Who are the "gopniks": history and anatomy. The world of modern crime. Gopnik - who is this? When and why did gopnichestvo appear?

And much more.
Exile magazine decided to write an article about them
The site Inopressa.ru translated this article
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For several months now, our foreign readers have been pestering us with the question: "And who are the gopniks?" They have a vague idea about the appearance of the gopniks thanks to our Face Control column: they say, these are such Russian guys like "don't put your finger in your mouth" with pimply skin and stupid faces, which reflect only one thought "Yes, I put it on you!". These guys are more comfortable squatting than standing. But, most importantly, these are the last males on planet Earth who manage to wear 1920s leather gangster caps with chic - everyone else in such caps looks like nothing more than faggots from theater school rehearsing some musical.

Gopniks are cool because there is no place for self-irony in their world. Something, but you can’t take away “authenticity” from them. 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, non-avant-garde of Western "advanced people" will not even dream of in a dream - in their bourgeois white hands it will instantly turn harmless kitsch. Even the fact that gopniks like to turn on techno to the fullest, sing shitty songs under karaoke in cheap cafes with color music, or wear cheap pointed leather shoes to match their 1920s ragtime-style pill caps, cannot take away their status as the most dangerous scum from among the white population of the whole world.

But the history of Russian gopniks is by no means a simple hymn to the kind of authentic badass that the bourgeoisie has not yet discovered. On the contrary, it is a tragedy worthy of great literature in its scale. Like Faulkner's Old South or Tolstoy's fading noble landowners, Russian 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 people is called "proud" in a guidebook, it is usually a euphemism meaning "beasts rather than men." As for the gopniks, they really hardly reach the people, and this is precisely their obscene charm. Take the word "gopnik" itself: there are few terms that one hundred percent correspond to the designated object. "Gop" sounds mean, stupid and funny, but not so funny that you dare to laugh in the face of a gopnik. This word is also fun on a private trip - when you are securely barricaded in your car, the windows are up, the doors are locked, your foot is on the gas pedal, and the children and wife are yelling in horror: "Just don't stop at the red!"

How and when did the gopnik culture emerge?

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

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

The “ordinary gopnik” species 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 own villages, often children from single-parent families, and many already had petty crimes on their account, if not worse, indigenous people Petrograd, and then Leningrad, treated the gopniks with disgust. They entered the legends as blatari and lucky, which 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 the 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 that later housed the Oktyabrskaya Hotel, but any dubious type with a shaved head, a thick leather jacket, stupid leather boots and an immortal pillbox cap. You could also call any guy who squats in the yard, dressed in a tracksuit and slippers, sips Zhigulevskoye from his throat and husks sunflower seeds, and sometimes yells at his wife to shut her up, because she has no worries. no - just know, take the child for a walk in a used Turkish stroller, which he took away from someone else's hut ...

In the 1990s, it seemed that the gopniks would soon take over, if not the whole 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 geographical point in between. Gopniks – or Russian men who have adopted the style of gopniks – have flooded into every area of life, from biznes, where they played the role of sixes and cannon fodder, to politics, where, as LDPR deputies, they formed the core of resistance to Western influence.

The whole nation went into gopniks: shaved heads, stern faces, on which it was read: "I trampled the zone!" and an extraordinary gift for choosing the most tasteless clothes, no matter how much they cost. Some have swapped out their leather jackets and olympics for Hugo Boss brown blazers. But they could not resist the temptation to complete all this with shiny mulks: gold chains around their arms and neck, fancy watches that, for all their authenticity, shone with gold so much that they seemed more like a penny Vietnamese fake. The great thing is that the 1990s echoed the perfect gopnik soundtrack: shitty techno blaring non-stop from every restaurant, every shawarma kiosk, every Zhiguli or stolen Mercedes, every hotel room converted to "offis ". Wherever 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 arrange a Gopnik Safari - an anthropological field expedition to introduce you, eXile readers, to the world of gopniks. We asked our Russian friends where is the best place 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 circle line, and they will find you themselves.”

The most interesting answer was given by our journalist Vika Brook, who once wrote a Generation Elitny column for us: alcoholic husband, my cousin Maxim is a security guard, my other cousin Alexei is also a security guard, in a bank, and my cousin Natasha is divorcing her husband, he is a scoundrel and a loafer, my uncle Alexander is selling Chinese shoes in the market, and his son Alexander - he serves in the army, and his second son Eduard - this one is generally unclear what he does. In general, gopniks to hell - I have all the relatives of gopniks. "

Alas, Bolshie Luka Heads are located in the Pskov region, and we needed something closer. Among the cities of the Moscow region, none can match the gloomy reputation of Lyubertsy, a working-class suburb in the south of Moscow, just across the Moscow Ring Road. In the 1990s, Lyubertsy was known as the capital of gopniks. Criminality was as common there as tracksuits and seed husks. One girl, born and raised in Lyubertsy, who moved to Moscow in the early 1990s, told us: “All the guys I knew there were gopniks. If you go there, you will 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. me. 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 that although some of the gopniks are probably relaxing at some depression where toxic industrial waste is splashing (called the local "beach" or "lake"), we will see enough individuals squatting at the kiosks and in the yards to make our anthropological aspirations 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 bloodstains indicative of 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 section of one of the central streets, we counted at least four Japanese restaurants, as well as several standard restaurants of the Rosinter chain and Torgovie Tsentri, fenced off with hamster cages.

True, in Lyubertsy there were fewer mega-expensive foreign cars, but there were a lot of inexpensive ones. Even the "Zhiguli" were neat and clean. We came across only one "Lada" with tuning in the style of "disco car" - with flashing red lights. If America has "Rice Rockets", then this Nation of Gopniks must certainly have their own "Shawarma Shuttles" ("Shawarma Shuttles"). However, we noticed a single "Shawarma Shuttle" in a whole sea of bourgeois cars. It was pointless to walk 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 belching raucous 1990s techno. This, speaking in the language of gopniks, "cafe". Hm...

Let's not drag out our story. We found the park. And "kafe" with plastic garden furniture too. They took beer. Sat down. And we will fall through the ground if we saw at least one gopnik around us for the entire time we were chilling there. Actually, the kafe was very civilized: techno did not thunder, the beer was cold, the visitors did not meddle in other people's business - and among them there was even a couple of indie goths. At first we began to complain at the top of our voices, sad that we were left without material. But then the disappointment began to grow 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 more evil places?

We decided to leave the civilized "kafe" and walk through the park, among a dull collection of rusty Soviet-era children's attractions, which lacked only a sign: "If you want 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'll do the rest." In the park, we noticed a company of topless men who played tricks at the horizontal bar. But, coming closer, they realized that these were not gopniks at all, but Caucasians, "black-assed", the diametrical opposite of gopniks. After wandering around Lyubertsy for several hours, we finally gave up. If there are no gopniks here, where are they to be found, motherfucking their legs?

Then we chose one of the most sinister districts of Moscow, Brateevo, the very name of which is synonymous with the concept of "gopnik". It's one of those remote areas where every square inch of land is littered with 17-story white-paneled houses—huge, nightmarish, off-white concrete slabs. When you drive up to Brateevo along the Moscow Ring Road, it seems that panel houses are stuck there so closely and chaotically that it is not clear how you can squeeze between them at all - for sure the sun does not 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 shithole itself, 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 carriages, nice cars, teenagers dressed in new fashion - sort of goths of pop pouring, beautiful girls walking dogs. In fact, Brateevo has become so cosmopolitan that although we deliberately spoke loudly in English, no one paid any attention to us. We were ignored even by stray dogs. It remains only to look into the local billiard room. If where to look for gopniks - at least one piece of antiquity - then only there. Well, three times guess who we didn't find there.

If you follow the Russian blogosphere, then it will seem to you that in Russia the gopniks are so ubiquitous that they are about to multiply beyond all limits, flood across the borders and take over China. Wherever you poke, the sites mock Russian gopniks or ridicule them so zealously that it is already turning into praise. We should have known in advance, based on our Western experience which happens every time advanced people discover some "authentic" lower class subculture. Consider that the subculture is dead, dead, gone to dust. Actually, this is the point of our article: we want not only to acquaint the world with Gopnik, but at the same time to inform about his, Gopnik, tragic death. Because as soon as something so cool comes into fashion, expect trouble.

What happened to the gopniks? Most sources agree that two factors contributed to their extinction. First, in the 1980s and 1990s, hard drugs and guns suddenly became ubiquitous. Their incorporation into a culture as fearless and primitive as the gopniac meant that in one decade, almost half of the individuals went to the other world.

The second reason has more to do with environmental changes. The arrival of Western bourgeois values and cultural preferences, as well as the beginning of a period of outward stability, growth and sobriety under Putin, means that the 70-year reign of the gopnik as the king of the world of rebels has come to an abrupt end: Russians of all social strata have quickly come to hate the gopnik’s dork 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 wealth, a "Russian idea" in human form, the only ones who did not descend to show off.

Once upon a time, young Russian "cools" romanticized gopniks, but now they take a cue from rappers (preferably white). The neo-patriots of the Putin era also no longer need gopniks, although gopniks have always been the most ardent Russian patriots. In Putin's era, patriotic youth 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 black people and, of course, a penchant for gopnik antics on flights " Aeroflot, where even the richest and most traveled Russian turns on recessive gopnik genes, forcing him (her) to dress up in a tracksuit and slippers, jam Moskovsky cognac, sing songs loudly and bend over neighbors' chairs - if not fall on the neighbors themselves .

But just as the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex evolved into a dove, right before our eyes, the gopnik is rapidly degrading into a creature that can only be called a "skinny guy with liquid coke, who is presented to everyone as a brand manager, and actually works at the Euroset kiosk, where he managed to pocket enough money to buy a used Nissan Almera, which he loves more than anything."

Nothing speaks so eloquently about the tragic disappearance of a gopnik from the face of the earth as 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 in front of a middle-class audience that finally appreciates them, albeit in a semi-ironic spirit that wouldn't be possible if the gopniks hadn't 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 will cost $ 100.

As in the case of Faulkner's Old South and Tolstoy's dying landowning nobles, we glorify and mourn Russian gopniks only today, when it's too late, and they can only be aesthetic objects for us, symbols of a bygone era that was much cleaner than ours, not suffered from notorious irony and deeply secondary coolness, an era where there was no dull office life that increasingly drags 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 outcasts: gopniks, thieves, vagrants 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, of course, he is not an intellectual, but gopniks will vote for him. "

Gopnik Anatomy

The pillbox cap is a key element of the gopnik outfit. Leather - for serious murders, stripes - for all sorts of trifles such as rape in the country.

Ears - usually stick out more than the average Homo sapiens, thanks to fights, as well as an indispensable haircut to zero.

Barbecue - gopniks (like all Russians) believe that meat tastes best when it is fried 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 cultural assimilation sometimes wear sneakers.

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

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

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

Lurkmore interpretation:
Gopnik- lower multicellular, fir from the criminal world, petty street criminal, a copy of one of the species of street animals along with cats and dogs, whose main activity is pushing lava and mobile phones from passers-by, petty theft and fraud, and, of course, his favorite hobby is beating suckers.

"gop-stop" - which on a hair dryer means robbery or robbery, i.e. open possession of material values. Robbery - with weapons, robbery - without.

Interpretation according to Wikipedia:
Gopnik(also - gopy, gopari, collectively - gopota, gopoten, gopyo) - a slang word of the Russian language, a derogatory designation for representatives of the urban stratum of youth close to the criminal world or with criminal behavioral traits, often coming from dysfunctional families. The term is widely used in Russia and the countries of the former USSR.

And so, how to behave when meeting with "gopniks"?

Rabbits and boas: Their weapons are our fear.
Our fear is that we do not know the rules by which "that" world operates. But we certainly respect them. Because these are the rules of the strong - concepts. We respect the world of the strong, the world of thieves and authorities. But direct access there is closed, a complete set of concepts is not available to a mere mortal. We certainly accept them, but we do not know their principles and norms. This is where the dog is buried. We accept the rules of the game without knowing them. Naturally, a more or less "bad" freak, even being a frail income, knowing a couple of "gadgets", will beat you in no time. Because you agreed to play by his rules. And a person who voluntarily agreed to play by the rules that he does not know is called a sucker.

Who are the gopniks.
The word, as it should be understood, comes from the well-known "gop-stop" - which on a hair dryer means robbery or robbery, i.e. open possession of material values. Robbery - with weapons, robbery - without.

Gopniks are not exactly criminals. They follow a thin line - at first they "run into" the victim with a "bazaar", probe it, cause fear, confusion. Moreover, this is done without a direct threat of violence - from the outside it will seem that the gopnik is politeness itself, and you, on the contrary, are a nervous, unbalanced, or even completely aggressive type. As a result of such an attack, the victim, as a rule, gives away 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. He needs to feel superior. Make you afraid of him.

Everything is often on the verge of a "joke", a conversation "according to concepts", so then when disassembling you can always say - he gave it to me himself. Which is often confirmed by the victim herself:

Well, yes, I gave them myself ...
- Why?
- I don't know...
- Did they threaten you? Did they say they would beat you, take them away?
No, they didn't threaten. Well, there ..., well, they said who they are in life ...
"Then why did you give it to them?"
- I do not know...

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

What to answer questions like: "Hey, come here!"
This is a direct invitation to war - i.e. the war is already on. Psychological. The main thing is not to be afraid and not to rush to approach, even if you are clearly inferior in strength. You don't have to openly show off your coolness, though. Whoever starts, he must justify his actions. Therefore, if you are only probed in this way, then you need to translate the "conversation" into a different direction.

So, according to the situation - stop or turn, in a word, express some interest. Don't come.

Hey, come here, I said!

Answers like "come here yourself" are not good, you understand, unless you are a boxing champion.
Stand.

They come to you. Scary.

What, don't you hear? (frostbitten, swollen...)

Do not pay attention, freeze, like, further:

Can I help you?

We are not fools
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 at a meeting - he greets you like a kid. This obliges you to be moderately polite, to answer the first questions. What he is seeking. This is one of the main tricks of the gopnik - after such a gesture of "good will" he gets the right to "fairly" be indignant at the fact that you, for example, do not want to communicate with him. Plus, he immediately creates an alibi for himself - "I rolled up to him like a kid, shook him with claws. Was it like that !?" - "Well, yes ..." - "And people saw it. And then he began to build show-offs for me ...". 1:0 in favor of gopa.

We break off at the very beginning. It is very difficult to endure - a look and an outstretched hand to you. The patterns of politeness are etched deep into us. The hand stretches. We hold on. We look 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 THIS. The right kid 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 the rules of a prison for a gopnik are sacred. And you are not obliged to reap the first paw that comes across. "Or maybe you're not a kid at all - who knows you" - you hint. But you hint in such a way that he has no right to accuse you of something. And besides, he suspects that you know the rules of the game.

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

Hitting the bazaar
If they obviously didn’t come to beat you, then the second part follows - “running over by the bazaar”. In any case, if you are not yet lying on the pavement, and people are talking to you, then everything is in order. You, in fact, if not feared, then at least feared.

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

Freezing.(may be skipped)
So. Smile ALWAYS and say:

If that 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 an attack.
Universal answer - always works:

For what purpose are you interested?

It is important to understand and remember the main thing - you need a reason to attack you. Aggression without a reason is chaos. A reason is expected of you. As long as you don't give it, you are safe.

In no case do not make the slightest concession - do not answer anything. NOT FOR A SINGLE, even a completely innocent, QUESTION. As soon as you answer something, even the most neutral, but essentially the question, and want to interrupt the conversation later, the aggressor has a "moral right" to accuse you of disrespecting yourself, i.e. get that very right to move on to tough action. After all, you "supported" the conversation, and then refuse to continue. Not pretty.

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

And what, zapadlo chat with the boys?
- Are you being rude?
- You do not respect me?
- I did not understand...

Never make excuses
In all cases, you need to "stupidly" continue your topic. In no case, again (see above) do not answer questions - "I respect you, but ...", "I'm not being rude, but ...". Your "but" will be immediately regarded as a weakness. If the phrase "And what are you making excuses for? Do you feel something behind you?" or something like it, then you will have nothing to answer it with. This is a 100% trick - it doesn't matter what you answer or just keep quiet, everything will be turned as an attempt to either justify or be rude.

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

We break the situation.
- What, zapadlo with normal (!) Boys to talk? is a likely response to your counterattack.

Remember - no "no", "not", and even more so "but".

You didn't answer my question.

It's okay to keep smiling.

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

Pay attention - it is "to ask." "Ask" has a double meaning in the hair dryer - they ask someone for something that will immediately be regarded as a collision - "I have the right to ask." - "What? Ask me? For what? Justify." Everything, again, a dead end, you are in a bag.

I'm interested for myself.

“I’m interested for myself” is a duty phrase-answer to the question “for what purpose are you interested?”. Everything is fine. As soon as you heard something like that, the enemy faltered - you forced the "right kid" to make excuses. Now the main thing is not to go too far.

I do not know you.

In no case do not 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, we show with all appearance that the conversation is over.

Hold positions
The cycle can be repeated in different variations. You just hold on to your position, the meaning of which is - WHO STARTED THE TALK, THAT MUST SUBSTITUTE THE REASON.

In fact, there is ONE reason, and you must remember about it - TO PROVOKE YOU AND GET THE MORAL RIGHT to attack, insult, humiliate, hit, take away. But, of course, the "right kid" will never voice it, because then he himself recognizes himself as a lawlessness. And this is no longer according to the concepts - the right guys do not fix chaos. Those. you ask a question that he cannot answer, but, by his own rules, he must. In chess, this is called a "fork" - with one piece we attack two. The only choice left to the opponent is which piece to lose.

The fact is that it is impossible to admit that the purpose of the tackle was to run over, as you understand. Gopnik must comply with the laws of thieves' diplomacy and remain within the law. To remain silent or to leave - in fact, means tacitly admitting that everything was just the way it was. And this is to sink 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. The admission of defeat, of course, can be compensated by insults or promises "to meet again" - this last try provoke you. We just keep quiet.

Don't sag
In no case do not fulfill small requests - according to any concepts, you can demand to state the reason at the beginning or qualify it as a direct collision. What do you have to say directly.

Give me a glass.
-...

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

You're in trouble, right?

And we go on the counterattack.

Loch suit check? (or: - Do you want to run into me?)
- I'm asking you like a normal kid.

You earned a point, it justifies. And he calls you a "normal kid" in front of everyone. One more point.

Ah. 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 only one thing remains for the gopu -

1. either start beating you, which puts him into 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 does not need this, because the gop just wants to rise at the expense of your humiliation.

2. either "admit" that the goal was different - to meet, chat, spend time together. That is, avoid defeat. Which is what was required. A draw on a foreign field suits us just fine.

"Fork" - he already chooses only between which option of defeat to accept. He's most likely not stupid.

Don't know me? Well, let's get to know each other.

You can shake your 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 in the eyes of the boys. This is how it should be done - otherwise the feeling of defeat will most likely lead to a new wave of aggression, which the bazaar can no longer stop.

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

Don't make excuses.
Don't answer questions.
Do not comply with requests
Do not break into "high" tones - remain polite and calm.
Keep asking for an answer to your question.
Ask "uncomfortable" questions.

we smile
Notice we smile. It is important. This is confusing, makes the attacker nervous. This makes him fearful and act cautiously - "why is he crushing his grin? Maybe he knows what? And he himself is mowing down like a fool ..."

Even...
If you met complete scumbags, then you won’t have to talk for a long time. But in reality, such specimens are extremely rare - this is a mental pathology. Almost every person has a taboo on unreasonable aggression. Those. you always need a reason, even the most ridiculous or far-fetched. Concepts are about the same.

Even if you suffer, then, firstly, save your dignity, respect in the face of friends and yourself. And even enemies, which means a lot in the long run. And, secondly, both the law and concepts are on your side, and you may well demand satisfaction, having gained strength, for example, in the form of support from friends. You are no longer a sucker, but a warrior, just a loser in a battle, but not the whole war.

Mistakes
There are two possible strategic mistakes here:
- fear will take over and you will give up, starting to mutter something inarticulate and willingly give everything that you are "asked".
- you will feel yourself on a horse and decide to develop success by exceeding the allowable dose of collision - most likely, in this case you will be beaten.

Test Passed
If you do not make mistakes, and your "opponent" does not leave the battlefield himself, then you may well find new friends, and even the best Kents.

And if a turning point has already occurred, then maybe you should not refuse further developments - it is likely that you will be offered to drink beer together, have fun.

No wonder this person came up to you. Nothing random happens in the world.

This is often the case - if the test for "kidding" is passed, 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 - these are his miserable 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 embraced in a brotherly way. The market is over, consumption.

The last and most important rule
Even if it's scary, remember these simple rules and don't back down 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 - do not turn around. Who turned back - lost.

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

Vitaly Lozovsky.
View from prison.
www.tyurem.net

Gopnik(also gopy, 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 the criminal world), often coming from dysfunctional families, and uniting according to signs counterculture (informal subculture). The term is widely used in Russia and the countries of the former USSR (since the end of the twentieth century).

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Characteristic

Socially, representatives of the subculture mainly come from the outskirts of industrial cities. Most gopniks came from dysfunctional, poor families. They are alien to such moral values as honesty, devotion, respect, courtesy, diligence. They are, as a rule, cunning and mercantile, rogue, prone to meanness, betrayal, fawning, hypocrisy and dirty tricks. The image and behavior of a typical gopnik is a parody of the representatives of the criminal world of the 1990s in Russia and other CIS countries. The black leather jacket and tracksuit were also adopted by the teenagers from them. Gopniks were engaged in petty theft, extortion of money, robberies and beatings of random passers-by (especially at night).

They do not call themselves "gopniks" and are usually characterized by the self-name "normal boys", "real boys" or "correct boys". The word "gopnik" in relation to themselves is considered humiliating. The gopniks oppose the so-called. "suckers", however, among the gopniks, there is no clear definition of "sucker". In this regard, the name "loh" is used by gopniks, depending on whether it is beneficial for the gopnik or not, and can even be applied to other gopniks. In addition, representatives of the stratum of gopniks are characterized by pronounced aggression against members of society who have a higher social position compared to gopniks, as well as against other representatives of society, whose worldview is focused on a progressive lifestyle, intelligence, etc. "Western values" (for example, against "informals", "oppositionists" oriented towards Western culture).

The word became widespread in the late 1980s in relation to those representatives of the youth for whom the theft of property on the street was, as Saratov researcher Elena Bessonova notes, "part of the image, a means of entertainment and a way to maintain authority". According to the researcher, in the 1990s, “gopas” appeared, for whom everything characteristic of the life of their “ancestors”, to which the author refers criminals, became "a kind of philosophy of life, worldview, a way to position yourself in society". However, Bessonova notes that, unlike criminals, “ for the modern gopa, for the most part, it is more important to try to scare and humiliate a person, to make an attempt to test his power over him, and then to embezzle his money» . Proximity to the criminal world predetermined the use of thieves' jargon and profanity.

Unlike most informal youth associations (for example, hippies, punks, rockers), the gopniks did not assign any names to the rest of the population and did not distinguish themselves into a group separate from the rest of the population, which means that they did not recognize themselves as a subculture.

Researcher Elena Bessonova notes that at the beginning of Perestroika, gopniks were the only subcultures of the youth environment who were not fond of any music. Later, representatives of the subculture became prone to thieves' music, Russian chanson (Mikhail Krug, Butyrka group, Sergey Nagovitsyn). Also, many people prefer " pop" (pop music), "pamp" (pumping house) and "boy rap".

As the candidate of sociological sciences Ramil Khanipov notes, “The city center for the prevention of neglect and drug addiction of minors in St. Petersburg designates gopniks as “informal associations” and includes them in the “aggressors” section. Internet forum discussions speak about the level of development of these informal associations as follows: “... from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, gopniks are still the most common form of youth associations to this day,” and all sources used emphasize the pronounced criminal and group nature of this subculture: “Mostly these are fights , robberies, raids that are aimed at extracting money ..., alcohol and cigarettes "" .

Doctor of sociological sciences, director of the New Generation project of the Public Opinion Foundation, Larisa Pautova, in 2009, believed that "gopota" is at least 25 percent of today's youth. The sociologist means by this word people who do not aspire to anything, without any moral values, who find themselves in the mass of their own kind.

The head of the Moscow branch of the LDPR, O. Lavrov, stated that the gopniks make up a certain part of the electoral base of his party:

We believe that gopniks are the most powerful political force in Russia. People laugh at us, call us a party of outcasts: gopniks, thieves, vagrants and drunkards. But, you see, these are all people whose interests no one else represents. We set up 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, of course, he is not an intellectual, but the gopniks will vote for him.

Character traits

At the end of the 19th century, in the premises of the modern Oktyabrskaya Hotel, located on Ligovsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, the State Prison Society (GOP) was organized, where homeless children and adolescents engaged in petty robbery and hooliganism were brought. After the October Revolution of 1917, the State Hostel of the Proletariat was organized in this building for the same purposes. The number of juvenile delinquents in the area has increased several times. Among the residents of the city, the word "gopniks" appeared, which was used to call the residents of the GOP from Ligovka. The expression “the number of gopniks is measured in leagues” appeared, and among the inhabitants of Petrograd, then Leningrad, it was customary to ask ill-mannered people: “Do you live in Ligovka?” .

aggressive teenager
primitive, uneducated young man
student of class "G" (in the jargon of schoolchildren)

Philologist E. N. Kalugina agrees with her, noting that the word “gopnik” can be called “ primitive, uneducated young man » . Sociologist Albina Garifzyanova characterizes the gopniks as "uneducated people, culturally backward, absolutely intolerant". Russian sociologists V.I. Dobrenkov and A.I. Kravchenko noted that the word "gopnik" is derived from the word gop- the slang word for beggars, who have absorbed elements of criminal culture, and meant "stay in a rooming house".

A. A. Sidorov notes that the word "gopnik" is also used to refer to " beggars, vagrants, homeless people". According to Sidorov, this meaning arose even before the revolution of 1917, when in Russia there were "orders of public charity" - provincial committees, which were in charge of caring for "the poor, crippled, sick, orphans, etc." special care homes at the expense of zemstvo funds. In this sense, the word "gopnik" comes from the word GOP, which stands for "City Prison Society" (from the word prize- care, care). Due to the fact that the funds allocated to help the poor and the homeless were not enough, the inhabitants of the houses of the prize were engaged in vagrancy, begging, and petty theft. Therefore, the word "gopnik" soon began to be called "tramps, ragamuffins and beggars." This meaning was preserved after the October Revolution of 1917. According to the publication “Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” (editor-in-chief S. A. Kuznetsov), the gopnik is “ a person from the lower social classes; tramp» . Philologist T. F. Efremova, the word "gopnik" means " a downcast man, a vagabond» .

Concepts close in meaning: urla, hooligans, punks, yard gangs, lumpen. [ ]

The word "gopnik" has an analogue in English language: "chav" (eng. - chav)- a widely used pejorative slang word for a young person with low social status, who usually wears "branded" sportswear, which is also typical for gopniks in the post-Soviet space.

In addition, there is a version that the word "gopniks" is taken from the samizdat cult fantasy story "Journey to Black Ukhur", which describes the "planet of gopniks" as the personification of world evil. The popularizer of this word at the end of the 20th century, Mike Naumenko, in one of In an interview, he said directly that he got this word from the work of A. Startsev and A. Dideykin. [ ]

Using the word as a political cliché

Since the end of the first decade of the 21st century, in the media, in the speeches of Russian journalists, writers, as well as opposition politicians, a new ideological cliché “jubilant gopota” began to sound. With the help of this epithet, they characterized the participants of various youth mass organizations that supported the political course of the authorities. It first appeared on January 29, 2008 in the Kommersant newspaper in an article about the Nashi movement.

On February 2, 2008, the writer and TV and radio presenter Viktor Shenderovich, in his author's radio program "Processed Cheese", ironically plays up a new epithet:

Greenpeace activists are seriously concerned about the situation in the Russian hinterland, the Hamsters on the March magazine informs readers. Domesticated, but thrown out into the street by the former owners, the so-called "Ours" now roam the forests and outskirts of cities, huddle in flocks and hold noisy rallies on the edges. Trapping stray gopota and subsequent attempts to accustom them to reading, writing and useful work have not yet brought results.

The phrase was later actively used by the media, politicians and bloggers, and if initially it was used only in a negative way in relation to the Nashi movement, then it began to be used more widely.

On September 19, 2009, in an article by columnist Pavel Svyatenkov, "jubilant gopota" refers to "a reactionary force standing in the way of a coup."

On October 10, 2009, an article appeared on a number of regional portals devoted to the conflict between the editors of the Kaliningrad information site and the former head of the local branch of the youth movement "Going Together" and a participant in the Seliger 2009 forum, Konstantin Minich, which was titled as "Control over" Kaliningrad. Ru" is trying to get "jubilant gopota" ".

Reflection in popular culture

In movie

The Boys is a 1983 film.
"American" - a 1997 film.
"My name is Arlekino" - a 1988 film.
"Odyssey 1989" - 2003 film.
Boomer. Film second "2006.
"Boys of Steel" is a 2004 Russian TV series.
"Racketeer" - a 2007 film.
"Alien" - a 2010 film.
The Real Boys is a 2010 Russian television series. This series causes a lot of controversy as to whether it was filmed for gopniks or is it a satire on their lives. The creators of the series took a neutral stance, stating that "real boys" are "real" because they "live according to real, not fictional, life scenarios."
“Give it to the youth! "- Russian sketch show (characters Bashka and Rusty).
"Gop-stop" - a 2010 film.
"University. New hostel "- a series of 2011 (characters Ivanych (Maxim Ivanov) and Kisel (Alexey Kiselyov)).
"Winter way" - a 2013 film.
"The Law of the Stone Jungle" is a 2015 Russian crime television series.
"Everything at once" - a film in 2014.
A documentary film from the "Investigation" series called "Death Wish", dedicated to a fighter who killed hooligans and gopniks.

In literature

"Gopniks" is a book (a story and 6 stories) by the Belarusian writer Vladimir Kozlov.

In music

Gopnik dedicated to a lot musical works. One of the first mentions of gopniks is noted in Leonid Utyosov's song "Gop" with a "smoke" from his repertoire of 1929-1933.

The song "Gopniks" by Mike Naumenko and the Zoo group () became widely known. One of the verses of the song describes the behavior of the gopniks:

Among the songs that tell about gopniks:

"Gopota" is the name of a musical group from St. Petersburg.

Foreign analogues

Chav - in the UK
Dresiary - in Poland
Azzi (short for antisocial) - in Germany
Knackers - in Ireland
Bogans - in Australia
Cani - in Spain
Nyero - in Colombia
Rakai - in France
Yankees - in Japan
Arsy - in Israel

Notes

, Gopota, -s, f., collected. Aggressive adolescents, p. 55.
, Gopnik, -a, m. 1. more often pl. Aggressive teenager. 2. Primitive, uneducated young man. 3. School Student of class "G", p. 55.
, from. 114.
Elena Bessonova. Don't say "gop" until you jump over him... // www.rasklad.ru
Pavel Kanygin. Gopniks // Novaya Gazeta, No. 33, May 12, 2008
Khanipov R. A."Gopniks" - meaning of the concept, and elements representation subculture “Gopniks in Russia // “Social Identities in Transforming Societies”
Modern youth // Says Moscow, October 16, 2009
Mark Ames and Yasha Levin.

The subculture of gopniks is notable for the fact that it appeared in the USSR, although, in fact, gopniks- this is a layer of working youth from low-income families, and similar layers can be found literally in any country in a given period. For example, British punks of the 1930s (not to be confused with the punk subculture of the 1960s-1970s), which you can read more about in the article dedicated to punks. However, domestic gopniks are a truly unique phenomenon.

There are several versions of the origin of the word "gopnik". According to the first of them, the term appeared at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, and the situation was as follows: in St. Petersburg, the State Charity Society was set up, where homeless children engaged in theft and hooliganism were placed. Perhaps the word "gopnik" began to be used in relation to these same homeless children. Another option: in the building of this State Society, after the revolution of 1917, the Civil Hostel of the Proletariat was organized, which was used for the same purposes as the previous society. In both cases, the word "gopnik" came from the abbreviation of these institutions. Another version says that the word "gopnik" came from thieves' jargon. According to this version, thieves engaged in gop-stop were called gopniks (following the example of other criminal “specializations”: pickpocket - “plucker”, killer - “mokrushnik”, etc.). Some argue that "gopnik" comes from an acronym for "citizen of dangerous behavior." However, in all these cases, any asocial type with thieves' manners is called a gopnik. The gop subculture manifested itself especially sharply in the 1970s and 1980s. Gopnik declared themselves in numerous fights with the then Soviet informals - punks and metalheads. Since then, the word "gopnik" has firmly entered our lexicon.

Among the musical preferences of the gopniks are thieves chanson, rap and low-grade pop. Gopniks cannot imagine their collective walks without listening to their favorite music. Soviet gopniks listened to music on battery-powered cassette recorders. Gopnik, who carried a “mafon” with him, was in special honor among the “Kents”. Nowadays, gopniks listen to music from mobile phones. The current gopniks are passionate fans of the work of such groups as Factor-2, Gaza Strip, Butyrka, Leningrad, Kasta, Malchishnik and performers Noggano, rapper Syava, etc.
Thus, there are all the signs of a separate gopnik subculture - their own ideological principles, musical tastes, their own style of dress, as well as an incomparable style of behavior. The low level of moral and aesthetic development, the low spiritual level of gopniks determines the appropriate behavior. Young people who want to live "according to the rules" put on a "clear" sports suit and go to drink beer with the "boys". And the saddest thing is that the number of such people is not decreasing at all.

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

The term itself comes from the slang word "gop", which means "hit, jump". Dictionaries of the Russian language say that a gopnik is a street robber, a hooligan.

Gopniks, they are also gopy, gopota, gopori - the designation of some representatives of the youth. They are close to the criminal world, sometimes with features of criminal behavior. Most often, these people come from disadvantaged families. They have a low level of education. According to statistics, gopniks study or graduated from vocational schools, technical schools. But they can also be found in schools.

Most often, you can meet gopniks at the entrances and stalls. A particularly favorite place is the benches in the yard. Here they discuss various topics, such as who has the coolest car or the details of the last fight. Emotional communication, abundant obscene language. Often communication takes place under the chanson playing in a mobile phone. Gopniks love to squat. They often drink beer from plastic cups and gnaw on seeds.

How gopniks dress

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

sneakers faked from famous brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Puma;
tracksuit-type sweatpants, usually with one or two stripes at the seams;
a leather jacket, usually unbuttoned, or a jacket from a tracksuit;
an eight-piece cap, a baseball cap or a black winter hat (popularly "Chechen").

Gopniks have a very short haircut, sometimes they leave a small bang. It is interesting how the gopniks keep their hats. She puts on the top of her 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 very specifically. Complete incompatibility and the extreme cheapness of clothes - these are the main criteria for a gopnik's wardrobe.

How to deal with gopniks

If you met 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 (yards, for example);
Stay close to passers-by - it will pretend that you are not alone;
Avoid dark deserted places;
Try not to start a dialogue with them.

If you still started a conversation with a gopnik, then you need to know how to talk to him.

How to talk to gopniks

The conversation takes place, as a rule, on their initiative. You may be asked for a cigarette, asked to call, or asked where and why you are going. One can only speculate about their intentions. However, the consequences are often bad. Gopniks are aggressive people. Therefore, it is important to understand how to communicate with gopniks. Here are some tips for dialogue with gopniks:

smile, benevolence is always useful;
it is advisable not to answer questions, and if you really had to, then speak briefly and to the point;
do not comply with any requests;
remain polite and calm;
do not speak in terms and tricky 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, they should not be physically destroyed. After all, if you attack the gopniks in a crowd, you can make enemies for yourself. Therefore, the fight against gopniks is a rhetorical question. But do not forget about your safety. You need to keep yourself in physical form. If you do not own any of the types of martial arts, then going to the gym once or twice a week will help you to be in good physical shape. In addition, strength and endurance will increase. It is useful to know the techniques of street self-defense. They are easy to find on the Internet, and work out with a friend.

And if you are attracted by the romance of hooliganism, simplicity of speech and thoughts, do you 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. We download the compositions of modern blatnyak to our phone. We get dressed and go to the nearest yard. We approach any company of gopniks. They will definitely take you for their own.

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