News.com.au, “Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko accidentally ‘orders’ workers to strip naked at work”, 28 June 2016:
Office workers in Belarus uploaded this image to social media after they went nude. Picture: Instagram/ssnnooppooyy
PEOPLE have been posting pictures and videos of themselves naked and scantily-clad at work — in tribute to their president’s slip of the tongue.
It comes after President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, 61, mixed up his words during a speech on new technology.
“Innovations, IT-technologies, privatisation — it is all clear. We’ve conquered all of them. But everything is very simply, one should get undressed and work,” he said.
People in Belarus took part in the “undress and work” trend after their president had an unfortunate slip of the tongue. Picture: CEN/AustralscopeSource:australscope
The president had actually wanted to tell people to “develop themselves” — however the phrase sounds very similar to “get undressed” in Russian.
What many described as a “Freudian slip” instantly went viral online and triggered a saucy flashmob event on social media.
Dozens posted pictures of themselves at work including naked and semi-naked businessmen and women at their desks.
A female assistant in an electronics store posted a picture of herself with only a keyboard protecting her modesty.
Other images included a bikini-clad brunette chopping wood with an axe, a rock band posing naked but for their instruments, and a young and rather nicely tanned woman gardening in nothing but tiny shorts.
Tattoo artists, radio hosts, journalists and even construction workers were soon stripping off at work to join in the fun.
All of the participants of the flashmob posted their photos online, with the hash tag #getnakedandgotowork, where they instantly went viral.
Belarus is a landlocked country bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Russian is the main language, spoken by 72 per cent of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken by fewer than 12 per cent.
Posted by Batska on Thu, 30 Jun 2016 08:19 | #
Belarusian language is being squeezed out of usage, despite the fact that Russians make up only 11% of the population.
Tending to the strawberries in typical rural Belarus - where Belarusian language has stronger roots - and, ironically, where Lukashenko has greater support: among old pensioners and village dwellers.