Comment by codedokode
3 hours ago
It is weird how they use the letter Я ("ya") as a "Russian" version of R. The Russian (actually Cyrillic) version of R is "P". So I read the name with flipped "R" as "Tetyais" and it makes no sense.
Also I wonder how Vadim Gerasimov managed to obtain an IBM PC-compatible computer: where he got the money and what store would be selling that. This shows how unequal and unfair the society became when reforms began at the late USSR. In earlier USSR, everybody would equally and fairly have no computer.
This can't be the first time you're seeing such use of Я? It's very commonly used in Western typography / graphic design as a symbol to invoke associations with Russia. It's not being used as a Cyrillic letter, it's being used a "think of Russia" and people unfamiliar with Cyrillic will mentally associate it with R so TETЯIS is easily read as "tetris". Even if yes, people familiar with the alphabet find it harder because the first reaction to Я is to in fact read it correctly.
Same with Σ being used as a "think of Greece" symbol that people from Latin-script languages are expected to process as E, leading to "brilliant" designs in GRΣΣK. Or how the Chinese character 山 would remind a Russian speaker of Ш so ПО山ЛИ would be easy to read.
As a Russian programmer, certainly you are aware of Elektronika 60 and Dorodnitsyn Computing Center? Regarding я, it is the same shape as R but backwards and feels exotic, nothing too complex there.