Mangkes (Greek: μάγκες ; sing.: mangkas, μάγκας ) is the name of a social group in the Belle Époque era's counterculture of Greece (especially of the great urban centers of Athens and Piraeus). The nearest English equivalent to the term "mangkas" is wide boy, or spiv.

Overview

Mangkas was a label for men belonging to the Greek working class, behaving in a particularly arrogant/presumptuous way, and dressing with a very typical vesture composed of a woolen hat (kavouraki, καβουράκι), a jacket (they usually wore only one of its sleeves), a tight belt (used as a knife case), stripe pants, and pointy shoes. Other features of their appearance were their long moustache, their bead chaplets (κομπολόγια, sing. κομπολόι), and their idiosyncratic manneristic limp-walking (κουτσό βάδισμα). A related social group were the Koutsavakides (κουτσαβάκηδες, sing. κουτσαβάκης ); the two terms are occasionally used interchangeably. Mangkes are also notable for being closely associated to the history of rebetiko.

Etymology

The three most probable etymologies of the word Mangkas are the following:

In popular culture

Most rebetiko songs refer to mangkes, even when this is not explicit, as rebetiko was part of this subculture. Examples are: "Στην Υπόγα" ("In the Basement", by Kostis, 1930), "Ο Μάγκας του Βοτανικού" ("The Mangkas of Votanikos", by Kasimatis, 1934). The admiration of mangkes was carried on with the later genre of Greek music Laïko. Examples are: "Πού 'σουν μάγκα το Χειμώνα" ("Where Were You, Mangkas, During the Winter", by Giorgos Mouflezis, 70s), and others. Karagiozis shadow plays portray a recurrent character called Stavrakas, Σταύρακας. In modern Greek language, mangkas has become a synonym for "swash guy, swagger" or (in dialogue) simply "dude"; depending on context it may have more negative ("bully, thug, hooligan") or more positive ("brave, crafty man") connotations.

Notes and references