53. As the anti-Communist daily Standart recently wrote: "the (Communist) nomenklatura has transformed itself into the Red bourgeoisie of today. The latter has replaced its masters (Washington and Brussels have replaced Moscow, NATO has replaced the Warsaw Pact, and the EU has replaced COMECON), but has preserved its privileged life-style, political power, and personal wealth" (Iliya Troyanov, "Diktatura na donosite" [A Dictatorship of Informers], Standart, November 9, 2009 (my translation).
54. Appearing on the New Television Channel on October 18, 2009, Borisov reportedly called for outlawing what he called the "successor to the terrorist Communist Party," adding that "the BSP has harmed our country and will continue to do so for as long as it exists. It is a mistake that the (former) Communist Party, which had used terror and had killed people in the past, has not yet been banned," (Chavdar Dobrev, "Plodovete na populizma" [The Fruits of Populism] Nova Zora 38, October 27, 2009, my translation). This is rather ironic as Borisov was reportedly the only official of the post-Communist Ministry for Internal Affairs (the agency responsible for domestic security), who was fired during the 1991 "depolitization" drive for refusing to give up his Communist (Socialist) Party membership (Lilov, Tainyiat proekt Boiko Borisov).
55. See Orwell, "The Prevention of Literature," 389, 391, 392.
56. See, for example, Georgi Lozanov, "Da opitomim chudovishtata i da gi nahranim ot shepa" [Let's Tame the Monsters and Hand-Feed Them]. Kultura 29 (2556), July 30, 2009.
57. Dimitrova, "Language and Politics in Bulgaria," 138.
58. See Mikhail Videnov, "Deputatite otkradnaha rechnika na mutrite" [Our Parliamentarians Are Using the Language of the Mob], Afera.bg, April 3, 2010; also Velislava Dureva, "Teneke" [Chatterbox], Duma 65, March 19, 2010.
59. See Dimitrova, "Language and Politics in Bulgaria," 138, 143-4.
60. As a form of comic counter-language, this particular joke is rather similar to many of the "Ivancho" ('Little Ivan") jokes from the totalitarian past, one of which went something like that: The history teacher asks the students of Ivancho's primary-school class in what particular historical era they would like to have lived. Most are content to live under socialism and thus participate in building the Communist future. A few students say they'd rather live under the previous capitalist system, so they could participate in the struggle for socialism. Ivancho alone ventures that he would prefer living in ancient Egypt. When the startled teacher asks him why, Ivancho explains to her, "Like in Bulgaria today, you slaved six days a week in ancient Egypt, but at least on Sunday the Pharaoh did not make you march by the pyramids, chanting "Ramses, Ramses," "Eternal friendship with Mesopotamia," "Down with the Hittite Imperialists!" Even Blaga Dimitrova did not escape the biting mockery of anonymous satirists at a time when she was still Zhivkov's favorite and privileged poetess. In a comic word-play with her name, she was referred to as "Oblaga Dimitrova" (in Bulgarian, oblaga means "benefit" or "profit"), thus in effect calling her a careerist and opportunist.
61. Young, Totalitarian Language , 81.
62. Orwell, "Propaganda and Demotic Speech," 223.
63. In a joke popular in those days, the fictitious Radio Yerevan was asked, "What would Bulgarians be doing today if Tsarist Russia had not liberated them from the Turks?" (Bulgaria was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1396 to 1878). Radio Yerevan's answer: "On Fridays they would have been watching Turkish TV."
64. However, I have not encountered either in speech or in writing a single instance of the Russian word urozhai ("crop," "harvest" or "yield") being used in place of its Bulgarian equivalents rekolta or dobiv, as Blaga Dimitrova suggests on page 140 of "Language and Politics in Bulgaria."
65. Dimitrova. "Language and Politics in Bulgaria," 140.
66. "Vtorata Goliama Depresiya ni podmina" [We Have Avoided a Second Great Depression], Standart, September 15, 2009 (my translation).
67. "Boiko Borisov: Parite ot Briuksel sa imidzh" [Boyko Borisov: The Money from Brussels Improves Our Image], Standart, September 14, 2009.
68. See, for example, Sabina Vassileva, "Mladite u nas veche govoriat polubulgarski" [Our Young People Already Speak in Anglo-Bulgarian], Sega, May 6, 2010.
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