# Lithuanian: strelkes



## Nakuru

Hello!

I've been looking for the word "*strelkes*" but haven't found any info. I think it refers to violent street gangs dealing with drugs and weapons, but I would like some confirmation for this. Is it translatable as "*gang*", or is it a very specific kind of gang within Lithuanian culture so I should just keep it as "strelkes"? 

Thanks in advance!


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## LilianaB

Hi, Nakuru. What is the whole sentence? I don't know much about gangs in contemporary Lithuania since I have never lived in the reborn country, but I will try to help you. In my opinion it is either a family name -- Strelkes, perhaps the name of the gang comes from the proper name or it could possibly mean a meeting. It is close to the slang word for a meeting, especially gang or dealer type of meeting - _stryelka _in Russian. Many slang expressions come from Russian.. Maybe if I have the whole sentence I could figure it out more easily. It could have some refrence to the partizans in World War II, but more context is really needed.


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## Nakuru

LilianaB said:


> Hi, Nakuru. What is the whole sentence? I don't know much about gangs in contemporary Lithuania since I have never lived in the reborn country, but I will try to help you. In my opinion it is either a family name -- Strelkes, perhaps the name of the gang comes from the proper name or it could possibly mean a meeting. It is close to the slang word for a meeting, especially gang or dealer type of meeting - _stryelka _in Russian. Many slang expressions come from Russian.. Maybe if I have the whole sentence I could figure it out more easily. It could have some refrence to the partizans in World War II, but more context is really needed.



Hello, LilianaB! Thanks for the help. The word is mentioned in a documentary film about the suburbia around Vilnius. There's a boy saying "You know what_ *strelkes*_ means, don't you? Sometimes thugs with _kalashnikovs_ (rifles) come here". 
Neighbours around keep talking about these guys, which are supposed to come in groups, carrying weapons and stealing, dressed in a sort of gangster style (there're no images of these guys, but this is how they describe them). Then the boy I mentioned goes on saying "Sometimes morons from other neighbourhoods come here, so we call our friends and we beat the shit out of them [...] If no one fucks around we don't do *"strelkes"*. Actually, its a quiet neighbourhood". 

So I guess it might be related to the Russian word "stryelka" as you said. And I just found a video out in youtube (I can't post links here on WR forums). There're two groups approaching each other, then start fighting, and they're in Lithuania. Well, I'm pretty sure it might be what you say.


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## LilianaB

I think it definitely means a meeting to buy drugs -- this is what it means in the Russian slang, among other things. The word _strelka_ comes from Russian and it means an arrow, but in slang it meens a meeting. Please wait for some other opinions because I have not been to Vilnius for a while. Literally it means arrows. Is it a documentary, or fiction? It could also mens shootings in slang I think -- from Russian strelyat.


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## Nakuru

LilianaB said:


> I think it definitely means a meeting to buy drugs -- this is what it means in the Russian slang, among other things. The word _strelka_ comes from Russian and it means an arrow, but in slang it meens a meeting. Please wait for some other opinions because I have not been to Vilnius for a while. Literally it means arrows. Is it a documentary, or fiction? It could also mens shootings in slang I think -- from Russian strelyat.



It's a documentary. I think most probably "strelkes" is what you said. Let's see if there're other opinions but you helped me a lot, thanks so much!


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## e2-e4 X

In Russian slang it is a gang meeting with fight and shooting, a prearranged battle between two or more gangs. Nothing is sold or bought during them, except lives and blood. Could it be the same in Lithuanian?


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## LilianaB

I think so, because a  lot of Lithuanian slang comes from Russian.


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## Nakuru

e2-e4 X said:


> In Russian slang it is a gang meeting with fight and shooting, a prearranged battle between two or more gangs. Nothing is sold or bought during them, except lives and blood. Could it be the same in Lithuanian?



Ok, then it's a meeting involving fights and kalshnikov rifles, it matches what I've seen in the documentary. Probably dealing with drugs is something they do as well, but the word "strelkes" refers to the fight itself, right? There's quite a lot of Russian immigration in Lithuania so it must be a Russian word. That makes sense now, thanks so much *e2-e4* X and  *LilianaB*.


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## LilianaB

Yes, they do.  It is usually drug related in my opinion, or just fighting between gangs to keep their territory. I always thought "stryelka" (Russian) or "strelekes" (Lithuanian version) were the meetings themselves, between gangs, not the fighting. They usually involve bloodshed. A good word might be confrontation.


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## ewie

LilianaB said:


> A good word might be confrontation.


In the days of _West Side Story_ they were called _rumbles_.


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## LilianaB

Thank you, Ewie. Street fights, yes, although I am not sure if it is exactly the same. _Strelkes_ are somewhat ritualistic -- I don't think they are usually in public places. Would _rambles_ be somethings close to what the Chicago mafia used to do in the 1920s?


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## ewie

LilianaB said:


> Would _rambles_ be somethings close to what the Chicago mafia used to do in the 1920s?


Wasn't that just 'cold-blooded premeditated murder'?

My understanding of _r*u*mbles_, largely based on the show/film I mentioned in post #10, was that they were very ritualistic, organized well in advance, and for the settling of scores.


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## LilianaB

Yes, it sounds like _strelkes_. I don't remember the fights from the movie that well, but I am sure that must be it.


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