A Linguistic No-Man's Land

I am going to keep this short, since it is a rant, but the linguistic issues in this country are increasingly irritating. The last week or so, I have had done a bit of traveling in the region, engaging with Kyivans, Odessans and various customs officials from Moldova and Transnisteria, making me realize how screwed up Ukraine is when it comes to its languages. When you speak Russian in Moldova or Transniesteria, people respond in pure, relatively unadulterated Russian. When you speak Russian in Ukraine, people think you're a Moskal, but, if you speak pure Ukrainian, they thing you're a nationalist or a snob or Polish. In other words, the official, expected language of Ukraine is Syrzhyk, the bastardization of both languages. Even at the Ukrainian Ethno-Disco, where I somewhat expected to hear pure(er) Ukrainian, I kept hearing a complete mess of languages: Russian verbs with Ukrainian cases; Ukrainian verbs with Russian cases; Russian forms of "to be" in otherwise Ukrainian sentences. ARGH! To me, it hardly matters whether folks speak Ukrainian or Russian, but my disdain for poor grammar forces me to insist that they speak one or the other, not a mixture of both. I guess you could argue over what is "true" Ukrainian, but I'm certain this had been disputed over the last 15 years and that an official consensus has been formed. Just pick one.

Thank you and goodnight.