I was riding my exercise bicycle, watching a new (to me) show called Breaking Bad. It’s an American TV show about a lot of arguing and yelling and tragic faces and whatnot. (Ok actually it’s a little more complicated than that – LOL)
But I almost fell off of my bike because a minor character that appears only in the first (pilot) episode was “Bogdan”, who owns a car wash in America and has large, poofy white hair and super thick, bushy eyebrows. All of a sudden right in the middle of an ordinary American TV show pops up this “Bogdan” character and he is on the phone, cursing in Romanian LOL (if you’re curious he is saying “go to hell”).
The guy quite frankly looks more like a Greek sea captain to me than any kind of Romanian I’ve ever seen before. His Romanian is also extremely rusty sounding and not altogether authentic – my guess is the actor playing him has been in the United States a long, long time.
It took me forever to track down his real name but finally found it – it’s Marius Stan, which really can be a Romanian name so I guess the guy truly is Romanian.
The name “Bogdan” btw is a very common Romanian name but I noticed the American actors all pronounce it “Bog Dan” in two distinct syllables as if it rhymes with “Fog Man”. In case you ever meet a real Bogdan, here’s how to say the name:
Imagine the letter “O” sound as in “bow” (as in bow and arrow). So the first part is “Bowg” and the “Dan” part is more like the American name “Don”. So say “bowg-DON” all together and then you’ve got the hang of it!
PS – Why in the world the writers felt an evil, bushy eyebrowed Romanian would be great as a bit part playing the evil boss is beyond my understanding. But hey, that’s why they’re big Hollywood screenwriters and I’m not ;)
The best thing Breaking Bad taught me was how to get rid of a body using acid and a plastic container. Not that I would ever need to do that, of course. :)