Gabrovo humour
Bulgarian regional humour
The city of Gabrovo, Bulgaria is well known for the unique sense of humour possessed by its citizens. Local humour centres on the alleged stinginess of its citizens and a rivalry with the neighbouring village of Sevlievo. Gabrovo prides itself on being a centre for humour; the House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo exists to promote humour both locally and internationally.
Citizens of Gabrovo reputedly excel in business and in bargaining, and developed their sense of humour as an aid to attract customers and improve business relations. As Gabrovo grew in industrial and economic importance, the city's brand of humour and reputation for shrewdness and economy spread nationally in Bulgaria.
Select sayings
It is said that the people of Gabrovo (known as Gabrovtsi):
cut the tails off their cats so they can close the door faster when they let the cat out, in order to save heat. (A black cat with a cut-off tail is one of Gabrovo's symbols.)
fit taps to eggs (as one might do with a keg) so as to tap only as much as needed for a soup and save the rest.
turn their clocks off before they go to sleep to prevent wear and tear.
put green spectacles on their donkeys so that the donkeys will mistake shavings for hay and eat it.
sweat both in the smithy and when bargaining in the market place.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gabrovo humour” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.