[EN] BMW – a German probably as loved in the UK (pics 1 + 4) as it is in Romania, at least according to what I could see. [RO] BMW – o maşină germană probabil pe atât de iubită în UK (pozele 1 + 4) precum şi în România, cel puţin din ce am putut vedea.
[EN] Indeed, Britons have some big BMW car clubs (+ here, here, here), but they seem far from the ‘BMW obsession’ from Romania. [RO] Într-adevăr, britanicii au nişte mari cluburi auto BMW (+ aici, aici, aici), dar par a fi departe de ‘obsesia BMW’ din România.
[EN] In the 2nd pic: a BMW-inspired urban ‘work of art’ in Bucharest. [RO] În cea de-a 2-a poză: o ‘operă de artă’ urbană din Bucureşti inspirată de BMW :-)
[EN] In the 3rd pic: an old Romanian Dacia tuned up with a BMW bonnet.*** [RO] În cea de-a 3-a poză: o veche Dacie românească tunată cu o capotă de BMW :-)
*** [EN] NOTE: ...as Britons call it, while Americans say ‘hood’. [RO] NOTĂ: ...cum o numesc britancii, iar americanii îi spun ‘hood’.
[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
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8 comments:
I am often amazed by the large number of BMW's one can see in our relatively poor country.
I think in Romania, owning a BMW is the same thing the speed of light is for the universe: an upper bound for a range of phenomena. Once you are past that bound, you are officially a "Smecher" (or "Jmeker"): the rules that apply to common mortals have no effect on you anymore.
Thank you for the keen observation about the 'BMW obsession' of (some 'peculiar' - to be politically correct and not use other offensive terms :-) Romanians!
In order for English speakers to fully understand what you meant, I guess we should offer translations of your word "Smecher"/"Jmeker", shouldn't we?
"Smecher"/"Jmeker" may mean....
- sly
- foxy
- guileful
- knavish
- crafty
- tricksy
- wily
- cunning
- dodgy
- tricky
- slick
...and still I have some doubts whether the above terms catch the typically Romanian 'flavour' of this term.
***
Anyway, don't think that there are not enough BMWs on British streets!
Haven't you noticed any of them in Birmingham, Liverpool or other places you visited?
I have in mind (+ stored pics in my laptop, of course :-) an episode of this series...
UK’s motor vanity fair [Bâlciul deşertăciunilor cu motor din UK]
...dedicated entirely to BMWs, and to the city (I don't know if you can guess it, but it's often mentioned on this blog!) where I saw even more such cars than in Romania.
I don't remember how many BMWs I saw while in the UK. Honestly, I think I was paying very little attention to cars.
However, there is a big difference between UK and Romania: compared to them, we are poor.
And I think most of the british BMW owners probably made the money for it in a legal way. I wonder if one could say the same thing about many of the romanians owning BMWs...
Up to a point, I also paid very little attention to cars while I was in Britain...
Then, one a fine (pretty gloomy in fact :-) day, I started 'noticing' them, envisioning a whole series of little stories for my blog, which I must admit that I would later find not to be one of my 'most popular' series :-(
Anyway, I still hope that one day there would be someone interested landing on my pages dedicated to this topic: 'cars the Brits drive'.
***
After reviewing past episodes + my archive of pics, I need to make a little rectification.
I don't think it's worth writing another full episode dedicated entirely to BMW cars... but I will certainly (God willing, of course) post one about Porsches :-)
For the presence of German cars on British streets, I recommend:
http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2009/12/uks-motor-vanity-fair-13-balciul.html
In regard to a few brands that are quite common among the 'nouveau riches' of Romania but I didn't see that many of them in Britain:
http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2008/08/uks-motor-vanity-fair-5-blciul.html
***
Assuming that, unlike in Britain, most Romanian owners of BMWs didn't get the money 'legally' is quite politically incorrect, are you aware of this? :-)
Nevertheless, it may be quite true...
What I can tell you (and you must have noticed it as well!), one can't make any connections between BMWs and 'manele' in Britain :-)
For English speakers not familiar with the word:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manele
Bogdan,
very good point about the very strong connection between BMWs and 'manele'.
The link you posted is also quite interesting. Here's some informations Wikipedia gives for 'Manea':
'Manele are criticized for their lyrical content, which often consists of boasts about the singer's supposed sex appeal, intellect, wealth, social status, and superiority over so-called "enemies".'
or
'In the media, manele have been repeatedly called by journalists and academics (such as the literary critic George Pruteanu) "pseudo-music",[1] "pure stupidity, inculture and blah-blah" or even "society's bed-wetter".[5] C. Tepercea, a National Audio-visual Board member who did a study on the genre for the board considered it "the genre for the mentally challenged" in an interview.'
Touche, Wikipedia ! :-)
And, Bogdan, don't you think this point of yours about the connection between BMWs and manele is also politically incorrect ? :-)
Mihai,
In theory, any outspoken presumption of guilt can be regarded as evidence of 'political incorrectness', thus anything we say about anyone (in this case the 'manelists') can be used against us :-)
As long as we 'presume' that these people ('manelists' + BMW owners) are:
- tax evasionists
- lacking 'culture'
- stupid
- mentally challenged (which is a politically correct term :-)
...we could be 'liable' for I don't know what 'punishment'.
Some could be gravely offended by our judgements, couldn't they?
***
Nevertheless, I think we could easily defend ourselves (in court or in front of all sorts of 'anti-discrimination authorities'), as long as we made no remark about 'manelists' in regard to their:
- race
- ethnicity
- sexual orientation
- religion
- social origin and social status
- political views
- etc etc etc
It is true that in Romania BMW (as well as Mercedes) are frequently possessed by people with some of the characteristics mentioned above.
Nevertheless I think that denying BMW because of this liaisons is a mistake. BMW is a strong, masculine car, with perfectl mechanisms that I particularly love. It does not make me a part of the previously described populations unless the other characteristics can be proved.
So I am a BMW fan even if it is often rode by "smecheri"
@ Jocul orb
I found it funny to mention the 'BMW obsession' of Romanians, however, I fully agree with your point of view that we shouldn't look down upon BMW cars simply because of the dubious nature of some of their owners.
It was not in my intention to offend BMW owners/drivers/fans - neither those with peculiar music preferences, nor the others.
Anyway, be sure it was nice reading a comment from you on my blog, instead of one from a pissed off 'smecher'! :-)
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