Polish proverbs

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Mulder-21
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Polish proverbs

Postby Mulder-21 » 2008-10-16, 23:45

In one of my first classes in Phonology and Phonetics of the Slovak language, our professor told us, that there was a test between Western Slavic schools as to how well proverbs or idioms are understood across borders. She then proceeded to pass out these papers with 8 Polish sentences, which we should clarify and present the Slovak equivalent if such exists. Now probably needless to say, I didn't understand any of them, so now I'm presenting them here. Some words were highlighted, I'm guessing these were the idiom parts of the sentences:

1. Całuj mnie w rzyć!
2. Czteroosobowa załoga uwijała się jak w ukropie.
3. Aż włosy podnosilo.
4. Jak grzyby po deszczu wyrastają, fałszywi prorocy.
5. Eustachy von Rochow też podjechał i też wyszczerzył zęby.
6. Masz raz na zawsze wybić z głowy żonę Gelfrada Sterczy.
7. Nie suknia zdobi człowieka odrzekł zimno Szarlej
8. ... kobieta mogła równie dobrze mieć na karku czwarty, jak i ósmy krzyżyk.

Thanks in advance :)
Gløgt er gestsins eyga. (Føroyskt orðafelli)
Wise is the stranger's eye. (Faroese saying)
L'occhio dell'ospite è acuto. (Proverbio faroico)
Hosťovo oko je múdre. (Faerské uslovie)

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BezierCurve
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Re: Polish proverbs

Postby BezierCurve » 2008-10-17, 1:10

Looks like your professor is a big fan of Andrzej Sapkowski's works :) I suppose all of those idioms come from his books (by many considered best Polish fantasy nowadays).

1. Całuj mnie w rzyć! -> "Kiss my ass!" - has about the same meaning like in English. That's what you'd tell someone if you wanted to get rid of him / strongly disapprove. Notice, that "rzyć" would be most probably replaced by "dupa" in modern colloquial Polish ("Pocałuj mnie w dupę!" - considered very rude).

2. Uwijać się jak w ukropie - ("ukrop" - boiling water) - to move/work very intensely and quickly, especially in a busy environment. Say, you were to prepare a party for a hundred people and you've been told about that half an hour before. That's when you "uwijasz się jak w ukropie".

3. Aż włosy podnosiło - anything that refers to some "hair raising" stimuli/activities. It might be scary (like a sudden scream of a tortured person) or just exciting (like a roller coaster ride, for example).

4. Jak grzyby po deszczu - ("like mushrooms after the rain") - when there is a great abundance of something, when something appears in huge numbers all over the place.

5. Wyszczerzyć zęby - to grin, presenting your teeth: :mrgreen:

6. Wybić (sobie/komuś) coś z głowy - to get rid of some specific idea out of one's mind.

7. Nie suknia zdobi człowieka - that's what you say when you want to emphasize that people shouldn't be judged superficially (for example: by one's clothes). I'm not sure why "odrzekł zimno" is also in bold... it is a separate expression, meaning just "to say something coldly, without warm feelings or simply disapproving".

I hope that it's all clear now.
Brejkam wszystkie rule.

"I love tautologies, they're so ... tautological." Hunef

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pittmirg
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Re: Polish proverbs

Postby pittmirg » 2008-10-17, 18:05

Całuj mnie w rzyć! -> "Kiss my ass!" - has about the same meaning like in English. That's what you'd tell someone if you wanted to get rid of him / strongly disapprove. Notice, that "rzyć" would be most probably replaced by "dupa" in modern colloquial Polish ("Pocałuj mnie w dupę!" - considered very rude).


It reminds me of my late grandmother who often used that somewhat obsolete word.

8. ... kobieta mogła równie dobrze mieć na karku czwarty, jak i ósmy krzyżyk


czwarty krzyżyk, ósmy krzyżyk - literally "fourth cross, eighth cross" (actually krzyżyk is the diminutive form of krzyż "cross"): krzyżyk refers here to a decade. Mieć na karku ósmy krzyżyk - to be in one's eighties.

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BezierCurve
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Re: Polish proverbs

Postby BezierCurve » 2008-10-17, 23:08

Ooops, I missed the last one. Just like Pittmirg wrote, anyway.
Brejkam wszystkie rule.

"I love tautologies, they're so ... tautological." Hunef

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Mulder-21
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Re: Polish proverbs

Postby Mulder-21 » 2008-10-18, 21:21

Lol, these were quite funny in the end. :D

Dziękuję, you guys. :)
Gløgt er gestsins eyga. (Føroyskt orðafelli)
Wise is the stranger's eye. (Faroese saying)
L'occhio dell'ospite è acuto. (Proverbio faroico)
Hosťovo oko je múdre. (Faerské uslovie)

Fluent: Faroese, Danish, English, German
Almost fluent: Norwegian, Swedish
Basic: Slovak (studying), Spanish
Have studied: Hebrew, Russian
Interests: Ukrainian, Romanian, Italian, Albanian, Armenian, Ossetic, Hungarian, Estonian, Baltic languages


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