Ostap Vyshnia, the late Ukrainian humorist, wrote, “Chukhrainians is the name of this strange people... This name comes from their habit of scratching their heads (chukaty). In fact, they have five purely national habits. So very characteristic of them that if any one of them were lost in a crowd of a million other people he would be easily recognized by a person who had lived among the Chukhrainians, even if for a short while. “Now this one is surely a Chukhrainian,” this person would say and would be right, of course. A Chukhrainian’s posture, his hands, an expression on his face, his entire stature emanates these five attractive traits. Using contemporary archaic terminology, these traits would be formulated as follows:
1. If only I had known.
2. Oh, I forgot.
3. Oh, I was late.
4. I already knew that.
5. Something has to happen somehow.
(from the anthology, Ukrainske slovo, volume one)






