When the expert committee at the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf was working on de-Russifying the word “thank you” after the start of the full-scale war, there was the suggestion to leave it be, Tetiana Kryvko, the society’s deputy head, tells the Kyiv Independent. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainians who use sign language would have thanked one another with the Russian sign, a gesture that resembles taking one’s hat off and bowing. “But we (Ukrainians) should not bow in front of anyone,” she both says and signs.