In the wake of George Floyd’s death, in a process known to Bible translators as Reverential Capitalization, most media institutions promoted blacks to “Blacks” while leaving whites as “whites.” (The Washington Post is a rare example of changing both to be capitalized.)
Now, the Ukrainian government is reversing the process, demoting Russia and Putin to “russia” and “putin.”
Senior Ukrainian intelligence official has told me about new rule for internal documents: “Putin” and “Russia” are now spelled without capitalisation: “When I saw the reports I got angry about staff’s sloppiness, but then they told me it was govt directive, and I said, ok”
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) March 21, 2022
