Sovok

Template:Short description Template:Italic title Sovok (Template:Langx) is a pejorative term related to the Soviet Union: the state itself, the mindset and way of life of average Soviet people, and vestiges of the Soviet Union in the psychology of people in modern Russia.

Etymology

Borenstein explains the catchiness of the term because it phonetically resembles the concept it is applied to. "Soviet", and it is a repurposed existing term "dustpan". Several people are commonly credited with the introduction of the term. Lyudmila Kasyanova writes that the direct lowly meaning of the term predefines the negative evaluation of the topic and enhances the pejorative perception of the subject it is referring to.

There are a number of derived words: adjective: "sovkovy" (), "pertaining to 'sovok'"; noun: ('sovkovost', "sovokness") the totality of the traits of a sovok, and the adverb in Template:Langx.

Soviet Union

In its generic meaning the term implies something dysfunctional, commenting on why things are run poorly or why a person behaves badly. Borenstein writes: "When the Soviet Union is called 'sovok', everyone knows what this means: economic deprivation, administrative incompetence, defective consumer technology, an intrusive public culture, bombastic rhetoric that is easily ignored, and widespread hypocrisy."

Soviet people

Borenstein concisely defines a "sovok" person as "Soviet yokel" and the first two chapters of his book Soviet Self-Hatred are devoted to the analysis of this category of people. In the opinion of Alexander Genis, among the features of a sovok are "a violent thirst for equality, a deaf hatred for anyone else's success, and an indolence that blazes energy".

Modern Russia

Many people think that in modern Russia, despite its transition away from Communism, the negative sovok traits are preserved.

See also

• Sovdepiya
• Homo Sovieticus
• Russian political jokes