A Letter from the Editor




 

Ya. There is no Russian letter more laden with significance than “Я.” First of all, discounting prepositions and such, it's the only one that happens to be a complete word — and what word: “I.” It also closes the alphabet, a coincidence that seems to telegraph something depressing about the place of the individual in Russian society. Unimaginative grade-school teachers are as given to telling kids, “‘Я’ is the last letter in the alphabet, you know” as their equally tiresome U.S. counterparts are fond of the idiotic saw "There's no 'I' in ‘team.’" Excessive use of it is said to belie a rampant ego; there's even a disparaging verb derived from it — yakat', “to keep saying ‘I’” (semantically not that far from "to yak," come to think of it). So, of course, what we're going to do in this issue is put it on every single page. Throughout this issue, you'll find 132 Russian words that begin with “Я,” with translations on Page TK. Learn them and start yakking with the best of us.

Finally, “Я” is the most misunderstood of the Russian letters. Upsetting as this news may be to certain Western graphic designers, it's not a turned-around “R” and should never be used in that way. So the next time you think of adding a little visual Slavic pizzazz to, say, an article about a hip new Russian magazine on the market, know that all you achieve by spelling it “ЯUSSIA” is the Jewish name Yasha. And then we'll all laugh at you. Happy reading. — Michael Idov