Udaff

"

Udaff.com ( _ru. удавком), or the resource ( _ru. ресурс) is a Russian counter-culture site devoted to publishing short stories. Although technically anything can be posted on the site, it is pre-moderated by its creator, so boring or homosexual-sympathetic stories will most likely will end up in "/dev/null". Most stories contain outrightly obscene and grammatically incorrect language, as wells as scenes of nudity, violence and alcohol/drug consumption, although this is not a must. On the other hand, the content of the site can boast a number of gems and talented authors who feel that censorship and lengthy approval process in more conventional magazines affect their freedom of speech (normally, Udaff.com publishes new articles within 48 hours of submission with few formal requirements). The only strictly enforced policy on Udaff.com is intolerance towards homosexuals specifically, although this doesn't mean a total ban on homosexual-related topics. The stories shouldn't be sympathetic towards gay people, not necessarily avoiding the topic altogether.

Udaff.com started in 2001 as a brainchild of Dmitry Sokolovsky, an electrical engineer from Saint Petersburg, nicknamed "Udav" (Удав, rus. "boa"). The domain name parodies old English transliteration of Slavic last names which replaced last "v" with "ff". The old logo of the sign was the famous illustration from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" of a boa constrictor swallowing an animal; however, later it was replaced with original design as the site became something more than a personal hobby Web page.

Since the very first days the whole operation of site was surrounded with controversy, due to explicit language, content, homophobia, lack of racial tolerance policy and unmoderated message boards. Since the very beginning and in the spirit of Russian counterculture movement the site was positioned as an antagonist of gay.ru (famous Russian gay site of the time), thus spurring a message board war between the two that lasted for some time.

Although it can be said that the whole site stands on homophobic and conservative agenda (at least, as conservative as you can be while defending underage sex, alcohol abuse and writing gore stories), the creator successfully separates declared freedom of speech from private opinion. The page publishes essays with the views opposing the official policy, however, in such cases the anonymous comments might be forwarded to submitter's email and the work might be sent to the colleagues and/or supervisors.

Despite all of the above, the whole movement seem to have a noticeable impact on modern Russian culture and language. Several authors elevated from "huyators" (authors on Udaff.com) to more conventional literature, and the whole site proved to be a commercial success.

In 2004, the site started running a "news column", which posts links to real news with lengthy "news descriptions" by authors who found those articles. These descriptions might and do include profanities, racial slurs and complete misinterpretation of original sources, although they should be at least loosely based on original news item. Link to the source is a must.

Language influence

Unmoderated discussion boards under stories provided visitors with a unique ability to express freely. Although these comments were largely obscene, several of the less rude gems entered current Russian slang, and, judging by their influence, some of them might settle there for a long time. Russian edition of Newsweek ran an extensive article on this influence in May, 2005, discussing the impact of this slang. The article ignited a discussion about the role of slang and obscenity in the development of the Russian language, bringing back a figure of Ivan Barkov as an author of highly erotic verses and one of the authors of modern Russian language.

Examples of Udaff expressions

* КГ/АМ (креатив говно/автор мудак) (KG/AM) - "The story is shit, author is moron", explicit, but more paper-friendly expression of disapproval of someone's point of view, akin to SOB.
* Аффтар жжот! Пешы исчо! (Afftar Zhzhot! Peshy ischo!) - "Author rocks! Write more!", extreme approval of the posted article.
* Аффтар - аццкий сотона! (Afftar attskiy sotona!) - "Author is satan from hell!", the highest approval.
* Низачот (Nizachot) - "Credit failed", disapproval.
* 1 нах!, первыйнах (Perviy nah) - First freakin' post!, the claim to the first viewing of the post, period!
* Ниасилил (Niasilil) - "didn't cope with a full reading", the text is too long or boring, too hard to read it all, akin to .
* Ф Бабруйск, жывотнае! (F Babrujsk, zhyvotnаe) - "To Bobruisk, animal!", a plea for the author to remove himself to the god-forsaken town of Bobruisk, Belarus. Similar to "send to Coventry".
* Ахтунг! - transliteration of the German word "achtung" (attention) - gay.
* Аффтар, выпей йаду и не пешы больше (Afftar, vypej jadu i ne peshy bol'she) - "Author, drink poison and don't write anymore", akin to "Go f--k yourself!" Extreme disapproval of the posted article.
* Ф газенваген! (F gazenvagen!) - "To the gas chambers!", extreme disapproval.
* Аффтар, убей сибя ап стену (Afftar, ubey sibya ap stenu) - "Author, run into a wall and kill yourself", "smash your head upon a wall", anger, extreme dissaproval.
* Превед (Preved) - Distorted "privet" (hello). Originated in a picture of a bear catching two lovers during the act in the middle of the forest and saying "Preved!" - in the original, English, version of the picture by John Lurie the bear was saying "surprise."
* Кросавчег (Krosavcheg) - "Handsome man", means the person labelled as such is someone great, "cool guy". Probably a worthy example for others to follow.

External links

* [http://www.udaff.com/ Udaff homepage]
* [http://www.padonki.org/ Sister site]
* [http://www.ya-online.com/content/view/102/58/ History of «PREVED»]
* [http://www.iditinahui.com/ Related site]
* [http://www.babruisk.com/ Babruisk - the animal city]
* [http://www.runewsweek.ru/theme/print.php?tid=16&rid=215 Newsweek article about Russian slang] (in Russian)
* [http://www.russki-mat.net/e/padonkoff.htm Russian internet slang] translated into English