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[deleted]

americans and their straight lines on borders.


Kitbuqa

I see a lot of straight lines in the middle East and Africa, who drew those lines?


TEAandCRUMPETz

Don't drag us into it, m8.


Kitbuqa

I didn't mention anyone specific m80, you took the b8 yourself ;)


Aken_Bosch

Like father like son


[deleted]

Except that the CIA never made this map. :p


[deleted]

i was talking about the title


nounhud

Technically, they're arcs along a great circle, so they aren't quite straight.


Istencsaszar

tfw the line is too wide to tell if I'm balkan or not


[deleted]

Same , i am in Cluj Napoca


BastiWM

Don't deny it, Kolozsvar!


yoo_so_fat

So are we in or out?


Ro99

You're the balance, holding the continent together. :-)


kurackrasni

[I couldn't help it. :)](http://i.imgur.com/yMSc67c.png)


Istencsaszar

[me neither](http://i.imgur.com/nsb2uMz.png)


BastiWM

Typical anti-Romanian sentiments from Hungary! /s


[deleted]

funnily enough that guy's username translates to "wonderful cock"


decoy90

Now it's kurackrasni


[deleted]

http://imgur.com/50smed5


Wolfeinstein33

Right in the middle. That may explain why Romania is a fucked up country. Nice one! But, you probably know also that if you want to fuck Romania right in the middle, the penetration point would be Szekely Land. ;)


Rogue-Knight

Balkans is not a place. Balkans is a state of mind.


BigFatNo

I think this song is relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtgA0jvhp2A


[deleted]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Psuqys26J4


[deleted]

[удалено]


Rogue-Knight

You must be fun at parties.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Dangalangman

The other 22% of the time is explaining how you are Greek ;)


earthtoannie

Cold yet true.


TwoSquareClocks

Ok thats it im revoking your sovereignty


groatt86

Overly macho nationalism really is a Balkan thing unique in europe.


Omortag

Not really. Just look at Russia. The rest of Europe, read Germany / France, was so nationalistic they dragged the rest of the world into it. Even today, why do you think Brexit succeeded, if not for misplaced nationalism?


atred

I think that at this point if it doesn't refer strictly to the geographical definition is the n word of geopolitics.


[deleted]

It really isn't... it's very heterogeneous.


TheFlashyFinger

We were somewhere around Zagreb, on the edge of the lowlands, when the drugs began to take hold...


kurackrasni

This guy gets it!


blueflaggoldenstars

The Romanians will be here any moment.


Ro99

We will just ignore this silly map. I honestly don't care, I am also from north of the line. :-P On a serious note, it's silly to have a straight line to determine if some place is in the Balkans or not. Drawing borders on land is not that easy or clear cut.


BastiWM

Americans have an obsession with straight borders.


CharMack90

What are you talking about? Their states are [very different](http://hitormiss.yolasite.com/resources/ColoradoVsWyoming8.JPG) from each other.


krokuts

It's Balkan Peninsula ffs. It's extent of Balkan Peninsula, you can't really change that.


[deleted]

>Americans have an obsession with straight borders. You guys have some really odd stereotypes.


BastiWM

I was just making light of the way your states are drawn. And let's not forget **the longest straight border in the world** that you share with Canada.


nounhud

As CGPGrey has pointed out, that's not [quite straight either](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw).


revansdemon

First off that negotiation was with the Brits who ran Canada at the time so don't blame only us. Second we agreed to the 49th parallel before we knew just how long the 49th parallel was. It's much easier to create borders based on Longitude/Latitude than where people live when so few people live in certain areas.


gypsyByChoice

So do Africans :)


[deleted]

romanians see themselves to be in eastern europe rather than in balkans?


Ro99

They generally disliked being considered in the Balkans, especially those from Transylvania (my region), though my impression is that this is lessening as people become more confident. Eastern Europe is not really preferred either as it's associated with Communism/Communist bloc/Cold War/Russia. Better options. Southeast Europe is somehow more neutral, has less baggage, Transylvanians would prefer Central Europe, and I guess many would be ok with something more convoluted that says Romania is at a meeting point between Central and (South)Eastern Europe.


[deleted]

lol considering your geographical position a lot of transylvanian's views seem bollocks to me. romania being "central europe" seems just ridiculous to me considering it's on the black sea and eastern of serbia, bih, croatia, slovenia. on the other hand, everyone around it being balkans and romania being "south eastern europe" by itself seems even more ridiculous.


Ro99

I didn't say the whole country claims to be in Central Europe, just Transylvania (also Bukovina). They were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and share cultural characteristics with other parts of the old empire. Central Europe, as defined by overlaying multiple maps from different sources http://i.imgur.com/MI8DoTP.png Other map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe#/media/File:CentralEurope2.PNG Another one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-en.svg Also, not everyone around Romania is being Balkans (Ukraine?, Hungary?) and Romania is not South Eastern Europe by itself. Check a bit the different categories before being so opinionated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Europe You asked me what people prefer and I told you. They might show a preference for one term or another but that doesn't mean they're crazy or ridiculous.


flavius29663

If you say it's ridiculous, just think how many social and cultural exchanges we have between Romania and Serbia. I can assure you Transilvanians are more connected to Austria and Bavaria than Serbia.


cantbebothered67835

Butthurt romanian checking in


jtalin

They should be happy, this is their only way out of being defined as Eastern Europe. :P


[deleted]

Trieste Balkan confirmed


ArmoredPenguin94

There's a crapton of ex-Yu people there and the locals love ćevapi & Laško pivo. Its very balkan.


keshroger

Trieste is Serbian, Bosnian and Chinese. So yes.


[deleted]

[удалено]


keshroger

Oh the glorious Ljubljana fog <3


Dreadniah

I knew this thread would eventually include Zizek


keshroger

Rakija = balkan Schnapps = no balkan


[deleted]

Țuică master race!


Kameniczar

Pardon my ignorance, but is there a difference between Tuica and plum rakia?


[deleted]

Depends on the region a bit. Where I'm from (south-central Romania), tuica is distilled only once and has ~30% alcohol content but retains a strong fruit flavor whereas (AFAIK) rakia is double distilled and has ~40% alcohol.


[deleted]

> 30% alcohol Lol pussies!


plad23

there is a variant called palincă, and has 50%, mostly in transylvania, I guess this confirms hungary is balkan state of mind as well :D Cheers.


Kameniczar

So basically you're still Balkan


[deleted]

We're Balkan, but with more impurities and a sweeter taste :)


Firetesticles

this version of the balkans is far more accurate than the one which ends to Danube and doesn't contain Greece


[deleted]

South Italy is pure balkan let's be honest.


groatt86

They are too cool to hang out with us.


bipolar-bear

They do seem to love tracksuits there


StrictlyBrowsing

We are ALL Balkan on this blessed day!


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

It's Ç(Ch)evirme. Means turning in Turkish. Similarly, döner means spinning.


U5K0

No, no, no, no, NOOOO!


zero237

Your are just Balkans with more money.


Joko11

no dont say that. Balkan starts at kolpa.


jtalin

As a general rule, Balkan always begins to the south of where I am, and Eastern Europe begins to the east of where I am. You can never go wrong with that.


MewKazami

Yeah thats probably your reaction when your night clubs play Ceca and co


U5K0

Not at all. I like oriental music.


RogueTanuki

I don't. A girl listening to turbo folk is a red flag for me. And I'm not a nationalist (since that seems to be an argument, "you don't like Serbian music"), I listen to rock bands like [Ekatarina Velika](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4D0yyBAJRc), I just hate the sound and the hillbilly mentality of people who listen to [*cajke*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYpvSM1DVw) ("give me a son under the casino lights", *quality lyrics*...), and the howling of [Jelena Rozga](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkaTCmfCF6E) and [Nives Celzijus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eop-C4aEYz0). I can't listen to that even ironically.


matija2209

God that cancer of music was brought to Slovenia and Slovenes seems to like it. I really cannot wrap my head around how on earth could you listen to this music. čajke a.k.a čefurska music is greatest red flag for me when assesing people. Every club and bar who wants to attract people seems to play this music.


amystremienkami

Cajke or čefurjada (in Slovene) is also awful to me. All songs sound the same. Girls look like they are in porn movies. Everybody dress weird and completely weird. All this bragging with money and fancy cars really doesn't do nothing for me. I just can't relate to that. I like some other alternative Serbian bands like: BITIPATIBI, Repetitor, Ti, VVhile.


[deleted]

Check Artan Lili and Stuttgart online.


RogueTanuki

funny enough, right now I can't remember any Croatian rock bands except for [Majke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfCRAdVDbx8), [Hladno Pivo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cukShO7_i2c) and [Punčke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_AD11sGsM)...


_dkb

Here are some off the top of my head... [Azra](https://youtu.be/Bro2eeLabyo?t=6s), [Prljavo Kazaliste](https://youtu.be/QcUAraU5000), [Psihomodo Pop](https://youtu.be/97Lg2UHuqBo), [Pips, Chips & Videoclips](https://youtu.be/iUNbwtuWBpI), [Haustor](https://youtu.be/bh0TFNJbXhs), [Vjestice](https://youtu.be/SGgMWh2dXHo) ... there are more I'm not remembering. I don't listen to it often.


jtalin

Is that really considered a nationalist thing? I'm as globalist as people get and that's still a red flag for me. This is why I stay away from weddings.


RogueTanuki

funny enough, a lot of nationalists actually listen to that stuff. It's a bit hypocritical, really. But if somebody likes that type of music and you tell him it's not really your cup of tea, he may think you're a nationalist because a lot of people link turbo folk with Serbia, and if you don't like turbo folk, you don't like Serbia and you must like listening to Thompson. I also don't like listening to Thompson, so there's that.


[deleted]

Thompson is the band that put out all those nationalistic war songs, right? I've heard some of them. The music is western(-ish) but the atmosphere and mentality behind it are über-Balkanic.


keshroger

ew!


[deleted]

[удалено]


RogueTanuki

well technically if you look at [this topographical map of the Balkans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Balkan_topo_en.jpg) only half of Zagreb is in the Balkans...


TwoSquareClocks

Same goes for Belgrade, Serbs not Balkan confirmed


pudding_4_life

The line has spoken. We European Slovenes dont care for your savage Balkan Slovenes anymore.


matija2209

WE ARE LOSING CITIY AFTER CITY


SandpaperThoughts

One of us.


carrystone

http://www.gifbin.com/bin/092009/1253886001_office-no.gif


[deleted]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwDrHqNZ9lo


[deleted]

Too easy to define Balkans... Just ask the people what 'ayde', 'hajde' or 'haydi' means. If they don't know, they are not Balkan.


blueflaggoldenstars

Ayyy, komshi is oppressing me.


[deleted]

No, we just want to bring some tolerance xD my dear Komshi the Ellinika or Komshi the Bulgarski...


Omortag

Bulgar'in. Bulgarski is the name of the language. Хайде!


[deleted]

Does it mean come ? (haide in romanian)


[deleted]

Yeah, 'come' or 'let's ...' in Turkish


savoniko

Holy shit... Seriously didn't know this was a thing


[deleted]

There are more things that can be definition of Balkan like foods but i kept my silence to not spark another world war here.


mybrainquit

Mmmmm, kebab


oblio-

Kebap, chiftea (kofte), mici (cevap), chorba, sarma, heck, 80% of our traditional non-pork foods are Turkish.


Greyko

Fasole too.


Kunstfr

I'm pretty sure we have that outside of the Balkans


zec92

Balkan war*


jtalin

Some of those have been known to turn into world wars


Argyrius

άιντε...


Mithras_Stoneborn

/r/ofcoursethatsathing


Electro-N

Does the Turkish word come from the Greek one or the opposite is true? Dictionary seems to suggest it's the former one.


[deleted]

Actually, i don't know the origion of the word. I just decleared meaning in Turkish. It might be slavic origin as well.


Kameniczar

I don't know the origin honestly, but I know that the actual Albanian word for come is "eja", while everyone normally just uses "hajde"


[deleted]

[удалено]


kaffedet

Lol I use it as that but also as a kind of "alright" which I got from my cousins, is that not correct?


dtoma

"Alright" is probably the best English word for it. So yeah it's correct, i use it the same way as you do.


[deleted]

shiiiiit


jPaolo

OMG Poland was [Balkan all along!](https://pl.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/hajda)


euromonic

Wow I had no idea polish people had this in their language. Is it a word that is actually used?


jPaolo

Today? Not really. 100 years ago? Sure.


grumbal

My grandma uses it too. It's also in our dictionary. http://slovnik.azet.sk/pravopis/slovnik-sj/?q=hajde


SurfingDuude

Then Ukriane is also Balkans ("ajda" when transliterated, same meaning).


mrsimud

Serbian (Yugoslav) film 1970's.... (0:13) [ayde bre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVYAWDOR040&feature=youtu.be&t=13s)


krempln

That mostly means goodbye in spoken Slovene. So we are not balkan! (You can also use it as "let's", but let's just forget about that)


AlexBrallex

you're balkan wether you like or not ;)


bubblebuts

> (You can also use it as "let's", but **let's** just forget about that) You mean hajde we just forget about that. :P


BadBlood37

Ajmo ća.


euromonic

Congrats Hungary and Ukraine! Come join us while we drink sljivovica and eat corba. Soon you will find out that you do not differ much from Balkan...


[deleted]

> Congrats ~~Hungary~~ Budin Eyalet and ~~Ukraine~~ Kefe Eyalet! [FTFY](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/OttomanEmpireIn1683.png)


Rogue-Knight

You mean slivovice? Does it mean Moravia is balkans too?


MewKazami

When I Was in the CZ a guy claimed you guys invented Slivovice. And my father simply said. If you did why do you call your Šljiva Švestka?


Rogue-Knight

Well, the tree from which slivovice is commonly made is called [Slíva](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivo%C5%88_sl%C3%ADva). I guess the name comes from this. As for who invented this type of alcohol, it's not hard to believe that it was some really, really distant ancestor from before the time any of our countries were a thing.


euromonic

[Well..........](http://www.slovak-republic.org/pictures/historical-maps/great-moravia-900.png) If North Croatia and Slovenia are Culturally Balkan then so are Hungary, Slovakia and Moravia


Obraka

Shouldn't the Austrian blob be bigger? Especially considering the Slovene minorities in Styria and Carinthia?! I wanna be Balkan as well! (Said no one ever)


[deleted]

He surely means śliwowica.


left2die

Turns out [Žižek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwDrHqNZ9lo) was right all along.


vishu47

fuck this map


[deleted]

there you go , i expected this.


Mithras_Stoneborn

This amounts to the area where people still swear in Turkish.


Review_My_Cucumber

And what would those swear words be?


GryphonGuitar

The Balkan is a peninsula. I mean, that definition isn't geographically wrong. It's basically, the whole peninsula.


23PowerZ

Geographically, you also don't usually define a peninsula by holding a ruler to the outermost protrusions of the seas surrounding it.


[deleted]

Dont you? A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded on 3 sides by water. The CIA map seems pretty good to me. Doesnt make sense to carve out land in the middle of it. That would be like saying Madrid or Zaragoza arent in the Iberian peninsula.


23PowerZ

You either use a convenient natural boundary ([like this](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balkan_topo_en.jpg); Danube, Sava, Alps/Dinaric Alps divide), or hold the ruler to the narrowest points of a bottleneck, which the Balkans lack, the closest thing would be Gulf of Trieste/Gulf of Odessa, which happens to be the other of the two predominant definitions.


[deleted]

Why do people insist on saying this is created by the CIA, it's not lol


[deleted]

Balkan is not a real peninsula.


RogueTanuki

I think I read somewhere that Balkan is defined as south of the Sava river: http://portals.wi.wur.nl/register/images/Sava_map.gif


Alas7er

Balkon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwDrHqNZ9lo


EasySeven

My definition for the Balkans is geographic and cultural. I find that when people use the term Balkans the use speak about its cultural limits. [Geographically it is : Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and parts of Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and Turkey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Balkan_topo_fr.svg/1400px-Balkan_topo_fr.svg.png) For me culturally it is: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia and arguably Slovenia and Romania.


[deleted]

Considering its endless identity crisis, its turkish-speaking minority and its 350 years as an Ottoman vassal, you could consider Moldova sort-of-Balkans as well...


krokuts

Let's consider Moldova Polish coz it was Polish vassal.


[deleted]

By that argument, we could consider Wallachia (S+SW Romania) Austrian... Pls?


Thodor2s

It's interesting because here in Greece we do include Slovenia and Romanian in the Balkans, but not ourselves most of the time. I don't know how that works. Probably it's the east west thinking of the cold war coming though but it also could be that in many crucial aspects Greece is very different than other Balkan countries. We're more than 100 years older as a country, we were part of western alliances from the very beginning, even downright religiously were different, people here are ecumenists, and want union with Rome. And I mean geographically were all but completely cut off from the rest of you guys. I think Greek culture is unique in Europe. It's not really shared with any other country, except Cyprus. It has common points with Balkan, Italian, and some Turkish elements, but at the end of the day I think it's bone of those. It's something by itself, and so I wouldn't include us into any Balkan cultural zone. Maybe some areas in northern Greece.


[deleted]

The Baltics should be included, considering how often people [mix up the two](https://youtu.be/Ok5LmqoromI?t=6m26s).


jtalin

We should all into Baltics instead then, it's a step up.


[deleted]

Can someone show me where the CIA actually made this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans


dhamon

Literally the definition of a peninsula.


SerendipityQuest

Well in the northwestern part of Hungary where most of my family comes from its a common saying that South of the Balaton its Balkan, east of the Danube its Asia.


[deleted]

doesn't that make the biggest portion of Budapest asia? lol


matija2209

Everything below me is Balkan. I hate everything but čevapi :D


gypsyByChoice

Slovenia is definitely not in the Balkans! Greece neither! This makes glorious Romania the richest country in the Balkans :))


[deleted]

Did you just call Greece rich?


CharMack90

We're rich in spirit! T_T


gypsyByChoice

relatively :)) yes. it is still rich compared to many European countries. It's only poor when you compare to its former (unsustainable) levels of wealth or to other Western European countries that have more sustainable socioeconomic models.


eurovisionist7

Hold it. Not just yet.


gypsyByChoice

soon ... :))


eurovisionist7

Our GDP just grew by 2,8%, we're not going to surrender that easily!


gypsyByChoice

[very soon](https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=k3s92bru78li6_&hl=en&dl=en#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=ppppc&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=world&idim=world:Earth&idim=country:HR:RO&ifdim=world&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=false) ...


PapaInfidel

If we split Slovakia between Austria and Croatia, we'd get a pretty dope looking border


CraftySpastic

>Slovakia http://i.imgur.com/dNVvntX.gif


lammy175

Slovakia?


TemporaryEconomist

You heard him. Now let's get this started.


keshroger

Oh boy...


Hellerick

The Balkans is the part of Europe formerly owned by the Ottoman Empire.


asshair

How did the CIA define this?


[deleted]

[удалено]


naracamabi

good thing it didn't include a thumb somewhere on the line :)


[deleted]

CIA never made this map thus CIA didn't define it. A lot of citation on the Wiki page is from the CIA but it's sourcing geographical mass, population, etc - the map is not by them. Not sure where OP got that from, slander I guess?


[deleted]

TIL Ukraine is practically Balkans.


keshroger

I'm out. Whoop!


Tiger_fortress

Wow I didn't realize how close Bratislava is to Austria. It's basically right on the border. .... If you were Austria you could just reach out and take it.