[Ads-l] Off-topic: Cyrillic vs. Roman Writing

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

I'll venture a few thoughts fwiw:
The Cyrillic letter Z looks like the number 3; by writing the Roman letter Z on the
tanks, the Russians avoid confusion as to what is intended.
At Putin's recent rally there was a big sign ZA PUTINA (translation: For Putin).
This is strikingly reminiscent of what many WWII Russian soldiers said during
combat with the Germans, viz. ZA STALINA (translation : For Stalin).  I.e., they
were fighting and ready to die for Stalin. Stalin clearly had a heroic stature for
them that was not shared in the West.
So, by putting up the sign ZA PUTINA, Putin was likening the present Russian
fighting in Ukraine to the heroic Russian WWII struggle against Nazi Germany.
He (Putin) thereby portrays himself as the heroic leader of the present struggle,
analogous to the WWII Russian leader for whom Russian soldiers could die
with za Stalina on their lips.
Z here is short for ZA, which in turn is short for ZA PUTINA.

Gerald Cohen

________________________________
Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU> wrote Sunday, March 20, 2022 10:11 AM

Here's a somewhat polemical discussion about the possible worldwide
future semiotic trajectory of 'Z' from a Substack that I follow:

https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arcdigital.media%2Fp%2Fgeneration-z&data=04%7C01%7Cgcohen%40MST.EDU%7Cd4ff450dd2904766bb8708da0a83dd3e%7Ce3fefdbef7e9401ba51a355e01b05a89%7C0%7C0%7C637833858877076025%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=M%2FWLt2QV3G5slywe1Gh7oE6hHPVcNTCNpzxpiSwVcuQ%3D&reserved=0

Geoff



Geoffrey S. Nathan
WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fclasprofiles.wayne.edu%2Fprofile%2Fan6993&data=04%7C01%7Cgcohen%40MST.EDU%7Cd4ff450dd2904766bb8708da0a83dd3e%7Ce3fefdbef7e9401ba51a355e01b05a89%7C0%7C0%7C637833858877076025%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=%2FK2%2BRTz14Z1ZmZIU38buXGP%2FXR770r0p4e4y0mwZYmE%3D&reserved=0
geoffnathan at wayne.edu

From: Amy West<mailto:medievalist at W-STS.COM>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2022 7:40 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Off-topic: Cyrillic vs. Roman Writing

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On 3/20/22 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Sat, 19 Mar 2022 15:17:37 +0000
> From:    Geoffrey Nathan<geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> Subject: Off-topic: Cyrillic vs. Roman Writing
>
> Not really in our bailiwick, but on a political posting on Facebook
> by a pro-Ukraine friend there's a picture of a pro-Russian banner.
> It reads Z=3DD0=3DB0 =3DD0=3D9F=3DD1=3D83=3DD1=3D82=3DD0=3DB8=3DD0=3DBD=
=3DD0=3DB0: [za putina] 'For=3D
 Putin'. Now, for those
> who don't read Cyrillic, the first letter isn't Cyrillic but Roman,
> so this is (sort of) code-switched. And, for those following
> the unpleasantness in Ukraine, the 'z' letter has become a rallying
> symbol for the Russian troops (painted on their military
> vehicles and aircraft). According to the Wikipedia entry on this
> use of 'Z' (yes, there is one...) it's become quite common in
> Russian pro-war propaganda.


Thank you for this. I've been seeing the "Z" use in political cartoons,=3D2=
0
and I haven't been understanding the use or significance or origin.

It's going to be in bailiwick soon enough as it gets picked up and=3D20
appropriated.

---Amy West

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