Malakas
Encyclopedia
Malakas
is a Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 slang word, whose literal translation is wanker
Wanker
Wanker is a pejorative term of English origin, common in Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It initially referred to an onanist but has since become a general insult. It is synonymous with tosser.-Meaning:The term wanker...

 but the usage of the term varies. Common alternative meanings include arsehole or jerk, and the contrasting dude
Dude
A dude is an individual, typically male. The female equivalent, which is used less often, is "dudette" or "dudess". However, "dude" has evolved to become more unisex to encompass all genders, and this was true even in the 1950s....

, or mate depending on the context. It derives from the Greek word malakos , which means "soft" or "spoilt, well-used to luxuries of life". It is one of the most frequent words picked up by tourists and travellers to Greece and is not unusual amongst the younger Greek diaspora
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...

, even when the level of Greek is low. A female form of the word exists, "malako" (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: μαλάκω), but is recent coinage .

Usage

In everyday speech, the word malakas is used metaphorically to define the targeted individual as one who uses no common sense. In addition, in parts of the world outside Greece
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...

, with significant Greek population (e.g. the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

), the word malakas appears well known among non-Greek people.

It is considered inappropriate to use against strangers, while it is acceptable among close friends, typically among males, resembling the meaning of "dude" or "mate". Showing significant parallels between the word malakas and the word 'nigga' used by some African Americans between each other giving them a sense of friendship or brotherhood. Additionally, females may use the word even in an affectionate way.

Constructivist approach

Certain scholars examine the usage of the word malakas in modern Greek through an alternative scientific point of view; through constructivism
Constructivist epistemology
Constructivist epistemology is an epistemological perspective in philosophy about the nature of scientific knowledge. Constructivists maintain that scientific knowledge is constructed by scientists and not discovered from the world. Constructivists claim that the concepts of science are mental...

 (social
Social constructionism
Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts. A social construction is a concept or practice that is the construct of a particular group...

 and historical constructivism), and sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...

, they study the effect of any and all aspects of society on the way language is used, and they focus on the interactions between language and society. James D. Fabion characterizes the term malakas as one of the most favorite, blithe and sexually malignant "curses" used among friends. He asserts that malakas, just like other Greek sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...

s (e.g. keratas "cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...

", poustis "faggot
Faggot (epithet)
Faggot, often shortened to fag, is a pejorative term and common slur used chiefly in North America against homosexual males. Its pejorative use has spread from the United States to varying extents elsewhere in the English-speaking world through mass culture, including movies, music, and the...

"), highlight failures of social or intellectual finesse; "the malakas is clumsy, gawkish, parhaps vaguely infantile. He is liable to utter malakies [...] He is liable to be guillible. The malakismenos and the keratas are, if not immortal, still without existential fiber. They are without wit, and not uncommonly the dupes of others more witty or cunning." According to Fabion's sociolinguistic analysis, the malakas, the malakismenos, and the keratas as literal and as figurative characters, are all a rather shameful company, and they both fall short of the performative sine qua non of fully manly prowess: the exercise of sexual sovereignty, the sexual overpowering of another. Nevertheless, Fabion argues that the malakas is, at least, less pitiable being still a man. On the other hand, malakismenos is characterized as "unmistakably feminized", as the "patient of another's maneuvring". (malakismenos is a passive participle, "someone jerked off"; significantly, one of the two feminine coinages uses the same participle.)

In popular culture

In the American film "Weird Science
Weird Science (film)
Weird Science is a 1985 American teen comedy film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock...

" (1985) by John Hughes 

-Dino: Tell me something. What's a beautiful broad like you doing with a malaka like this? Huh?

-Lisa: It's purely sexual.

-Dino: No shit.

-Garry: She's into malakas, Dino!

-Dino: "She's into malakas"! Do you believe that?

Malakia

Malakia literally meaning both masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

 and semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...

, is often also used in a similar sense as malakas to describe nonsense, an item considered worthless, or a mistake.

The use of "malakia" to mean "masturbation" traces back to Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...

. It is used in this sense in the Life of St. Andrew the Fool and in the Life of St. Niphon, both of which date to the tenth century.
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