Initially, the fictional monkey people from the work of the English writer Rudyard Kipling "The Jungle Book" were called Banderlog. However, at present this concept already includes a number of, as a rule, informal definitions.
The word "Bandar-log" first appeared in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Translated from Hindi, it means “monkey people”. In Russian editions, the word "banderlog" is most often found when referring to a single monkey (or "banderlog" when it comes to a whole flock), so this way of writing is more familiar to the domestic reader.
Clarification of the original definition
Banderlogs from the work of the English writer differ radically from the rest of the characters in the Jungle Book. Monkey people do not recognize the Great Law of the Jungle, they also do not have their own law, which allows them to put themselves, in principle, outside any laws.
However, they are constantly going to draw up their own laws and customs, to elect a leader, but they never fulfill this, because their memory is not enough even until the next day. To justify this, the monkeys wrote a saying: "What the Bandar-log thinks now, the jungle thinks later."
They do not have their own language - monkeys simply borrow and repeat what they once heard from other animals. Also, monkey people do not know how to create. Therefore, they have nothing of their own, except for imitation. However, they soon get bored with it.
Despite the seeming amusement and limitedness of these animals, they are very dangerous. They are dangerous in that they can, for fun, without any sense and need, throw a stone, stick, pounce in a crowd, or even kill. To kill just like that - aimlessly, out of boredom. For Banderlog does not have any conscious goals and plans; when a thought appears in the head of one of the monkeys, then the other members of the pack follow it immediately, without hesitation.
Some modern meanings
Thanks to the cartoons loved by many since childhood (the Soviet "Mowgli", the American "Jungle Book" and "The Jungle Book-2"), and also due to the characteristic memorable features of the life of the monkey people, the word "Banderlog" has acquired several more specific meanings by now.
In army jargon, servicemen of the GRU special forces are called banderlog. This state of affairs is explained by the fact that the training of officers of special units includes in-depth study of foreign languages, as well as the basics of acrobatics.
In prison jargon, a "banderlog" is a prisoner who refuses to communicate with other prisoners, spends most of the time alone in a cell, or sleeps. As a rule, such people end up in prison due to their own misunderstanding or coincidence.
Among young people in some regions of our country, a typical representative of the “gray mass”, or a lazy person who himself does not know what he wants, is sometimes called a “banderlog”.
Because of the colorful scene of the hypnosis of monkeys by the boa Kaa in the book and the cartoon, people who are easily influenced by others are sometimes called the concept of "banderlogs".
Some news outlets, as well as politicized Internet users, call Ukrainian nationalists (usually followers of Stepan Bandera, or anti-Russian supporters of Euromaidan) banderlog. This use of the word is explained by the consonance of the two concepts ("Banderlog" and "Banderite"), as well as mainly by the derogatory meaning of the original definition.
The word "banderlog" acquired a new meaning in 2011 thanks to Vladimir Putin, who quoted during a live broadcast the phrase of the boa constrictor Kaa "Come to me, banderlog" in relation to opposition-minded citizens who, according to Vladimir Vladimirovich, succumbed to the influence of foreign ill-wishers of Russia. The word instantly became one of the most discussed phenomena in the Russian media and the blogosphere. Since then, to this day, it has been used in political circles to designate pro-Western-minded associations of citizens, or in general in relation to opponents from unfriendly political parties.