is Berlin,” suggested that Russian deputies, ministers, and even the president for using the “bad word with d” contribute five dollars to the cashier of the cafe. Which, by the way, is 33 times less than the amount that the deputies insist on. They themselves have several explanations for their original initiative. Firstly, the ruble is a symbol of our sovereignty (the words of Deputy Moskalets) and, apparently, the more often you mention the symbol, the stronger sovereignty. Secondly, 375 deputies (the number who voted for the amendments) seriously believe that innovations will contribute to the de-dollarization of the economy - although the only thing that will contribute to this is a ban on the export of oil and especially gas, for which we are paid in foreign banknotes. Thirdly, the deputies insist that the ban on the word "dollar" will reduce inflation and lead to an increase in confidence in the ruble. With the same success, the ban on the word "idiot" will lead to an increase in the intellectual level of the deputies.

It is not yet entirely clear what penalties threaten exchange offices, brokers or analysts of the securities market. And will the guards of legality be fined as severely as for the dollar, for the use of the words "tenge", "sum" or "manat". Or is it the Belarusian ruble, which is, in principle, a foreign currency? Sadly, citizens will be deprived of the pleasure of reading to each other the popular fable by Sergei Mikhalkov “The Ruble and the Dollar” with heartfelt lines “murderers take you for black deeds, homeland merchants put you in your pocket” ... What is it about? And what can't be named. You can only name the ruble, which has become so strong and almost converted that any homeland merchant can put it in his pocket already.

In fact, the deputies mold themselves a God whose name must not be pronounced. This is the case in some religions - it is forbidden to mention the name of the Lord in vain. For example, in Judaism there is a name of the Almighty, consisting of 72 letters. To pronounce it, you need to cleanse yourself for a long time: by fasting and prayers. Since the faithful Jews know that you can say some words only if you understand what and why you are saying. If you don't understand, don't.

By the way, if the amendments on the prohibition of pronouncing the names of foreign currencies come into force, subsequent deputies will not be able to cancel them without violating the law. How to discuss this without saying aloud what cannot be spoken about?