Why Are Many of the Pro-Ukrainian Pundits and Politicians in the US Using the Russian Pronunciation of Kiev

 

This is funny and crazy. At least I think so. Many of the U.S. pundits and politicians blathering away about the need to defend the Ukraine from Russian treachery are using the Russian pronunciation of Kiev. Until recently, the average American pronounced Kiev as KEY-EV.

Now I am hearing and seeing many of the pompous asses that infest the cable news universe calling Kiev KEEVE. (Click here to hear the Russian pronunciation.)

But Ukrainians have their own language and their pronunciation of Kiev is strikingly different from the Russian version. (Click here.) It is CAI-YEV.

You would think that the people who claim to be the most interested in defending the borders of Ukraine from the scary Russians would take time to learn a word or two of Ukrainian and especially know how to pronounce the capital of Ukraine in the language of Ukraine.