How does Gopnik stand for? Gopniks and their concepts

Who are Gopniks?

They walk a fine line - at first they “run into” the victim with a “bazaar”, probe him, cause fear and confusion. Moreover, this is done without a direct threat of violence - from the outside it will seem that the gopnik is all politeness, and you, on the contrary, are a nervous, unbalanced, or even completely aggressive type. As a result of such a hit, the victim, as a rule, gives up his property himself - usually small money, mobile phones, watches. Although this is not the main thing for a gopnik - he may not take anything from you. It is important for him to feel his superiority. Make you afraid of him.

Everything is often on the verge of a “joke”, a conversation “in terms of concepts”, so then during a showdown you can always say - he gave it to me himself. This is often confirmed by the victim herself:

Well, yes, I gave it to them myself...
- Why?
- I don’t know...
- Did they threaten you? They said that they would beat you and take you away?
- No, they didn’t threaten. Well there... well, they said who he is in life...
- Then why did you give it to them?
- Don't know...

If you are in the police, then the officer begins to get nervous, or even go berserk, and, in the end, tries to get rid of you. There are no legal grounds. If there is a showdown among the lads, then you get the status of a sucker. And getting it from a sucker is a sacred thing for a gopnik. He's a kid, you're a sucker. Conceptually, he is right. The conversation is over.

How to answer questions like: “Hey, come here!”

This is a direct invitation to war - i.e. the war is already underway. Psychological. The main thing is not to be afraid and not to rush to approach, even if you are clearly inferior in strength. Although you shouldn’t openly demonstrate your coolness. Whoever starts must justify his actions. Therefore, if you are only being probed in this way, then you need to take the “conversation” in a different direction.

So, depending on the situation, you stop or turn around, in a word, express some interest. Don't come.

Hey, come here, I said!

Answers like “come here yourself” are not suitable, as you understand, unless you are a boxing champion.
You're standing.

They come up to you. Scary.

Don't you hear? (frostbitten, swollen...)

Don't pay attention, freeze, like, further:

Can I help you?

We're not suckers

If your “conversation” did not begin with a direct provocation like the one described above, then usually the gopnik will extend his hand to you when he meets and greet you like a kid. This obliges you to be moderately polite and answer the first questions. Which is what he is trying to achieve. This is one of the main tricks of a gopnik - after such a gesture of “good will” he gets the right to “fairly” be indignant that you, for example, do not want to communicate with him. Plus, he immediately creates an alibi for himself - “I approached him like a boy, shook him with his claws. Was that so!?” - “Well, yes...” - “And people saw it. And then he started building a show-off for me...”. 1:0 in favor of the gop.

We break it off at the very beginning. It is very difficult to withstand - the look and the hand extended to you. The stencils of politeness are driven deep into us. The hand reaches out on its own. Let's hold on. Let's look it in the face. We smile.

I know that this is difficult, especially if your opponent is clearly stronger than you or there is a crowd behind him. But you HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THIS. A good guy will not shake hands with the first person he meets without first knowing who is in front of him. In prison they don’t shake hands at all, for example - and prison rules are sacred to a Gopnik. And you don't have to press the first paw you see. “Or maybe you’re not a kid at all - who knows,” you hint. But you are hinting that he has no right to accuse you of anything. And besides, suspicions creep in that you know the rules of the game.

Your main task is to remain within the framework of HIS rules, to break off the gopnik using his own methods - you should not appeal to universal morality and quote the Constitution. This is the trump card of the gopnik, that he imposes his rules on you and forces you to play by them on his field. So that's what we do - we play the proposed game with a serious look.

Hitting the market

If they obviously didn’t come to beat you, then what follows is part two - “a hit at the market.” In any case, if you are not yet lying on the asphalt and people are talking to you, then everything is in order. In reality, if they are not afraid of you, then at least they are afraid of you.

Who are you, where are you from?
- ...let me see the phone number.
- ...have money?
- ...on what occasion do we drink?
- ...who are you in life?

Freezing.(May be skipped)

So. You MUST smile and say:

I do not know you.

If this doesn’t work (most likely it doesn’t) and the questions continue and the intonation intensifies, then you need to go on the offensive:

The best defense is attack.

The universal answer - it always works:

For what purpose are you interested?

It is important to understand and remember the main thing - in order to attack you, you need a reason. Aggression without a reason is lawlessness. They are waiting for a reason from you. As long as you don't give it, you're safe.

Under no circumstances make the slightest concession - do not answer anything. NOT ONE QUESTION, even a completely innocent one. As soon as you answer something, even the most neutral, but to the essence of the question, and want to interrupt the conversation later, the aggressor has the “moral right” to accuse you of disrespect for himself, i.e. get this very right to take tough action. You “supported” the conversation, and then refuse to continue. Not pretty.

Of course, you won't get a direct answer to your question. Lots of options for further development:

What, it’s a waste of time to splurge with the boys?
- Are you being rude?
- You do not respect me?
- I didn't understand...

Never make excuses

In all cases, you need to “stupidly” continue your topic. Under no circumstances, again (see above), answer questions - “I respect you, but...”, “I’m not being rude, but...”. Your “but” will be immediately regarded as weakness. If the following phrase follows: “Why are you making excuses? Do you feel something behind you?” or something similar, then you will have nothing to answer it with. This is a 100% trick - it doesn’t matter what you answer or just remain silent, everything will be turned as an attempt to either make excuses or be rude.

I’m not making excuses - look at yourself from the outside, you understand that it just sounds stupid. But speak up nonetheless.
- Justify it.
- Why should I justify?
- Because you're making excuses.
- I’m not making excuses!
- What are you doing now?
- I... well... fuck you! I do not want to talk to you.
- Oh, you're also a rude...

Let's break the situation.

What, it’s a waste of time to splurge with normal(!) boys? - this is a likely response to your counterattack.

Remember - no “no”, “no”, and especially “but”.

You didn't answer my question.

It doesn't hurt to keep smiling.

And you are on mine.
- Are you going to run into chaos?
-Are you accusing me of something?
- Just answer my question. Do I have the right to ask?

Please note - just “inquire”. “Ask” has a double meaning on a hairdryer - they ask someone for something that will immediately be regarded as an assault - “I have the right to ask.” - “What? Ask me? For what? Justify.” That's it, it's a dead end again, you're in a bag.

I'm interested in myself.

“I’m interested for myself” is a stock phrase-answer to the question “for what purpose are you interested?” Everything is fine. As soon as you heard something like that, the enemy wavered - you forced the “right guy” to justify himself. Now the main thing is not to go too far.

I do not know you.

Under no circumstances should you continue this phrase: “and I’m not going to talk to you,” “why should I answer you,” “it’s none of your business.” Only stupidly neutral phrases. As long as you haven't given a formal casus belli, you're in a better position.

We stop smiling and show with all our appearance that the conversation is over.

Hold position

The cycle can be repeated in different variations. You simply hold on to your position, the meaning of which is - WHO STARTED THE CONVERSATION SHOULD JUSTIFY THE REASON.

In fact, there is ONE reason, and you must remember it - TO PROVOKE YOU AND GET THE MORAL RIGHT to attack, insult, humiliate, hit, take away. But, naturally, the “right guy” will never voice it, because then he himself admits to being a lawless person. And this is no longer common sense - the right guys don’t cause chaos. Those. you are asking a question that he cannot answer, but, according to his own rules, he is obliged to. In chess, this is called a “fork” - we attack two pieces with one piece. The only choice the opponent has is which piece to lose.

The point is that it is impossible to admit that the purpose of the tackle was to run him over, as you understand. Gopnik must comply with the laws of thieves' diplomacy and remain within the limits of the law. To remain silent or to leave essentially means to tacitly admit that everything was exactly as it was. And this means lowering yourself in the eyes of your comrades and your own.

This is your clear victory. But no one wants to be defeated, even though such a turn of events is quite likely. Admitting defeat, of course, can be compensated by insults or promises to “see you again” - this is the last attempt to provoke you. We just remain silent.

Don't bend

Do not comply with minor requests under any circumstances - by any standards, you can demand to state the reason first or qualify this as a direct attack. What you should say directly.

Give me a glass.
- ...

We are silent, we smile. We are waiting for accusations...

Are you screwed, or what?

And we go on a counterattack.

Checking for a sucker's suit? (or: - Do you want to run into me?)
- I’m asking you like a normal guy.

You earned a point, it pays off. And in front of everyone he calls you a “normal kid.” One more point.

Ahh. I'm sorry, i do not understand. On the.

A draw on a foreign field is a victory.

If you don’t want to be defeated, then the gopu has only one thing left -

1. or start beating you, which puts him in the category of offenders from the point of view of the law or into the category of lawless people from the point of view of concepts. He doesn’t need this, because the gop just wants to rise at the expense of your humiliation.

2. or “admit” that the goal was different - to get to know each other, communicate, spend time together. That is, to avoid defeat. That's what was required. A draw on a foreign field suits us quite well.

“Fork” - he already chooses only between which option of defeat to accept. Most likely he is not a fool.

Don't know me? Well, let's get acquainted.

You can shake paws.

Don't get carried away with winning

If you feel a fracture, then you may well give him the opportunity to rehabilitate himself in your eyes and the eyes of the boys. This is what needs to be done - otherwise the feeling of defeat will most likely lead to a new wave of aggression, which cannot be stopped by the market.

After an acquaintance, however, cycles of the same answers and questions may again follow, and the acquaintance itself was only a trick - you just need to be vigilant and in no case relax. No matter how many such cycles there are, your task is one - not to provide a reason. I repeat - this means:

Don't make excuses.
Don't answer questions.
Don't comply with requests
Do not break into “high” tones - remain polite and calm.
Continue to demand an answer to your question.
Ask “uncomfortable” questions.

Let's smile

Notice - we smile. It is important. This confuses and makes the attacker nervous. This makes him wary and act cautiously - “why is he crushing his face? Maybe he knows what? And he’s acting like a fool...”

Even...

If you meet complete scumbags, then you won’t have to talk for long. But in reality, such instances are extremely rare - this is a mental pathology. Almost every person has a taboo against unjustified aggression. Those. You always need a reason, no matter how funny or far-fetched. Concepts speak about the same thing.

Even if you suffer, then, firstly, maintain your dignity, respect in the face of your friends and yourself. And even enemies, which means a lot in the future. And, secondly, both the law and concepts are on your side, and you may well demand satisfaction by gaining strength, for example, in the form of support from friends. You are no longer a loser, but a warrior who has just lost a battle, but not the entire war.

Errors

There are two possible strategic mistakes here:
- fear will take over and you will give up, starting to mutter something inarticulate and willingly give away everything that is “asked” of you.
- you will feel like you are on a horse and decide to build on your success by exceeding the permissible dose of hitting - most likely, in this case you will be beaten.

Verification passed

If you don’t make mistakes, and your “opponent” doesn’t leave the battlefield himself, then you may well find new friends, or even better kents.

And if a turning point has already occurred, then maybe you shouldn’t give up on further developments - it’s quite likely that you will be offered to drink beer together and have some fun.

It’s not for nothing that this person approached you. Nothing happens by chance in the world.

This often happens - if you pass the test for "toddishness", you become not only an equal, but also a respected equal. In crowds of gopniks there are usually one or two “real” boys, the rest are sticky. The leader always knows this and, in general, he is not interested in them - they are his own pathetic copies.

Therefore, quite honestly and sincerely, they may want you as a friend.

The choice is yours. If not, then no. They patted each other on the shoulder, and even hugged each other like brothers. The market is over, it's over.

The last and most important rule

Even if you're scared, remember these simple rules and don't deviate from them. Because the last and most important rule is not to turn around. Either don’t start at all, or, once you start, don’t give up.

Remember Russian fairy tales - don't turn around. Whoever turns back loses.

Of course, this is just an outline; your creativity will always be needed. Fear will make its own adjustments, but, nevertheless, it is possible to REMEMBER.

Material from the site

For several months now, our foreign readers have been pestering us with the question: “Who are the gopniks?” They have vague ideas about the appearance of gopniks thanks to our Face Control section: they say, these are Russian guys of the “don’t put your finger in your mouth” type with pimply skin and stupid faces, which reflect only one thought: “I’m screwing you!” These guys are more comfortable squatting than standing. But, most importantly, these are the last males on planet Earth who manage to wear leather gangster caps from the 1920s in style - everyone else in such caps only looks like fagots from drama school rehearsing some kind of musical.

Gopniks are cool because there is no place for self-irony in their world. Whatever, you can’t take away their “authenticity”. In an era when “authenticity” is the most valuable and rare quality, Gopniks occupy the top rung of the hierarchy of coolness in the world. Proof of the authenticity of the gopniks is their fantastically courageous tastes: a mixture of bad taste, menace and the loud chic inherent in the “third world”, the impudence of which even the most avant-garde-avant-garde of Western “advanced people” would never dream of - in their bourgeois white hands it will instantly turn harmless kitsch. Even the fact that Gopniks like to blast techno at full blast, sing shitty karaoke songs in cheap cafes with color music, or wear cheap pointy leather boots to match their 1920s ragtime-style pillbox caps cannot take away their status as the most dangerous. scum from among the white population of the whole world.

But the story of Russia's gopniks is not a straightforward hymn to a form of authentic cool that the bourgeoisie has not yet discovered. On the contrary, this is a tragedy worthy of great literature in its scale. Like Faulkner's Old South or Tolstoy's fading landed gentry, Russia's gopniks are the heroes of a tragic tale of a dying breed of people who were once so proud of themselves.

Charles Portis notes that when a guidebook refers to a people as “proud,” it is usually a euphemism for “more beasts than men.” As for the gopniks, they really hardly reach people, and this is precisely their obscene charm. Take the word “gopnik” itself: there are few terms that one hundred percent correspond to the object being designated. "Gop" sounds angry, stupid and funny, but not so funny that you dare to laugh in the face of a gopnik. This word is also fun for a private trip - when you are safely barricaded in your car, the windows are up, the doors are locked, your foot is on the gas pedal, and your children and wife are screaming in horror: “Just don’t stop at red!”

How and when did the Gopnik culture arise?

The word "gopnik" was not a witty invention of the poet. At its core, as at the core of many other wonderful Russian words, is the abbreviation: “State hostel of the proletariat.” Add to "G.O.P." the suffix “nick” – and the new biological species is ready.

And he was born, according to the legends, after the Bolshevik revolution. According to the most reliable sources that we have (and this is the opinion of the vocalist of the Leningrad group Shnur), gopniks came to Petrograd in the 1920s in search of work. By origin, they were peasants or completely landless scum. They spilled out of trains in droves and, with luck, found refuge in newly rebuilt hostels, where they became the first local ghetto gangstas of Soviet Russia.

The species "common gopnik" even had its own specific habitat - Ligovsky Prospekt, building 10. Actually, this is a hotel, now called "Oktyabrskaya", which the Soviet authorities made a hostel for visiting proletarians, and the gopniks, in their own way, turned into a collectivist gangster club. Since they were outsiders in their villages, often children from single-parent families, and many already had petty crimes on their record, if not something worse, the indigenous population of Petrograd, and then Leningrad, treated the gopniks with disgust. They went down in legends as thugs and lucky ones, whom even the Soviet system could not break. They had their own code of honor, they lived by their own rules, they had their own tattoos on their fingers, their own fashions. They represented something like a caste of “thieves in law” in the world of delinquent “hooligans”.

Over time, when the specific fashion, slang and worldview of gopniks spread among the lower classes of the country's population, the meaning of the word changed. Now the expression “gopnik” meant not a tough country guy from the building where the Oktyabrskaya Hotel was later located, but any dubious type with a shaved head, wearing a thick leather jacket, stupid leather boots and an immortal pillbox cap. The same could be said of any guy who squats in the yard, dressed in a tracksuit and slippers, sipping Zhigulevskoye from his throat and husking sunflower seeds, and sometimes yelling at his wife to shut up, because she has no worries no - just know that you take the child for a walk in a used Turkish stroller, which he stole from someone else's house...

In the 1990s, it seemed that Gopniks would soon take over, if not the entire world, then at least one-sixth of the land on our planet. Gopniks ruled the roost in all of Russia's famed 11 time zones—from the lobby of the now-demolished Intourist Hotel just a couple of hundred meters from Red Square to the commercial-kiosk-lined embankment in Vladivostok and every geographic location in between. Gopniks - or Russian men who adopted the Gopnik style - surged into all spheres of life, from business, where they played the role of sixes and cannon fodder, to politics, where, as deputies from the LDPR, they formed the core of the resistance to Western influence.

The whole nation became gopniks: shaved heads, stern faces that read: “I trampled the zone!” and an extraordinary gift for choosing the most tasteless clothes, no matter how much they cost. Some swapped leather jackets and tracksuits for brown Hugo Boss blazers. But they could not resist the temptation to complement all this with shiny mugs: gold chains on their hands and necks, fancy watches, which, for all their authenticity, glittered with gold so much that they seemed more like a penny Vietnamese counterfeit. The most remarkable thing is that the 1990s were echoed by the perfect gopnik soundtrack: shitty techno, thundering non-stop from every restaurant, every shawarma kiosk, from every Lada or stolen Mercedes, from every hotel room adapted as an office ". No matter where you went in Russia in the 1990s, there was simply no escape from bad techno.

But no one realized then, and even today only a few realize, that the 1990s were not so much the rise of the Gopnik Nation as the Beginning of its End.

Last weekend we decided to organize a Gopnik Safari - a field anthropological expedition to introduce you, eXile readers, to the world of Gopniks. We asked our Russian friends where the best places to go to observe Gopniks in their natural habitat. The advice was very different: “Yes, there are plenty of them everywhere!”, “Go to any Russian city at random!”, “You don’t even need to leave Moscow: get off the metro at any station outside the ring line, and they will find you themselves.”

The most interesting answer was given by our journalist Vika Brook, who once wrote the Generation Elitny column for us: “Hit off to Velikiye Luki. “Big Heads of Luka.” Like all of my relatives live there - my aunt works at a textile factory, her my husband is an alcoholic, my cousin Maxim - he is a security guard, my other cousin Alexey - he is also a security guard, in a bank, and my cousin Natasha - she is divorcing her husband, he is a scoundrel and a slacker, my uncle Alexander - he sells Chinese shoes at the market, and his son Alexander - he serves in the army, and his second son Eduard - it’s not clear what he’s doing. In general, Gopniks don’t give a damn - my whole family are Gopniks.”

Alas, Bolshie Golovki Luka is located in the Pskov region, and we needed something closer. Among the cities of the Moscow region, none can compete in terms of gloomy reputation with Lyubertsy, a working-class suburb in the south of Moscow just on the other side of the Moscow Ring Road. In the 1990s, Lyubertsy was known as the capital of Gopniks. Criminality was as common there as tracksuits and sunflower seeds. One girl, born and raised in Lyubertsy, and in the early 1990s moved to Moscow, told us: “All the guys I knew there were gopniks. If you go there, you’ll probably see them everywhere, but I can’t say for sure.” “I haven’t been there since.” When we asked if she could call one of her childhood friends, she said: “I can’t. Almost everyone died, some from drugs, some were shot, some were stabbed to death. The rest got out of there and changed their place of residence, as I. I don’t know anyone else there.”

Early on Saturday evening we went to Lyubertsy by taxi. It was hot outside, hotter than usual at this time of year. We reasoned this way: although some of the gopniks are probably relaxing near some depression where toxic industrial waste splashes (referred to locally as a “beach” or “lake”), we will see enough individuals squatting at kiosks and in courtyards for our anthropological aspirations to come true. But we made an unexpected discovery. We drove slowly through the center of Lyubertsy, expecting to see, if not fresh corpses - material for our Death Porn column - then at least blood stains, indicating recent events of this type. But in reality, the city turned out to be... uh... let someone hit us in the face with a wet fish for what we are about to say, but the city turned out to be... uh... quite... still pleasant, in the spirit of a family idyll. Shady streets, lots of greenery, clean sidewalks, strolling couples and families. On one stretch of one of the central streets we counted at least four Japanese restaurants, as well as several standard restaurants of the Rosinter and Torgovie Tsentri chains, partitioned into cages for hamsters.

True, in Lyubertsy there were fewer mega-expensive foreign cars, but there were plenty of inexpensive ones. Even the Lada cars were neat and clean. We came across only one Lada with tuning in the style of a “disco car” - with flashing red lights. If America has Rice Rockets, then this Gopnik Nation must have its own Shawarma Shuttles. However, we noticed a single Shawarma Shuttle in a whole sea of ​​bourgeois cars. There was no point in walking around Lyubertsy. If we want to find Gopniks, then we must think like Gopniks. Where will they go? To the park! And not just to the park, but to that place in the park where plastic garden furniture is arranged around a kiosk spewing raucous 1990s techno. This is, in the language of the Gopniks, a “cafe”. Hm...

Let's not drag out our story. We found the park. And a "kafe" with plastic garden furniture too. We took some beer. We sat down. And we will fall through the ground if we saw at least one gopnik around us during the entire time we were chilling there. Actually, the kafe was very civilized: techno wasn’t loud, the beer was cold, the visitors didn’t pry into other people’s business – and there were even a couple of indie goths among them. At first we began to complain at the top of our voices, sad that we were left without material. But then disappointment began to turn into anxiety. What happened to the Gopniks? Maybe they all went somewhere for the weekend? Or is the weather too hot for them? Or did they leave Lyubertsy for better places?

We decided to leave the civilized "kafe" and walk through the park, among a sad collection of rusty Soviet-era children's attractions, which lacked only a sign: "If you wish to have an abortion, although all deadlines have passed, put the child in a chair on this attraction, move away , give us five rubles and we will do the rest." In the park we noticed a group of topless men playing tricks at the horizontal bar. But, coming closer, they realized that these were not Gopniks at all, but Caucasians, “black-assed”, the diametric opposite of Gopniks. After wandering around Lyubertsy for several hours, we finally gave up. If there are no gopniks here, where can we look for them, motherfucker?

Then we chose one of the most sinister districts of Moscow, Brateevo, whose very name is synonymous with the concept of “gopnik”. This is one of the remote areas where every square inch of land is lined with 17-story white panel houses - huge, nightmarish, built from dirty white concrete slabs. When you approach Brateevo along the Moscow Ring Road, it seems that the panel houses are stuck there so closely and chaotically that it is unclear how you can squeeze between them - the sun probably doesn’t shine here and all the vegetation has withered. But, alas, not all that glitters is gold.

And again, armed with beer and heading into the very shit, we found ourselves face to face with someone much worse than brigades of squatting gopniks - among hordes of people who had nothing in common with gopniks. And again families, baby strollers, nice cars, teenagers dressed in the new fashion - sort of goths of the pop variety, beautiful girls walking their dogs. In fact, Brateevo became so cosmopolitan that, although we deliberately spoke loudly in English, no one paid any attention to us. Even the stray dogs ignored us. All that remains is to look into the local billiard room. If there is anywhere to look for Gopniks - at least one fragment of antiquity - then only there. Well, guess three times who we didn’t find there.

If you follow the Russian blogosphere, it will seem to you that gopniks are so omnipresent in Russia that they are about to multiply beyond all limits, pour across borders and take over China. Everywhere you look, on sites they mock Russian gopniks or ridicule them so zealously that it already turns into glorification. We should have known in advance, based on our Western experience, what happens whenever advanced people discover some "authentic" lower class subculture. Consider that the subculture is dead, died, gone to dust. Actually, this is the meaning of our article: we want not only to introduce the world to Gopnik, but at the same time to inform about his, Gopnik’s, tragic death. Because as soon as something so cool comes into fashion, expect disaster.

What happened to the Gopniks? Most sources agree that two factors contributed to their extinction. First: in the 1980s and 1990s, hard drugs and weapons suddenly became widely available. Their introduction into such a fearless and primitive culture as the Gopnik culture meant that in one decade almost half of the individuals left for another world.

The second reason is more related to changes in habitat. The advent of Western bourgeois values ​​and cultural preferences, and the beginning of a period of external stability, growth and sobriety under Putin, meant that the Gopnik's 70-year reign as the king of the rebel world came to an abrupt end: Russians of all social classes quickly came to hate the Gopnik's loutish aesthetic. The Russians were ashamed of the Gopniks and looked at them with disgust, and only a year or two ago, when it was too late, they realized that the Gopniks were a great national treasure, the “Russian idea” in human form, the only ones who did not stoop to showing off.

Once upon a time, young Russian "cool" people romanticized gopniks, but now they take their cues from rappers (preferably white ones). The neopatriots of the Putin era also no longer need Gopniks, although Gopniks have always been the most ardent Russian patriots. In the Putin era, patriotic young people look more European, dress more European, listen to music in European and even American style. The only vestige of the Gopnik gene is that even the most quasi-Western-looking young Russian guy (or young Russian girl) carries in his heart the classic Gopnik worldview: blind chauvinism, anti-Americanism, hatred of dark-skinned people and, of course, a penchant for Gopnik antics on flights." Aeroflot", where even the richest and most well-traveled Russian turns on recessive gopnik genes, forcing him (her) to dress up in a tracksuit and slippers, sip Moskovsky cognac, sing songs loudly and lean over the neighbors' chairs - if not fall on the neighbors themselves .

But just as the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex turned into a pigeon through evolution, right before our eyes the rapid degradation of Gopnik is taking place, his transformation into a creature that can only be called “a skinny guy with a runny coke, who appears to everyone as a brand manager, and in fact, he works at the Euroset kiosk, where he managed to pocket enough money to buy a used Nissan Almera, which he loves more than anything in the world.”

Nothing speaks more eloquently about the tragic disappearance of Gopnik from the face of the earth than the fact that Shnur from the Leningrad group, a big fan of Gopnik culture, is going to open a “Gopnik Museum” in his native St. Petersburg. Shnur's group romanticizes the Gopniks to a middle-class audience that has finally come to appreciate them, albeit in a semi-ironic spirit that would not have been possible if the Gopniks had not disappeared. Even the original cradle of Gopniks - building 10 on Ligovsky Prospekt - today is nothing more than a three-star hotel, where a night in the cheapest room costs $100.

As in the case of Faulkner's Old South and Tolstoy's dying noble landowners, we glorify and mourn the Russian gopniks only today, when it is too late, and they can only be for us aesthetic objects, symbols of a bygone era that was much purer than ours, not suffered from complex irony and deeply secondary cool, an era where there was no dull office life, which is increasingly dragging Russians into the Putin era.

What do politicians say about Gopniks?

Oleg Lavrov, head of the Moscow branch of the LDPR:

“We believe that Gopniks are the most powerful political force in Russia. People laugh at us, call us a party of marginalized people: Gopniks, thieves, tramps and drunkards. But, you see, these are all people whose interests no one else represents. We created our points at railway stations, and at one time we had a million members. When we nominated Malyshkin as a presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, people were shocked. Well, yes, he, of course, is not an intellectual, but the gopniks will vote for him."

Anatomy of a Gopnik

A pillbox cap is a key element of a Gopnik’s outfit. Leather ones are for serious murders, stripes are for all sorts of trifles like rape in the country.

Ears - usually protrude more than those of ordinary homo sapiens, thanks to fights, as well as the indispensable haircut to zero.

Shashlik - Gopniks (like all Russians) believe that meat tastes best when it is roasted on a stick over a fire.

Sweatpants still remain the most ergodynamic for squatting.

Shoes - Gopniks prefer a) pointed leather boots or b) slippers, but as they assimilate culturally, they sometimes wear sneakers.

Glass - everyone knows that vodka tastes best when it is served warm in plastic cups. It is very important that several midges float on its surface.

Jacket - If he had a bumper sticker, it would say "Don't think I have a leather jacket."

Forehead - convex frontal lobes are inherited from distant ancestors - humans.

Today, no one is surprised by phrases like: “Gopniks”, “Goparis”, “Gopye”. The terms “gop company”, “gopoten”, “gopster” are used less often. Different names hide the same semantics. This is a man certain social status, with a certain appearance, behavioral and speech habits.

At the same time, for different citizens the meaning of the word “gopnik” will vary somewhat depending on the experience of the respondent. In order not to get lost in misconceptions and understand whether gopars actually exist, I propose to consider this article.

When and why did gopnichestvo appear?

The exact date of the appearance of the gop group is not recorded. However, in 1980 the phenomenon occurred quite often. The companies represented people with a lack of moral character who were aggressive towards society.

What is characteristic is that aggression was not manifested towards all citizens, but only because their social status or traits were opposite to theirs.

This category included entrepreneurs, representatives of the so-called “white collar” workers, and a highly educated part of the population. In other words, the gopnik's target audience is everyone who, in his opinion, has a higher status.

In 1990, the situation changed somewhat. The name “Gopniks” was replaced with “Gops”. The concept characterized people with a sustainable life philosophy, based on the inability to prove oneself positively. The percentage of residents who fit this characteristic is 1/3 more than the previous one.

Today in Russia he is engaged in gopnichestvo about 25% of youth.“Gopnichestvo” means the absence of distant goals, the meaning of life and, as a result, finding oneself only in a circle of similar people. In 85% of cases, a gopnik does not see himself without others like him. Since his identity is poorly formed, it is reinforced externally.

Who becomes a gopnik?

In 1975-1980, most of the representatives of the subculture were persons of the criminal contingent, after all, by the time the convicts left the zone, they had formed a set of appropriate standards of behavior.

Even being in the atmosphere of city life, they continued to do everything they did during the period of imprisonment. To avoid repeated punishment, Gopniks limited themselves petty robberies. In fear that their violations would be reported, the Gopars intimidated the residents.

For this reason, in a relatively short period of time, citizens there was a fear in front of the image of a gopnik.

Nowadays, the main audience of gop companies is young people of age from 13 to 25 years. The reason for the existence of these groups is considered to be negativism caused by excessive pressure on a personality that is not yet sufficiently developed.

A classic example is when parents show excessive concern for the moral education of a teenager. If he cannot meet the required standards, he begins to reject them. So, a group of people appears that accepts the young man and is able to highly appreciate his personality.

In this case, the purpose of creating a criminal image is not to avoid punishment through intimidation, but the process itself, which involves feeling of power over someone. Here it will be important for the gopnik to choose the right victim. Rather, it will be a person who has achieved a position that the gopnik himself is imaginarily unable to achieve.

Often, over time, gop youth become absorbed in their own image and really goes to jail, however, this only increases their level of status.

How do Gopniks define themselves?

Considering that the environment perceives the status of representatives of the subculture extremely negative, high authority is extremely important to them. They perceive themselves as tougher and emphasize this in all sorts of ways, from clothing to beatings.

Gopniks contrast themselves with the so-called “suckers.” What’s interesting is that Gopnik often cannot give an exact definition of this concept. Essentially, everyone who is not a gopnik is a “sucker.”

The situation is mirrored with the everyday perception of Gopniks by citizens, because in 1990-2000, everyone whose morals were somewhat different from popular views was considered Gopniks. There was no clear definition of the subculture, despite this to the gopyas attributed to 38% of citizens.

What is valued?

Although it is believed that Gopniks have morals poorly developed, they also have a variety of behavioral criteria to determine status. Let's say it is important for a gopnik that the victim has a high position. This could be high income, a prestigious position, respect in society - that is, all positions that can provoke a feeling of inferiority.

If a person with a low, in their opinion, position becomes a victim of the gopnik’s machinations, the gopar sinks to his level. Therefore, most representatives are wary of any type of contact with holders of homosexual status.

There are a great many subcultures in our society. Each of them has its own specific characteristics, attributes, lifestyle, and behavior. Today we will talk about gopniks.

The term itself comes from the slang word “gop”, which means “kick, jump”. Russian language dictionaries say that a gopnik is a street robber, a hooligan.

Gopniks, they are also gopas, gopota, gopori - the designation of some representatives of the youth. They are close to the criminal world, sometimes with traits of criminal behavior. Most often these people come from low-income families. They have a low level of education. According to statistics, gopniks study or have graduated from vocational schools and technical schools. But you can also find them in schools.

Most often you can meet gopniks at entrances and stalls. A particularly favorite place is the benches in the yard. Here they discuss various topics, for example, who has the coolest car or the details of the latest fight. Communication is emotional, there is a lot of obscene language. Often communication takes place while listening to chanson playing on a mobile phone. Gopniks love to squat. They often drink beer from plastic cups and nibble on sunflower seeds.

How do Gopniks dress?

Any informal culture can be distinguished by their appearance. Gopniks also have their own distinctive characteristics. Here are some of them:

• sneakers counterfeited by famous brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Puma;
• tights-type sweatpants, usually with one or two stripes along the seams;
• a leather jacket, usually open, or a tracksuit jacket;
• an eight-piece cap, a baseball cap or a black winter hat (popularly “Chechen”).

Gopniks have a very short haircut, sometimes leaving a small bang. It’s interesting how the Gopniks wear their hats. It is put on the top of the head. In this case, the hat should not cover the ears, but, on the contrary, rest on them from behind.

In general, these people dress in a very specific way. Complete incompatibility and extreme cheapness of clothing are the main criteria for a Gopnik’s wardrobe.

How to deal with gopniks

If you meet a company on the street that matches the above description, then you need to follow a number of rules:

• Try to pass by without turning around;
• You should move quickly, along a broken path (through courtyards, for example);
• Staying close to passers-by will make it appear that you are not alone;
• Avoid dark, deserted places;
• Try not to start a dialogue with them.

If you do start a conversation with a gopnik, then you need to know how to talk to him.

How to talk to gopniks

The conversation usually takes place on their initiative. They may ask you for a cigarette, ask you to make a phone call, or ask where you are going and why. One can only guess about their intentions. However, the consequences are often unpleasant. Gopniks are aggressive people. Therefore, it is important to understand how to communicate with gopniks. Here are tips for dialogue with gopniks:

• smile, kindness is always useful;
• It is advisable not to answer questions, and if you have to, then speak briefly and to the point;
• do not comply with any requests;
• remain polite and calm;
• Don’t speak in terms or fancy words.

Many people are interested in the question of how to deal with gopniks. The fact that there are more and more such people is an indicator of the level of development of the state. Naturally, there is no point in physically destroying them. After all, if you attack Gopniks in a crowd, you can make enemies for yourself. Therefore, the fight against gopniks is a rhetorical question. But don't forget about your safety. It is necessary to keep yourself in physical shape. If you are not proficient in any type of martial arts, then going to the gym once or twice a week will help you stay in good physical shape. In addition, strength and endurance will increase. It is also useful to know street self-defense techniques. They are easy to find on the Internet and practice with a friend.

And if you are attracted by the romance of hooliganism, simplicity of speech and thoughts, and like cheap sportswear and chanson? How to become a gopnik?

It's very easy to become a Gopnik. We go to the market and buy the clothes mentioned above. Download compositions of modern thieves to your phone. We get dressed and go to the nearest yard. We approach any company of gopniks. They will definitely take you for one of their own.

So, I hope now you will know who the gopniks are. Be careful!

Gopniks (also gopi, gopari, collectively - gopota, gopoten, gopyo - a slang word in the Russian language, denoting representatives of the urban stratum of low social status, poorly educated and lacking moral values, aggressive youth (teenagers) with criminal behavioral traits (less often close to criminal world), often coming from dysfunctional families, and united along the lines of counterculture (informal subculture).The term is widely used in Russia and the countries of the former USSR (since the end of the twentieth century).

Origin of the word

There are several versions of the origin of the word “Gopnik”

1. According to one, it comes from slang for a robber. Dahl's dictionary mentions the word "Gop" expresses a jump, jump or blow; | interjection knock, splash. Tell the lad when you jump! not before. Gop, jump, gallop, jump; stomp, jump or hit. -sya, flop, fall. Hop or gopki! will command jump, jump. Since street robbers used to suddenly attack (“jump, pounce”) on their victim, often hitting him in order to stun him and deprive him of the opportunity to escape/resist, their crime began to be called gop, gopstop or gop-jump in the criminal environment , and themselves - gopniks or gopstopniks. It is not surprising that over time this began to be called representatives of the criminalized part of the Soviet and then post-Soviet youth, for whom gop-stop, i.e. sudden attacks on random passers-by for the purpose of robbery were common practice.
2. There is another version. Back in the 19th century in Russia there were “City Prize Societies” (GOP), i.e. care, care, in which there were shelters for the homeless, cripples, orphans, etc. Those who were kept in these shelters began to be called gopniks. The contingent of GOPs was prone to committing crimes, incl. the words “gop” and “gopnik” quickly acquired a negative connotation. Gopniks began to be called flophouses or being in a flophouse, and by gopniks they meant degraded people from the lower social classes, prone to vagrancy and committing crimes. Among those held in the GOPs there were many teenagers and young people. It is not surprising that the word gopnik gradually became associated with the criminal part of young people.
3. Version three. Linguists who study thieves' traditions are sure that a “gopnik” is a person who makes a “gop-stop.” What it is? This is what the “hairdryer” calls a lightning-fast street robbery, when the victim is “taken out of fear.” Hence the “thieves” idiom – “take it to the gop-stop.” It is interesting that “gop-stop” was called “gop with a stop” back in the 19th century. “Gop” means a jump, an unexpected blow, and “smyk” comes from the verb “smyknut” (“shmygnut”) - “to move quickly.” In other words, the “gopnik” tactic consists of an unexpected raid on the victim and a quick escape.
4. Another option is a degenerate drunkard or bootlegger. However, there are facts that in some communities of thieves back in the 20-30s of the last century, gopniks were not called street robbers at all, but degenerate drunkards. Supporters of this version claim that the word “Gopnik” comes from the word “Gop”, which imitates a snap on the neck. Every Russian knows this gesture - it means “put it by the collar.” Interestingly, this gesture was used by speculators in alcoholic beverages during the “prohibition” that Nicholas II established in the Russian Empire in 1914. A number of linguists are sure that initially they were called “gopniks”, and then the word spread to their “clients”.

Where did you come from?

It’s not too difficult to understand - just remember that a significant percentage of Russian residents have at least once visited places not so remote. Now think for yourself what a “wonderful” upbringing the children of these people receive. In combination with the atmosphere of the outskirts of cities, the soil is created for more and more generations of hereditary punks and criminals. When the economy and the system of social values ​​began to rapidly collapse in the late 80s, this resulted in an increase in crime, including street crime. Until the mid-90s, in the ex-USSR there was an intensive redistribution of property and power, including through organized crime groups, which carried their “culture” to the masses and trained personnel, many of whom managed to undergo internships in prisons and colonies. A significant part of these bandits, scammers and their protégés subsequently became businessmen, government officials, and deputies, which led to high corruption in Russia and the criminalization of entrepreneurship. Having undergone socialization, received administrative resources and wanting to preserve their “honestly acquired” and reduce the population of competitors, former scammers further contributed to the suppression of crime, especially small-scale and young crime, which led to its decline by the end of the 90s. Television, which shows “The Brigade” and other “Sonka-Golden Hands”, also contributes a lot to the increase in rabble-rousing. In particular, in one of Pimanov’s programs they showed how in the early 90s in the Agievskaya organized crime group the film “The Godfather” was used to train personnel.

Characteristics of the subculture

Researcher of the “Gopnik” subculture - employee of the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Management of Kazan State Technical University. A. N. Tupolev notes:“The City Center for the Prevention of Neglect and Drug Addiction of Minors of St. Petersburg designates gopniks as “informal associations” and includes them in the “aggressive” section. Discussions on Internet forums speak about the level of development of these informal associations as follows: “... from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, gopniks are to this day the most common form of youth associations,” and all the sources used emphasize the pronounced criminal and group nature of this subculture: “These are mainly fights, robberies, and assaults , who are aimed at making money..., alcohol and cigarettes.’” Unlike most informal youth associations (for example, hippies, punks, role-players), gopniks did not assign any names to the rest of the population and did not identify themselves as a separate group relative to the entire population, from which it follows that they did not recognize themselves as a subculture. Most youth subcultures are characterized by aversion to gopniks, reaching the point of extreme antagonism.

Stereotypical appearance

Thus, the following features are noted:

• A tracksuit is the most common clothing in the summer, and includes pants and a jacket made of synthetic material. As he notes, most often these are counterfeits of well-known brands purchased on the clothing market (for example, Adidas or Puma). Less commonly, classic black trousers, often a little larger than necessary;
• A short jacket made of leather, leatherette or fabric, or a vest made of the same materials over a tracksuit. The collar is often set in a stand-up manner, and it is also often tucked into the pants;
• Among the headdresses, preference is given to a “tablet” cap (an “eight-piece cap” or a baseball cap). The following peculiarity is noted: the hat is not removed indoors, but is worn on the top of the head in such a way that it rests on the back of the ears and does not cover them.
• A typical haircut is “bald” or very short, sometimes with bangs (“half-box”). · Wearing a “borset” is also typical. Often, representatives of the subculture are associated with a bag of seeds, rosary beads and a balisong knife.

Other distinctive features

Many pieces of music are dedicated to Gopniks. One of the first mentions of Gopniks was recorded in Leonid Utesov’s song “Gop with a bow” from his repertoire 1929–1933. The most widely known song is “Gopniki” by Mike Naumenko and the group “Zoo” (1984). One of the verses of the song characterizes the behavior of Gopniks:

Who drinks port wine in the heat, who doesn’t warm beer in winter, who spits like a camel, who laughs like a whippoorwill? Who shits in our front doors, who vomits in subway cars, Who is always ready to black out our eyes and stab a feather in your side? These are gopniks! They interfere with our lives! »

Subsequently, several cover versions of the “Zoo” song were recorded by a variety of performers: “DDT”, “Last Tanks in Paris”, “Different People”, “Az”, “FRONT” and others.

Among the songs of famous performers telling about Gopniks:

• "Children of Satan" by Bad Balance
• “Go to the swing” by the group “Lumen”
• “Street Fight” and “To the Last Drop of Blood” by the group “Nothing Good”
• “Dogs from the city outskirts” by the group “Chaif” (the name of the song is often used as a common noun to refer to youth street crime)
• "Gop-stop" group "Gas Attack Sector"
• "Gopnik" by Ben Gunn
• “Down with Gopota” by the group “Brigade Podryad” and a cover version of this song recorded by the lead singer of the group “King and the Jester” Mikhail Gorshenev (album “I am an Alcoholic Anarchist”). On the other hand, in the genre of thieves' songs, gopniks and their activities are described with sympathy. Among such songs one can highlight “Gop-stop” (known by Alexander Rosenbaum) and “Gop with a bow” (known by Andrei Makarevich and Alexei Kozlov).

In the 2000s, artists appeared whose entire work was devoted to parodying typical devils and their hooligan behavior in the style of so-called “boy rap”: the groups “Gopota”, “Gopnik” (Ukraine), “Black GUN Dons”, “a.b.i.b.a.s”, “Night Dogs”, as well as rapper Syava. David Brown dedicated the new album of the Brazzaville group “Teenage Summer Days” to the Russian Gopniks.

Why do Gopniks sit on their haunches?

The “squatting” pose, like many other attributes of the gop style, comes from prison customs and has been known since the times of pre-revolutionary Russia. When transporting prisoners, the guards, in order to prevent unwanted actions on the part of the prisoners, traditionally commanded: “Hands up the hill! Everyone hunker down!” It is easier to predict the intentions of a person squatting, but this position gives prisoners the opportunity to rest, since during the short minutes of a cigarette break it is more comfortable to squat than to sit on the frozen ground or in the mud.

In a crowded pre-trial detention center cell, it can also be difficult to find a seat, so the prisoner has no choice but to spend his time squatting. Very soon this position becomes so firmly a habit that it can be difficult to get rid of it even in freedom. Former housemates often recognize each other from afar precisely by their habit of squatting.