It's cool to know the Bulgarian slang! Gopnik is like a thug, trakie no-good-nick? Like a chav in England?
Hahaha I just pictured you like that because you deal cars! My fiance is a mechanic & very very very into cars. I'm sure I can get him to come on here & speak mechanic to you
Gopnik is actually a borrowed word from Russian. We don't have an accurate word for a chav, so we use gopnik. The closest thing to a young slacker/ vandal/ lowlife would be "kelesh", (literally scald head) But gopnik is better...
Also, I could never dress like that, since I'm not a sleazy used car dealer in some remote backyard, but a Peugeot dealership manager (still a bit sleazy). So at work I need to button up my shirt a bit more to look representable and wear a suit to meetings. Glossing over my work attire...
Here's a bit of history... When democracy came in 1989, ex cops, thugs, ex military and all manner of scum formed the Bulgarian mafia and the first political parties. When they quickly got rich in an almost lawless country switching from communism to democracy with no control, they started buying expensive cars, apartments and all that, but because it took some time for western fashion to get here, a lot of them dressed in tracksuits. Also tracksuits were easy to wash and take care of. Try finding a dry cleaner in 1993 Bulgaria for your Italian custom-made suit...
Imagine the ridiculousness of watching this knuckle-dragging thug get out of a 150000 DM Mercedes in a cheap, knockoff Adidas tracksuit. But that was their signature look.
So kids, teens and wannabe thugs wanted to emulate that. Mafia thugs were the only rich people in Bulgaria in that period. And since young people didn't have the German Marks for a W140 S-class, they bought tracksuits. Basically what you see Russian "gopniks" do on youtube, it was the same thing in Bulgaria in the 90s. Drinking, eating sunflower seeds, squatting on monuments, insulting old people, sticking it to the man and all that nonsensical rebel goodness...
But as more western merchandise entered Bulgaria, more jobs opened up and the quality of life started to rise, the mafia went to a more semi-formal, to formal look. And by 2005, nobody wanted to dress like 90s thug, so the gopnik look died out. Everyone wanted those cool Levis jeans, Converse sneakers, that Gucci bag, the cool Sony Bravia flatscreen tv and everything else the west had to offer.
Nobody wanted to emulate what the mafia did anymore. People found their own style.
Nowadays the only people you'll find walking around in tracksuits are sports nuts, the occasional drunk and maybe some children.
The 90s to early 2000s were crazy times for Bulgaria.
PS: I take it you are from England... First time I see someone from England interested in Eastern Europe... Most brits think we are scum. My girlfriend's father thinks so too, tried his best to prove he is better than me (cause he's British) but the old bastard drives a Rover and I have 4 Mercedes, an old BMW and his daughter, so I think win XD
Contrary to the stereotype, Eastern European countries are among the oldest in Europe with a very long and rich history. Communism and Russia ruined us.
Thank you so much for typing all that out. I find it super interesting!
I'm actually American, but I live in Australia. We have an equally abysmal knowledge of world history, so there are a lot of strange stereotypes floating around about eastern Europe, which I find to be a shame because that part of the world is supposed to be absolutely beautiful & has such a diverse and interesting history. I'm really hoping to travel to the Balkans some day.
My soon to be grandmother in law is an immigrant from Hungary, so I've spent quite a bit of time talking to her about her experience moving to Australia & learning a lot about her corner of the world.
I find it a shame that people are not more interested in learning about or visiting eastern Europe, but I guess that means less annoying tourists if I visit Croatia!
How would you describe your fashion sense?
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It's cool to know the Bulgarian slang! Gopnik is like a thug, trakie no-good-nick? Like a chav in England?
Hahaha I just pictured you like that because you deal cars! My fiance is a mechanic & very very very into cars. I'm sure I can get him to come on here & speak mechanic to you
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megadriver
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Gopnik is actually a borrowed word from Russian. We don't have an accurate word for a chav, so we use gopnik. The closest thing to a young slacker/ vandal/ lowlife would be "kelesh", (literally scald head) But gopnik is better...
Also, I could never dress like that, since I'm not a sleazy used car dealer in some remote backyard, but a Peugeot dealership manager (still a bit sleazy). So at work I need to button up my shirt a bit more to look representable and wear a suit to meetings. Glossing over my work attire...
Here's a bit of history... When democracy came in 1989, ex cops, thugs, ex military and all manner of scum formed the Bulgarian mafia and the first political parties. When they quickly got rich in an almost lawless country switching from communism to democracy with no control, they started buying expensive cars, apartments and all that, but because it took some time for western fashion to get here, a lot of them dressed in tracksuits. Also tracksuits were easy to wash and take care of. Try finding a dry cleaner in 1993 Bulgaria for your Italian custom-made suit...
Imagine the ridiculousness of watching this knuckle-dragging thug get out of a 150000 DM Mercedes in a cheap, knockoff Adidas tracksuit. But that was their signature look.
So kids, teens and wannabe thugs wanted to emulate that. Mafia thugs were the only rich people in Bulgaria in that period. And since young people didn't have the German Marks for a W140 S-class, they bought tracksuits. Basically what you see Russian "gopniks" do on youtube, it was the same thing in Bulgaria in the 90s. Drinking, eating sunflower seeds, squatting on monuments, insulting old people, sticking it to the man and all that nonsensical rebel goodness...
But as more western merchandise entered Bulgaria, more jobs opened up and the quality of life started to rise, the mafia went to a more semi-formal, to formal look. And by 2005, nobody wanted to dress like 90s thug, so the gopnik look died out. Everyone wanted those cool Levis jeans, Converse sneakers, that Gucci bag, the cool Sony Bravia flatscreen tv and everything else the west had to offer.
Nobody wanted to emulate what the mafia did anymore. People found their own style.
Nowadays the only people you'll find walking around in tracksuits are sports nuts, the occasional drunk and maybe some children.
The 90s to early 2000s were crazy times for Bulgaria.
PS: I take it you are from England... First time I see someone from England interested in Eastern Europe... Most brits think we are scum. My girlfriend's father thinks so too, tried his best to prove he is better than me (cause he's British) but the old bastard drives a Rover and I have 4 Mercedes, an old BMW and his daughter, so I think win XD
Contrary to the stereotype, Eastern European countries are among the oldest in Europe with a very long and rich history. Communism and Russia ruined us.
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Thank you so much for typing all that out. I find it super interesting!
I'm actually American, but I live in Australia. We have an equally abysmal knowledge of world history, so there are a lot of strange stereotypes floating around about eastern Europe, which I find to be a shame because that part of the world is supposed to be absolutely beautiful & has such a diverse and interesting history. I'm really hoping to travel to the Balkans some day.
My soon to be grandmother in law is an immigrant from Hungary, so I've spent quite a bit of time talking to her about her experience moving to Australia & learning a lot about her corner of the world.
I find it a shame that people are not more interested in learning about or visiting eastern Europe, but I guess that means less annoying tourists if I visit Croatia!