Manges (; Greek: üìóúõà; sing.: mangas , üìóúñà) is the name of a social group in the Belle ÃÂpoque era's counterculture of Greece (especially of the great urban centers of Athens and Piraeus). The nearest English equivalent to the term "mangas" is wide boy, or spiv.
Mangas was a label for men belonging to the Greek working class, behaving in a particularly arrogant/presumptuous way, and dressing with a very typical vesture composed of a woolen hat (kavouraki, úñòÿàÃÂìúù), a jacket (they usually wore only one of its sleeves), a tight belt (used as a knife case), stripe pants, and pointy shoes. Other features of their appearance were their long moustache, their bead chaplets (úÿüÃÂÿûÃÂóùñ, sing. úÿüÃÂÿûÃÂù), and their idiosyncratic manneristic limp-walking (úÿàÃÂÃÂàòìôùÃÂüñ). A related social group were the Koutsavakides (úÿàÃÂÃÂñòìú÷ôõÃÂ, sing. úÿàÃÂÃÂñòìú÷ÃÂ); the two terms are occasionally used interchangeably. Manges are also notable for being closely associated with the history of rebetiko.
The three most probable etymologies of the word Mangas are the following:
Most rebetiko songs refer to manges, even when this is not explicit, as rebetiko was part of this subculture. Examples are: "ãÃÂ÷ý ÃÂ¥ÃÂÃÂóñ" ("In the Basement", by Kostis, 1930), "àÃÂìóúñàÃÂÿàÃÂÿÃÂñýùúÿÃÂ" ("The Mangas of Votanikos", by Kasimatis, 1934). The admiration of manges was carried on with the later genre of Greek music Laïko. Examples are: "àÿà'ÃÂÿàý üìóúñ ÃÂÿ çõùüÃÂýñ" ("Where Were You, Mangas, During the Winter", by Giorgos Mouflezis, 70s), and others.
Karagiozis shadow plays portray a recurrent character called Stavrakas, ãÃÂñÃÂÃÂñúñÃÂ.
In modern Greek language, mangas has become a synonym for "swash guy, swagger" or (in dialogue) simply "dude"; depending on context it may have more negative ("bully, thug, hooligan") or more positive ("brave, crafty man, lad") connotations.