Is Х Togo or Is Х Ku-Ku? An Attempt at Lexico-Semantic Differentiation of Expressive Euphemisms (Based on Associative Experiment Data)

The article examines the functional characteristics of the colloquial euphemisms togo and ku-ku, which are used to refer to mental disorders or atypical behavior. These two widely used expressions are traditionally perceived as synonymous. However, the analysis of these linguistic units illustrates a key principle of linguistic theory: language, as a systemic structure, does not tolerate absolute duplicates and tends to semantically and functionally differentiate even within the domain of lexical synonymy. The aim of the study is to identify semantic and stylistic differences between the words togo and ku-ku. The empirical part of the research is based on an associative experiment that includes elements of interpretative and naming tasks. Based on the processing of 708 questionnaires, the study shows that togo tends to occupy a more neutral or elevated stylistic register, yet it consistently carries a negative connotation and is associated with a person whose deviant behavior is perceived as socially threatening and evokes rejection. In contrast, the word ku-ku is used to refer to a harmless eccentric whose behavior is met with indulgence by others. The findings confirm the hypothesis that the two expressions are not fully equivalent in the structure of linguistic consciousness and also reveal perceptual nuances across different age groups. Moreover, the results indicate that togo is acquiring new meanings in contemporary Russian discourse, which have not yet been recorded in existing explanatory dictionaries.