The opposition leader, 47, had been Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic for more than a decade and was being held in jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle
The English “pedarast” is not a great translation.
Not vulgar, or like, swear-wordy enough.
Doesn’t capture the Russian connotations.
See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидарас
But I do immensely enjoy the ironically homophobic joke. Homophobic jokes are appropriate when making fun of a country of homophobes.
I disagree with this. Using a characteristic of a person as a slur harms all people with that characteristic.
“Stupid” is a characteristic of stupid people. Do you disagree with its usage as well?
How did you get a homophobic joke from a pederast?
The English “pedarast” is not a great translation. Not vulgar, or like, swear-wordy enough. Doesn’t capture the Russian connotations. See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидарас
пидорас Russian
Alternative forms
пидара́с (pidarás)
пдр (pdr) (SMS slang)
пдрс (pdrs) (SMS slang)
Etymology
Deliberate mispronunciation of педера́ст (pederást, pedɛrást).
It then goes on to say
Noun
пидора́с • (pidorás) m anim (genitive пидора́са, nominative plural пидора́сы, genitive plural пидора́сов)