3 ms·

> братан I'm always curious about new slang or jargon but can't place this sense of 'Bratan' in the context of espionage/geopolitics. Flexing brotherhood? Flex

• gorgoiler 6y ago
  It’s the the “bro” in ”weird flex, bro”, which is US English slang meaning “that’s an impressive display of strength which I also find to be bizarrely convoluted”.
  • derefr 6y ago
    “Flex” in that slang term isn’t precisely a “display of strength” but rather “a display of one-upmanship[1]” in any form. A weird flex is specifically one-upmanship in a form where nobody else was really competing over it in the first place. It’s “weird” because you’re trying so hard to out-compete others in a category where nobody else is trying to compete at all, and where, therefore, a category where it’s very easy to “win.” Most Guinness World Records are weird flexes: not hard-fought limits of discovered human ability, but rather something one person decided to prove they could do that nobody else has really even cared to challenge them about since. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-upmanship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-upmanship
  • FearNotDaniel 6y ago
    Ah, makes sense now, thanks for the explanation. I must have missed the comma first time round, and thus thought that "bro" was the thing being flexed.
• throwaway8463 6y ago
  Prison/criminal slang. “Bratán” is a member of “bratvá” (gang).