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Tibla ( tiblad in plural) is an insult in the Estonian language, which typically refers to a Russian language-speaking Soviet people (USSR) who is hostile towards other cultures and countries. "Tibla", Estonian Vocabulary (Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2006), Institute of the Estonian Language Tibla was a censored word during the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia.
Estonian journalist Voldemar Kures in the 1962 Väliseestlase kalender ("Calendar for Estonians Abroad", "An Expat Estonian's Calendar") suggests, that the word comes from the name of the Vitebsk Governorate, in reference to Russian construction workers during World War I, who mostly came to Estonia from Vitebsk and were considered rather stupidity. They were called tipski (a corruption of Vitebski – "one of Vitebsk"; tipskid in plural), which later became tibla. A similar version is the corruption of viteblyane/ vitiblyane (витебляне) – "people of Vitebsk" or "people from Vitebsk". The 1937 Eesti Entsüklopeedia (Estonian Encyclopedia) is also believed to have such a reference.
Tibla was already in widespread use during the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920), as documented by then-current war correspondence between officers and higher-ups. At the time, the word was used to denote non-local Russians (more specifically males and low-ranking soldiers), independent of their affiliation during the concurrent Russian Civil War.
The 1936–1937 war memories journal Vabadussõja lood ("Stories of the War of Independence") featured the word more widely both in soldiers' recollections, war songs and anecdotes. Of the soldier's songs, two used the titular word in their lyrics: Vabariigi pealinnas ("In the Capital City of the Republic", alternately titled "Linda"; the former title was used in print, and the latter appeared in folklore), which indicated the worry of Estonian soldiers that young women would choose to bide their time with men of other nationalities during the absence of Estonian men themselves; and Tibla seltsimees ("The Comrade of a Tibla", or "The Tibla Comrade").
Another hypothesis is that the word comes from the Russian profane addressing ty, blyad, ты, блядь ("you bitch", and the like) or, truncated, ty, blya, ты, бля.Laineste, Liisi Dysphemisms on the Estonian Internet (+[3]). — Mäetagused. Hüperajakiri ("hyperjournal"), No. 38, 2008. — pp. 7–32.
The word began to be actively used in Estonian media since the 1990s by "Ivan Orav", a fictional character created by Andrus Kivirähk. According to "Orav", the word tibla has nothing to do with Russians, but that tiblad are instead small pink creatures that first appeared in Estonia in June 1940. Tiblad are small and pink, epl
The 2006 European Network Against Racism report mentions the recent use of the word tibla in Estonian-language media as an example of inappropriate language. "Racism in Estonia" , ENAR Shadow Report
In 2008 the usage of the word in media caused a controversy, when Estonian TV aired the film Airheads, in which the slur "retards" was translated as tibla (a completely different meaning). When confronted, the translator, a well-known linguist, apologised, saying that she was careless.Shmelev, M. Strange accent of the local translation." Daily Vesti, 16.09.2008; the reference taken from "Racism in Estonia", ENAR Shadow Report 2008
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