Perhaps everyone knows what a "Bulgarian" is. But few people really think about why this unit was called that way. Moreover, among the old-timers there are real legends about the history of the appearance of the popular name of this instrument, however, all of them are unlikely. And the real origin of the nickname "Bulgarian" is rather prosaic, and it has nothing to do with the inhabitants of the corresponding state - it's all about … translation difficulties.
The correct name for this famous tool is an angle grinder (abbr. LBM), but this seems to be remembered only by those who constantly work with it. And everyone else knows this unit as a "grinder". However, almost no one knows exactly how this nickname came about. That is why a considerable number of urban legends about the origin of the popular name are circulating among the inhabitants.
A rather popular version is that this nickname stuck at a time when not only citizens of the USSR worked on Soviet construction sites, but also residents of the countries of the socialist bloc, in particular, Bulgarians. They came to work for quite a long time, so they often transported their families with them. However, the hot southern wives of the newcomers were quite jealous and impulsive, so they often fought with their faithful. Here are their screams, Soviet builders jokingly compared to the noise from an angle grinder.
It goes without saying that such legends carry little credibility. Much more plausible seems to be the version according to which the source of the nickname was the name of one of the most popular instrument manufacturers in the second half of the twentieth century, including the angle grinder - Elprom Lovech Bulgaria. The thing is that in those days, Soviet people for the most part did not speak foreign languages, and therefore did not delve into the hard-to-pronounce full name of the company.
But the last word was quite familiar - so it was used to name the instrument, distorting at the same time - "Bulgarian", "Bulgarian", "bulga", etc. However, it is the "Bulgarian" that has taken root among the people, and so much so that today, even in stores, an angle grinder is often called by its popular name, so that even a layman could understand what is on the shelf in front of him.
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