As the first public impeachment hearings transfixed the country last week with revelations on a recalled ambassador and quid pro quos, America’s collective mind was blown by another bombshell.
“Wait so Kiev is pronounced KEEVE (rhymes with Steve)?!?,” star political forecaster Nate Silver wondered as many others online marveled that they had been pronouncing the Ukrainian capital wrong their whole lives. I made a 30-second video explaining the lesson in post-Soviet politics: Kiev is a transliteration from Russian, Kyiv is the preferred Ukrainian transliteration, and after simplifying Ukrainian’s guttural vowels for American speakers, the proper pronunciation is “Keeve.” It’s now my most popular tweet ever; apparently, this is the content Impeachment Twitter craves.
