"Pique vest" what does it mean? "Pikey vests" of Ilf and Petrov

The stable word combination "pique vest" has long and firmly established itself in the Russian language, both in colloquial and in literary. But not everyone, when faced with this expression, understands what is at stake. This article will help you figure it out.

Interpretation

To begin with, you need to make out the word "pique". What is a pique? This word is of French origin - pique, literally means "quilted". In our language, this is called a double cotton fabric of linen weave, which has a convex pattern, that is, it is quilted, warm. Accordingly, this phrase does not carry any unusual meaning in itself. What is it about him? In our speech, it appeared and was fixed thanks to the immortal work, written by Ilf and Petrov - "The Golden Calf", published in 1931.

What does the expression "pique vest" mean?

For those who have not read, or do not remember this from the book - a little digression. In the novel "The Golden Calf" in the city of Chernomorsk, in the usual place at the dining room, the venerable old men, dressed in white pique waistcoats and straw hats of the canoe, gathered every day. Older men were left out of work, so they discussed the news, which they read in the Moscow newspaper Pravda, as they did not trust the local print media.

With an important appearance, like real connoisseurs of all fields of knowledge, they discussed what was happening in the world and in the country, assessed the actions of politicians and diplomats, unraveled their secret motives and intentions, thought profundely about what they did not understand at all or were poorly informed. And also believed that their town plays an important role in world geopolitics. The emphasis on warm old vests is made because they are hopelessly out of date, even for their time, like the waistcoats themselves, and their carriers. Subsequently, this phrase became a household name.

A pique vest - what does it mean in real time?

Actually, the meaning is almost the same as in the novel "The Golden Calf". They are ordinary people, ordinary inhabitants who like to discuss various controversial issues, exposing themselves as professional experts in all fields of science, politics, economics, sports, although they are actually ignorant in this matter and in fact are engaged in idle chatter. In doing so, they expose their views as the only true.

Has the meaning changed?

And yet much has changed since the times described in the novel, which created Ilf and Petrov "The Golden Calf." They had pique waistcoats as respectable elderly people who had nothing to do after retirement. Nowadays people of absolutely different age, sex and social stratum become pique waistcoats. In fact, this phenomenon has become a kind of phenomenon, the reasons for which it is difficult to understand. You never know what will prompt a person, even an intellectual, to become a pique vest.

Why does this happen?

The modern world with its technological progress has brought many new opportunities to the activity of pique waistcoats. The Internet gives access to a mass of all kinds of information. It's not just the Pravda newspaper, it's a mass of all kinds of sources: newspapers, magazines, radio, television, online publications, social networks and others. And all this is freely available. In addition, more and more people do not want to work, work, everyone wants to do nothing and get money from the air. And they also spend all their time on the Internet. This is no longer the "Golden Calf", where a pique vest can share its opinion with a group of interlocutors, now it receives at its disposal a huge audience, millions of people.

Hence all sorts of so-called "experts", "analysts", as well as bloggers and simple commentators. That's just their opinion they do not. They either interpret, or simply retell, the source of information, which they consider to be the only true one. There is a direct parallel with the novel. And it does not really matter if it's a "yellow press" or something like that. There are a lot of those who are paid to give out others for their thoughts, which are necessary for the customer. At Ilf and Petrov, it was an occupation for the soul. In general, the pique waistcoats clearly reached a new level.

Wing expression in modern realities.

The very phrase "pique vest" is without a doubt all the same actual. However, new realities make their own adjustments, now this winged expression has its own synonyms in the network. These are "sofa analysts" and "couches". Why sofa? But after all it is not necessary to gather "in front of the covered veranda of the Napintov dining room No. 68", now you can do it on your favorite couch at the computer.

About the first, here everything is quite clear. Sofa analysts unequivocally think themselves experts in all sorts of economic issues, such as currency rates, international economic relations, gasoline prices and everything like that.

Naturally, without politics anywhere. They write whole "analytical articles", which, however, most of them do not read. They condemn the actions of the government, disclose political intrigues, predict elections and do so many more things that it seems they are not doing anything else at all. The meaning of their life has become this way.

Due to the fact that in recent years, wars have flared up in one country or in another country, and, in general, the situation in the world is quite tense and explosive, a whole army of "couched troops" of different countries has appeared. This kind of pique waistcoats imagines itself to be real experts in the field of tactics and strategy of waging wars, arming, kindling and extinguishing military conflicts. They think that in their warmth and comfort, behind the screen of their monitors, it is clearer how they should fight than politicians, generals, and even soldiers at the front.

Let's return to the sources and compare

And yet, the pike vests of Ilf and Petrov were harmless. Unlike modern, they did not rude to each other. They only agreed that "Snowden is a head" and do not put a finger in his mouth, or did not agree, while looking at the interlocutor in the eye, and did not throw mud at another opinion.

"They were strange and funny people" - that's what they say about them in the novel. Modern pique waistcoats are also strange and funny. Because many of their opuses are really funny to read. And how strange a man must be to spend a lot of his time in order to write blatant nonsense.

In the "Golden Calf" everything that happened in the world, pique waistcoats were viewed as "a prelude to the declaration of Chernomorsk as a free city". And now they are considering all the events in the world as if all this is happening directly to them. In the network they with foam at the mouth tell politicians what to do, as if the first persons of the state really read them. That nuance that on the Internet you can hide your identity, gives rise to a whole wave of rudeness, aggression and other negativity towards those who do not agree with your opinion. In general, the image of the pique waistcoat, born by Ilf and Petrov, has somewhat changed and is firmly entrenched in the life of society.