Basic Trope: Using Cyrillic letters to make faux Russian (or something equivalent for another foreign language).
- Straight: Alice and Bob travel to Russia and are greeted by a banner that says "ШЭLCФMЭ TФ ЯЦSSIД"Transcribed.
- Exaggerated:
- Then they go to Greece and find a company offering a guided tour of "ΛTHΣNS"Transcribed. Then they go to Japan and see "山乇乚匚口从乇 丅口 丁卂尸卂𠘨" signs everywhere...
- The banner says "ШЭLCФMЭ TФ ҒЦSSIД". The Cyrillic letter "Ғ" isn't even used in Russian.
- Downplayed:
- Alice and Bob go to Norway and come across one "Welcøme to Nørway" sign.
- The faux Russian consists of correct Cyrillic transliterations of English words (ВЕЛКАМ ТУ РАША).
- Justified: The Russians in-universe do know that "ШЭLCФMЭ TФ ЯЦSSIД" misuses Cyrillic letters. They decided to write it like that because too many tourists complained that "Welcome to Russia" didn't "feel Russian enough", and too few tourists understand actual Russian.
- Inverted: A Russian writer creates faux English by writing Russian words and substituting some Cyrillic letters with Latin lookalikes. For Example: "AOBРО ПОЖАЛОBАTb В AHГЛNQ" (WELCOME TO ENGLAND)Transcribed
- Subverted:
- A sign says "ЯUSSIA". It turns out to be nothing more than an in-universe typo.
- The 'ЯUSSIA' is actually randomly generated ID and happened to produce pseuodo-words and it wasn't offensive enough for the ID to be rerolled.
- The clock labeled as "ЯƎTƧAM ЯUOH" might appear to be using faux Russian, but it's a barber's clock, you need a mirror to read it properly.
- Double Subverted: It was supposed to be "ЯЦSSIД."
- Parodied:
- 5-year-old Timmy randomly reverses a few Rs and Ns while writing. Alice and Bob are impressed that they have a "child prodigy" who "knows Russian at 5".
- In-universe, the Russian language is just English with random Cyrillic letters.
- Not only does the work use faux foreign languages, it deliberately mixes them up. You'll see faux Russian in Greece, faux Greek in Japan, faux Chinese in Russia, etc.
- Zig Zagged: Unimportant details use actual Russian text, while plot-important stuff tends to use faux Cyrillic instead to ensure that the audience understands what it says without needing a translation.
- Averted:
- The banner simply says "Welcome to Russia" in normal English or Russian.
- they actually bother to transcribe Cyrillic text correctly.
- Enforced: "Should we get someone to translate the text into Russian?" "Why bother? The audience won't understand it anyway. Just flip a few Rs or something to make it look Russian."
- Lampshaded: "Shælsfmæ tf Yatsssid?"
- Invoked: A character intentionally transcribes a piece of text in faux Cyrillic because they think that people who don't know Cyrillic script won't be able to tell the difference.
- Exploited:
- Defied: Sign Makers all around refuse to use Cyrillic as a cool font, instead opting to go for an English phrase accurately written in Cyrillics so that those who know that alphabet can also understand what it means.
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "Great, another show that thinks Russian is just English with a few randomly reversed Rs and Ns thrown in."
- Deconstructed: The faux Russian sign has confused many native Russian readers, especially the ones who never know English.
- Played For Laughs: An English word is written in faux Cyrillic. It turns out to sound like something inappropriate if the Cyrillic letters are pronounced correctly...
Back to The Backwards Я.
