“If you happen to utter the word “coronavirus” while waiting, say, for the bus in the white-marbled capital Ashgabat, there’s a good chance you’ll be arrested. Plainclothes police officers are also arresting people who wear face masks.”
The Turkmen government has been run since 2006 by “the flamboyant dentist-rapper strongman Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.”
Heckuva job, Gurby!
SIDEBAR: I’m pretty sure than I’ve never typed “dentist-rapper-strongman” before. That’s almost as rare as my position as “philosopher prince / masked luchador” (emeritus).
If they accuse you saying “coronavirus”, just claim you were trying to say Gerbanguly’s full name. Works for just about any long word.
A worthy successor to the bizarre beyond belief “Turkmenbashi”.