Gopnik Phenomenon. Why do Gopniks Like to Squat and Wear the Adidas? Ushanka Digest
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 чер 2024
- Who is Gopnik? Russian Gopnik explained. Gopniks like the Adidas brand. Gopniks like to squat.
The word 'gopnik' made its way into the English language without being translated.
The origins of the word 'Gopnik' may be linked to similar sounding words in the Russian language, such as LESNIK meaning Forester.
0:00 Intro
0:38 Exploring the origins of the word 'gopnik' and its penetration into the English language.
6:01 Origins of the Gopnik phenomenon, including criminal associations and historical organizations in St Petersburg.
12:32 Understanding the cultural significance of squatting and attire among Soviet and Russian people.
17:15 Disappointment in experiencing a romantic gesture leads to a change in attitude.
22:37 Gopniks like Adidas brand shoes and clothes. Limited availability of branded sports shoes in the Soviet era, with Adidas being the only popular choice.
28:04 Gopniks' preference for Reebok over Adidas and the significance of purchasing real sneakers in America in 1995.
33:44 Grandfather's unconventional way of getting gas for his moped in a rural village.
39:15 Exploring abandoned homes and foraging for food in a dying village in Northern Ukraine.
45:05: Gopniks in Kiev rarely paid for public transportation, preferring to ride bikes in the countryside.
Recap by Tammy AI
Join this channel to get access to the perks:
/ @ushankashow
My books about arriving in America are available on my site:
www.sputnikoff.com/shop
Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC
"Ushanka Show" is a collection of stories about life in the USSR.
SOVIET EDUCATION: • SOVIET EDUCATION
SOVIET LEADERS: • SOVIET LEADERS
CHERNOBYL STORIES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
SOVIET AUTOMOBILES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
SOVIET MUSIC: • SOVIET MUSIC
SOVIET MONEY: • SOVIET MONEY
SOVIET HUMOR: • Video
My FB: / sergei.sputnikoff.1
Twitter: / ushankashow
Instagram: / ushanka_show
You can support this project here: / sputnikoff with monthly donations
Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow
USHANKA DIGEST, my long-format video playlist:
ua-cam.com/play/PLNq3y0OU1_BY0IrB3IOJPDHTj5z_vwH8F.html
Thank you for watching the Ushanka Show!
My name is Sergei Sputnikoff. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA.
The Ushanka Show was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR.
My books about arriving in America are available at www.sputnikoff.com/shop (Russian or English versions) or on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNQR1FBC?binding=paperback&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tpbk&qid=1688731325&sr=8-1
Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries”
Fan Mail:
Ushanka Show
P.O. Box 96
Berrien Springs
MI 49103, USA
You can support this project with SuperThanks tips, or:
Via Patreon here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff
Viia PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow
Ushanka Show merchandise:
teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop
Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show
100K subscribers is just around the corner, congrats in advance! What's the intro song called?
Sergey, do you have the link for the Gop stop song you mention?
@@HarryFlashmanVC ua-cam.com/video/4dGE4VHRox0/v-deo.htmlsi=ol2_lEWuSwNL0MKL
@@randylahey1822 подмосковные вечера
Not the brightest crayon in the shed.
The “origin” of a word is the etymology.
I think in the UK the equivalent is CHAVer
Your inclusion of Malboro cigarettes brought back a memory. When I traveled through the USSR in 1988, mostly Russia but perhaps a bit in Ukraine, one of the things we were advised to bring for trading was American cigarettes. When we were in one city, we wanted a taxi ride. We tried to pay in cash, but the driver wanted cigarettes. He was very happy to get 2 in exchange for the ride.
sigarets
So now I realize the origin of the "nik" in "beatnik" -- makes sense, Sputnik and beatnik were words in English at the same time. Took me 60 yrs to figure this out -- I'm not the brightest bulb in the marquee 🤓
Гопник
"-nik" does exist in English terms of that era. It's just not common today. Especially because of Polish immigrants. So we wouldn't joke "Komradenik", it would be "Komradeski". Terms like "dude-ski" are still in use.
"Adidas" is also pronounced properly as "ADI-das" in its nation of origin, Germany. It comes from founder Adolph "Adi" Dassler. Fun fact; he had a feud with his brother, who moved ascross the valley of their tiny town and founded Puma en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas .
cool!!
Cool too!
Heels to the sky, western spy.. Heels to the ground, comrade found
Haha
That's great
While Sergei stands, Gopniks squat.
In Ireland we have our own version called scobies or Skangers
The term for a foreign language word being adopted into another language is “loan word”. In Russian, raadio (radio) is an English loan word. In English, gopnik is a Russian loan word.
Yes in Japanese we use Katakana as a way to write words that are Loaned from other languages for example; Car(English) = Kuruma(Nihongo) but we don't use Hiragana or w.e to spell this work because from what i remember in school the loan words are written in only Katakana (an alphabet) Why Idk But good point to raise with the loan word thing very important to know this
The Droogs from the book and later the movie A Clock Work Orange was inspired by the gopniks.
I think that whole vernacular used in Clockwork Orange was Russian in origin if I remember correctly? That’s what I thought Anthony Burgess always said in interviews anyway. Great book/movie. 👍😊
How does a Gopnik say "goodbye": "Adidasvidaniya"
Don't spit on ya
In Poland we had/in some places still have our own Gopniks 🙂But they are called DRESIARZE. In Polish sports outfit is called dres or dresy trousers. They like to put some blue LEDs on their cars, drink beer, kick some ass and are very helpful. They always want to help you solve your PROBLEM 🙂
IS THERE A PROBLEM??
I WILL SOLVE
I found the whole gopnik UA-cam phenomenon genre that hit UA-cam years ago strange but entertaining.
Sergei, you are like an anthropologist and a good at explaining the culture of Soviet life, plus your choice of photos transports me back to the USSR I visited in 1983. I look forward to reading your book. Not everyone can reflect on their own culture with such insight. This was interesting.
Reebok "Pumps" with hexagon cells in them were really big in the early 1990's.
I used to call it the "beehive" from under my shoe.
Man, I wear an Adidas outfit, adidas shoes, and black cabbie hat and it scares me that I look like a gopnik person?!
I had a Russian lady back away very observantly in a back alley of Seattle on the way back home...
LOL
Digging around in the shed to find the old can of carbide chunks! Oh the good old days.
If you don't master the squat, you'll have a miserable time in much of the world's lavatories. These are very dire places.
It's either get planted firmly or try to balance on your toes whilst dropping a deuce. Your choice. Carry a change of clothes if it's the latter.
True. The rest of the world is civilized.
Even in civilized countries, old houses in rural areas have old toilets that need to be squatted. Interestingly, the squat position makes it easier to defecate!
My grandmother's house had both traditional and modern toilets. My family usually used the new toilet, but when my father or uncle worked in the garden, they used the old toilet.
I only used it to pee because I was scared of falling down the toilet. 😅
@@PsRohrbaugh I've never left the US but I almost always squat on the toilet rim unless it's a public restroom cause it just helps me shit quicker and get on with whatever I'm busy doing.
Again, as always you tell great stories that remind me of wife's tales of that time and place. She found you to be most authentic always.
Where a lot od modern people learned of the Slav Squat, all thanks to Gropnik culture or counter culture, depending on the context and perspective.
Not really.
There is a toilet that doesn't have a seat (squat toilet) so people squat when using it.
I love your long and boring storys about life in the Sovjetunion.
I live in Norway, the neighbourcountry to Russia, and I see so many simularitys!
Adidas shoes apparently also expanded to the Soviet military. In Artyom Borovik's book, 'The Hidden War', which was about his experience as a correspondant during the war in Afghanistan, I remember reading that the Spetsnaz (special forces) used them over the issued boots.
Most of our Adidas was fake and misspelled
I love the longer format deep dive, keep it up!
I grew up during the last 20 years of the Cold War like you. Now that I’m older I’m learning about your culture and realizing a lot that I didn’t know. Quite interesting to me. My country made you all out to be the evil empire. I don’t agree with communism at all and thought at the time that every Russian lived for it and wanted nothing more then to make the world communist. Needless to say I was wrong about a lot. When you talked about being homesick I could relate. In 95 I was deployed (military) and got extremely homesick. Thank you for sharing your life with us. To think, we could have been friends. Kinda changes your view of your “enemy”.
Yes it was an evil empire. Mostly to us people living in Russia. I was born in Moscow in 82 and while nostalgia is real , I remember the days when we had no food , we lived in one room, people were afraid of the government, my parents weren't getting paid for months
I was born in 80 in the midwest US and we thought all Russians sat around the dinner table plotting how to take over the world and make us all communist. When I was in grade school we still had a yearly drill when the bell would ring and we'd get under our desks to somehow protect us from nuclear war. 30 years later, a friend born in the early 80s in Moscow said they thought we wanted to use cheeseburgers and coke to undermine Russia and make everyone fat and lazy. Of course it's obvious - he didn't want to be fat and lazy because he really was planning on taking over the world 😆 Fortunately, now at least some of us understand that governments do not actually represent the people.
I grew up in Russia at about the same time as you. but since I began to realize myself as an individual, from the age of 12, I stopped listening to what adults told me and considering America and Americans as enemies. Now I had to become a “dumb little animal” again, because I have nothing to answer without falling under criminal liability. Now it’s much worse here than even in the USSR of the late eighties that I remember.
I kind of credited GTA 4 for importing the term gopnik that and life of Boris
cheeeekiii breeekii
The linguistic acceptance of a word with little or no modifications is called a Loanword.
Thank you Sergei.!! 👍 👍 👍
Very enjoyable compilation, thanks!
Thanks for the language lesson. Helps me to improve!
The wiper Story is amazing, never heard that , great stories !!!
Nice life story 😅 it was actually very interesting.
Gopnik sub culture dress code seems to be heavily influenced by that of the skinhead 'ska' culture in England in the 1980s. This wasn't 'far right' but was counter culture centered round a development of reggae music known as 'ska'. The most famous ska band is the London group Madness.
Fashion was very much pre war working man's British attire mixed with modern (tracksuits). So flat caps, tracksuits, boots, woolen coats etc.
Squatting: i was interested to hear you say that squatting is more comfortable than standing. In western europe no one squats because its uncomfortable. I cant squat for more than a few minutes before I have to stand again. Maybe you need to get your leg tendons used to it.
good show.
I found this video while ive been squatting charging my phone for the past 30 mins... I'm American
Alot of Asian cultures do as well.
Я американец и я занимаюсь русским каждый день. Спасибо за урок!
Я учу русский каждый день. Занимаются спортом, а язык учат или изучают 👍
@@UshankaShowSo effectively Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian Skangers, Corner Boys or Gurriers
@@UshankaShowхорошее дело делаешь Серёга. Ещё бы русских так же хорошо на " другая Америка" учил английскому.
We have similar words for the same sort of people you describe in UK English, - chav - from an acronym "council house and violent", because council housing is often low income housing, and - yob - boy spelt backwards ie a "backward" or stupid boy, and also violent and thuggish.
Came here for Russian culture and walked away learning 2 English words I had no idea about
Thanks!
Appreciate your support!
lol. Love how you refer to it as a “ curious phenomenon “
always loved your biographical introductions, respect
I love this show
awesome thumbnail
I'm not a fan of sportswear like Adidas, but I can say that the squat position is very comfortable and useful.
Squats are the best posture when you have to wait for something for a long time or work close to the floor in a place with no place to sit!
But will Gopnik still exist in Eastern Europe in the 2020s? They fit better in the 90s and 2000s than they do today.
Laying on the grass is quintessentially American. Dude you crack me up. Dude go to the Gorge in WA state. Its the best venue on earth, and i cant help but think its good contact therapy (you know like if youre afraid of spiders, let one crawl on you, ideally youll be cured. if you do wanna lay in the grass-theres no bleachers at the Gorge- only grass hill, dance area at the bottom near the stage and beyond that is the columbia river basin, the view is like if there was a river in the grand canyon. Man its so pretty. Oh you camp in grass too. I always thought we should have dashas, thats an idea from the east i can get down with. But how do you avoid grass? 😊 get down with it. Tell your comrades
Interesting history. Especially the pre revolution and post revolution origins. Ive just finished reading Anthony Beevor's book "Russia' which is a history of the Civil war. There arent many books in English about the Russian Civil War and I dont think I've read a sadder, more depressing history.
The plight of orphaned kids was truly awful.
You got me listening to Alexander Rosenbaum now. It is rhythmically enjoyable
Nice Honda Gold Wing!
Where these people come from who think you're some sort of Soviet shill I will never understand. I learn a lot about Soviet russia from your content.
Oh, thanks!
I just assumed it meant Grand Old Party.
Before it was even said Gopniks weren't brightest bulbs in the box, the pictures of them told the story.
What about “Sputnik”, does it follow the same logic? Does sput means anything? Greetings from São Paulo/Brazil!
Man, the photo at 19:00 is just like looking at myself in Soviet Estonia in the early 1980ies.
Omg the chewing out I used to get for grass stains.
In California cholos squat just like that.😂
Low class is low class!
The term for incorporating (example) "Gopnik" into English is called a *loan word* .
Cheeki-breeki Ushanka! xD Cheers for this video - fascinating how the greatest cultural export of Russia might be... hooliganism, eh? ;)
I’m going to start a Ushanka Show-inspired shoe brand called “Kopix”
Gopnik seems inspired by the word Beatnik
Or maybe Sputnik? Or Strannik?
Very interesting and sad history lesson. BTW, there’s a well known author and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine named Adam Gopnik.
Maybe that is a pseudonym.
Holy shit man it will never not be so jarring to see like 5-10 year olds be smoking, to add to that a daily habit worse than mine too.
XOPOWO. I am learning Russian. Droog. :>) All haill Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut.
Holy crap Russian is incomprehensible. I thought Gaelic was bad.
I grew up in West Germany and it all started with, Yes football and then RUN DMC 😆 Eazy E 😅 Public Enemy 😂
In my hood there were also Gopniks, but we called them boyz from the hood "die Jungs vom Viertel Giesing" Munich Germany
straight outta compton 😁
That's my sticker I made it and put on my van 4 years ago
Please do someday video about samowars :)
No one really used them in the 70s or 80s. Teapot killed samowar
@@UshankaShow Ok. I still like it. Outdoor with grill. But these times is not so welcomed like it used to be.
almost reminds me of slackers
One word - hardbass!
I'm surprised they didn't carry around a piece of cardboard to sit on.
5:04 Scav Sergei 😁
...for a moment I thought you said "the Central Comedy of the Soviet Union."
The origin of Beatnik?
I squat a lot, only a quarter Russian though.
Don't want to get my butt wet while sitting down!
There was some American street gand did their Gopniking in their turf, too.
19:00 you seem like an outdoornik, i like Altra shoes for hiking and stuff.
Started listening, just realised it has over 45 minutes. Right now I remember the squatting habit comes from prisons that are overcrowded and under-equipped. No chairs to sit on so they squat. Squatting is a common proactice in Asia for many activities, whether reading, smoking, resting, etc, and it perhaps demands less energy than standing upright. If done right, with feet flat on the ground, it can be quite relaxing and even healthy for our spine, digestion and anything related. I don't think gopniks do it right though.
What might the word/term "Katnik" mean? Or is that just a non word?) Thanks.
No such a word
@@UshankaShow Thanks. It was someone's name, but I wondered if it was a Russian word or slang term.
Great videos.
I've been very active in bringing attention to Soviet era cinema to the attention of the west, particularly Russian "fantastika". Your videos help fill in gaps in my research into everyday life, along with what I've learned for myself visiting there, and via my Russian friends. Thanks so much. I've recommended your videos to various friends who also enjoy them a lot!
We have "katok" - which could be a steam roller to build roads or a ice-skating ring
Love the gopniks meme
hard bass ushanka crossover with boris
John Wayne Cheeseburger isn't going to have a crossover with our Boris, he is a bit up tight about the king of slavs
Чем больше полос, тем пиздаче
Collab with Life of Boris lol.
Tawarisch Gopniki
When my wife was on the refugee train headed to Poland after the war started her and my stepdaughter were attacked by 2 female gopniks, the gopniks took a beat-down, LOL!
Gob-stoppers are something else in the West ;)
So what is the difference between gopnik and vatnik ?
Retired gopnik often becomes a vatnik. Russian version of MAGA crowd
8:57 well they nice of them 😅
Official term is loanword. The word is on loan frim another language.
I never sat on grass and when I reached junior high school the kids from former Soviet Union thought I was one of them until I spoke. 😂
In fact that’s how I befriended the Armenian room mate. He spoke to me in Russian asking if I was. Hence my frustration with the fact I did things that most Americans don’t and stood out. Where I live currently Sergei I feel like a foreigner even more so.
Watched them all, remember most, teens or thugs. 8
At least in Russian you say adidas the right way, which is German.
It even has Adolf in it as it was founded by Adolf "Adi" Dassler ;)
I wonder why so many get the spelling of the birthtown of the war criminal in the Kremlin wrong, it is called St. Pidarburg!
They are just very passionate about their countries GDP
I was 20 years old, walking along the boardwalk in Santa Monica, CA. I heard a song from street performers a hundred meters away, and I liked it.
It was Gop Stop, performed by Limpopo. I bought their cd and listened to it for years before learning what the lyrics meant.
ua-cam.com/video/mCgmlG6Zxaw/v-deo.html
Why don't you go to Russia, for real. Maybe you could get lucky, and they put you in jail for espionage, as they did with other Einsteins 👏
I steal fruit from my neighbors, they and their kids launch raids into our yard in the summer. Its the circle of life. The only punishment for getting caught is loss of the moral high ground lol
Ze le ns ki 😊😂😅
That was TOTALLY not the explanation I was expecting...
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have to laugh at all the US "kids" that like to get photgraphed trying to look like Soviet thugs.
They don't have flexibility in their Achilles tendons 😜
and gopnitsa darlinks
Your parents look tired. Your dad is stairing at village camera like it just scuffed his Adidas.
they squat cause they dont have chairs
The Vietnamese squat a whoooollee lot too, ou there smoking and squattin'