MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Almost half of Russians support a ban on the use of foreign loanwords that have Russian equivalents, according to a poll conducted by the Superjob job search service.

"Four in ten Russians (41%) support a ban on the use of English loanwords. The word ‘okay’ tops the list of particularly annoying loanwords," the service said in a statement.

According to the survey’s results, 36% of Russians hold the opposite view. The stats show that the older the respondents are, the more negative their attitude is towards English loanwords. Only 29% of respondents under the age of 34 support the ban, while this figure stands at 47% in the over 45 age group.

On December 13, Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) passed the first reading of a bill banning the use of foreign words at the government level, with the exception for loanwords that don’t have commonly used Russian equivalents and are listed in standard dictionaries.

The poll, conducted on December 15-19, involved 1,600 respondents over 18 years of age.