Dres
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Dres or dresiarz (plural dresy or dresiarze) is used in Poland to describe a certain stereotype of a (typically) young man, usually originating from smaller towns, poor city districts, or towerblock areas in larger cities, who are usually unemployed.
The term itself refers to the wearing of the tracksuit, which in Polish is known as the dres. Dresiarz subculture was first observed in the 1990s. It would later partially merge with the hip hop and hooligan subcultures. Karks (from Polish: 'kark' "neck") and blokers are related to them, but they're not synonymous terms.
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[edit] Appearance and habits
The dresiarz is manly and automobile-oriented. Documented habits include:
- Wearing tracksuits. There are, apparently, a few reasons to wear a tracksuit.
- If wearing the full tracksuit, you can easily hide stolen items under your clothing
- One can also hide quite large weapons, such as knives or baseball bats, or a plumber's pipe
- Ease of movement. escaping in a loose tracksuit is much easier if chased by police, especially during fights and riots in stadiums during and after (or instead of) a football match
- "Sporty" men are considered to be attractive for girls
- Fake knock-off tracksuits are cheap, especially those modelled on well-known brands. Popular brands for knock offs include Adidas (e.g. 4 strips instead of 3), Reebok (often misspelled - Rebook, Reabok or Rebokk), Nike and Puma.
- Trainers, often with stripes, are usually worn by them. The poor dresiarz can easily be recognized by the four or five stripes imitating the Adidas three stripes. True brand-name shoes and clothing are found primarily among the rich dresiarze, or at least those with exceptionaly refined shoplifting abilities.
- Very short hair, often shaved off completely.
- Weight lifting and/or strength training in gyms, often with support of anabolic steroids.
- Affection for automobiles, especially older versions of the BMW 3 or BMW 5, or VW Golf (most likely Mk2) and the Opel Calibra but also other older German cars (such as eg. Mercedes W124), or in the case of the poorer dresiarze before accession to EU -- the Polish Fiat 126p, after a tune up.
- Driving their car with the left elbow resting outside the rolled-down window. This is known as the zimny łokieć (the cold elbow).
- Love of mobile phones
- Keeping of aggressive dog breeds, such as the Pit Bull or American Staffordshire Terrier as pets (dresiarze sometimes engage in dog fights).
- Habitually eating roasted chicken, Döner kebab and McDonald's.
- Clubbing, often with the use of ecstasy.
- Violent contempt towards: students, intelligentsia, skateboarders, long haired males, vegetarians, punk rock, heavy metal, as well as Muslims and black people.
- Excessive littering.
- Particularly swaggering gait.
- Dresy's girlfriends (szmule or niunie) are typically blonde, often tanned at sunbed and wear mini-skirts and crop tops
There is no single genre of music with which the dresiarz are identified. Field dispatches from their natural habitat report evidence towards disco polo (now out of fashion), techno, dance-pop and Polish hip hop. Heavy metal and punk rock, as well as any attempts to actual play a musical instrument, are feared and avoided. This behaviour is also observed in other countries with their own counterparts to the "dres".
[edit] Attitudes towards dresy
Many social groups — university students in particular — believe dresiarze are a genuine social group worthy of further study. Dresiarze are most often associated with crime, car thefts, drug dealing, football hooliganism, street violence, harassing women, standing around, looking tough, and various other forms of anti-social behaviour. It is worth noticing that "dresy" are believed by many to be worst category of human present in Poland.
[edit] Research
Not much quantitative (or even qualitative) sociological research has been published regarding dresiarze and the dresy they wear.
Dorota Masłowska's (Nike audience award) novel White and Red[1] is one of the first books pubished featuring the dresiarz phenomenon.
[edit] Related terms
- Kark, meaning "neck" and a short for byczy kark ("bull neck"), is most used in connection with weight lifting; a person perceived as a kark may be wearing neither trainers nor a tracksuit, but shares most other elements of stereotypical dres behaviour. The term may also refer to lower-ranked members of gangster groups.
- Blokers -- a term for a young person exhibiting anti-social behaviour, living in commieblock area (blok in Polish). This term was used first time circa 1995 by Robert Leszczyński, a Polish music critic and journalist.
- ABS shortened form from Absolutny Brak Szyi, means "absolute lack of neck", see "kark" (ABS derives from Antilock Braking System)
- Edward Gierek the leader of the Communist Poland in the 1970s, was the "godfather" of the blokers. In the early 1970s, as head of government and head of the Polish Communist Party (PCP), Gierek embarked on a massive project of tenement block construction. The miles of Bloki mieszkalne (housing blocks) foreshadowed the dresiarz revolution. The children of these housing blocks are the blokersi, the foundation of a new social group in Poland.
[edit] References
- ^ Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną. Warsaw 2002: Lampa i Iskra Boża, ISBN 83-86735-87-2 (UK edition: White and Red, Atlantic Books, ISBN 1-84354-423-7; US edition: Snow White and Russian Red, Grove Press, ISBN 0-8021-7001-3)
