Gopnik

For other uses, see Gopnik (disambiguation).

'Gopniks' are known for wearing short haircuts and sports jackets alongside leather shoes, as well as the abuse of alcohol.

Gopnik is a stereotypical class of young males up to 30 years old found in Russia and post-Soviet countries, similar to a Chav or Ned in Great Britain, characterized by aggressive behavior, specifically towards the weak, predilection to the criminal subculture, abuse of alcohol beverages (specifically beer, vodka and "Jaguar" cocktail) and specific fashion preferences. The term gopnik (Russian: Го́пник) (plural gopniki, gopota, gopary) is slang used in Russia.

Origins of the term

• The term "gopnik" was probably derived from slang term gop-stop, meaning street mugging.
• Another version is that "gopnik" derived from the acronym GOP, probably a reference to Gorodskoye Obshchestvo Prizreniya (the City Society of Charity), the numerous almshouses organized by the government after the October Revolution. Another version translates the acronym as Gorodskoye Obshchezhitiye Proletariata (The Municipal Dormitory of the Proletariat), putatively organized in the 1920s in Saint-Petersburg in the hotel Oktyabrskaya, which quickly became known for the criminal actions of its inhabitants. The major argument against the second version is that there are no surviving records proving the existence of such an institution in Saint-Petersburg.

See also

• Chav
• Ned
• Gangsta
• Wigger
• Flaite

Bibliography

• Фима Жиганец. Жемчужины босяцкой речи. Ростов-на-Дону, "Феникс", 1999. ISBN 5-222-00958-0
• Потапов С.М. Словарь жаргона преступников. Блатная музыка. Народный комиссариат внутренних дел, 1990.
• Владимир Козлов. Гопники. Ад Маргинем, 2003. ISBN 5-93321-041-2

External links

• Meet The Gopniks: An Exile Safari
• The Gopniki Subculture (Russian)
• "Gopnik" on russian lurkmore (Russian)
• Russian site about gopniks (Russian)
• About Gopnik as branch of subculture (Russian)