Why Santa Barbara and Copenhagen are idioms in Russian?

There are idioms in Russian with the city names Santa Barbara and Copenhagen. In this video I'm talking about these Russian expression and their origin. A lot of Russian idioms come from common jokes, pop culture, and even memes nowadays.
"I am no Copenhagen in this" means I don't know much about it, it's like another way to say 'go ask somebody else'. A Russian idiom about Copenhagen might seem to be something a little strange, unless you know how to say "Copenhagen" and "competent" in Russian.
Santa Barbara is not just an expression in the Russian language, it's also a city in the USA (Santa Barbara, California) and a TV soap opera "Santa Barbara" that aired in the 80s-90s in the USA and in the 1992 - 2002 in Russia. An important part is that "Santa Barbara" was the first American TV show aired on Russian TV.

[@adorabell4253]

I remember watching Santa Barbara with my grandmother.

[@zeugl1271]

That's true! I still use "Santa Barbara" when I want to describe a really complicated relationship. And "not Copenhagen" for an equivalent of "not confident" about something. I'm on the other edge of the country, so yes, I'm with you man, it's our idioms. At least for the last 25 years, I believe

[@sergeysvids2756]

The cities are foreign but the idioms are ours😄

[@CossackGene]

How interesting! I knew about "Santa Barbara", but hadn't heard "Copenhagen" used like this before.
Edit: I'm American and I know the show too, but I only learned about it when I went to Russia ;)

[@sergeysvids2756]

The "Copenhagen" one is probably much less common, and it's quite old. Although I'm not sure that teenagers would use 'Santa Barbara' expression now😄

[@KateeAngel]

I am Russian and I only heard "Copenhagen" if not as city name then as a reference of Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics

[@eioupi]

Santa Barbara was also broadcasted in a subchannel of TVRI Indonesia but its popularity was not as huge as Escrava Isaura which played every Sunday noon on the only TV station at that time (1988-90). Later, Isaura was moved to monday evening because it was realised by, I think, the government that Isaura was not suitable for children to watch. I don't remember if TVRI played both series to the last episode because in 1991 came a new TV station namely RCTI that drawed the eyes of many TVRI viewers, including me.

[@sergeysvids2756]

Santa Barbara wasn't aired to the last episode in Russia either. But by that time most people really didn't care. There were many channels and shows by that time.

[@eioupi]

@@sergeysvids2756 Chinese movies (and series) and Indian movies are also very popular in Indonesia since 1970s.

[@maximk9964]

Ah Santa Barbara, good times, Ci Ci Capwell asleep in a come for a few months... Actress playing Gina randomly changing...

[@sergeysvids2756]

They even had to recast the poor guy in coma

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

explain why russians say "kitaisky gorodovoy" in place of swearwords .. ive got no explanation of this