misleading differences between Polish and English languages

panienka wrote:

When English says absolutely it means yes
When Polish says absolutnie it means no
When English says actually it means in fact
When Polish says aktualnie it means currently
When English says accurate it means precise
When Polish says akurat it means no,you are wrong
When English says ordinary it means usual
When Polish says ordynarny it means rude,unkind
When English says curve it means bend
When Polish says kurwa it means....
Why it's so misleading

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Mar 14, 08, 14:54 / #
When English says absolutely it means yes When Polish says absolutnie it means no When English says actually it means in fact When Polish says aktualnie it means currently When English says accurate it means precise When Polish says akurat it means no,you are wrong When English says ordinary it means usual When Polish says ordynarny it means rude,unkind When English says curve it means bend When Polish says kurwa it means.... Why it's so misleading

tornado2007Threads: 20 Posts: 3,497 Joined: Jul 11, 07	Mar 14, 08, 14:56 / #
panienka wrote: When English says absolutely it means yes When Polish says absolutnie it means no When English says actually it means in fact When Polish says aktualnie it means currently When English says accurate it means precise When Polish says akurat it means no,you are wrong When English says ordinary it means usual When Polish says ordynarny it means rude,unkind When English says curve it means bend When Polish says kurwa it means.... Why it's so misleading what are you basing this on Panienka??? with respect you haven't been to england, lol :)

VincentThreads: 15 Posts: 1,606 Joined: Sep 9, 07 [Moderator]	Mar 14, 08, 16:03 / #
That is very interesting Panienka...do you know of any more?

tornado2007Threads: 20 Posts: 3,497 Joined: Jul 11, 07	Mar 14, 08, 16:17 / #
Ow right i see, what you mean, reading over them again i have noticed, lol. i can even finish this off for you, lol, kurwa is whore :) Before i didn't have a clue what it represented, i thought it was the same word written twice like in English then two different meanings, a little like when men say yes it means yes and when women say yes it means maybe :) there must be more of these, i wonder it its in Polish only!!

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Mar 15, 08, 04:08 / #
Vincent wrote: do you know of any more? combine - join kombinować - contrive

DublinjohnThreads: - Posts: 91 Joined: Feb 5, 08	Mar 15, 08, 04:42 / #
Ok in English means middle, neither good nor bad Ok in Polish means good my favorite though, is in Polish when "No" means yes

JustysiaSThreads: 15 Posts: 2,868 Joined: Oct 14, 07 MEMBER	Mar 15, 08, 04:47 / #
i remembered about one that sounds exactly the same both in English and Polish but it means something completely different... whistle and łysol (a bald man)

szarlotkaThreads: 14 Posts: 3,340 Joined: Feb 20, 07	Edited by: szarlotka Mar 15, 08, 05:03 / #
Brat is Polish for brother (I think), in English it's used to describe a nasty little spoilt child. In my brother's case he used to fit both well

MareGaeaThreads: 45 Posts: 5,529 Joined: Feb 6, 08	Edited by: MareGaea Mar 15, 08, 07:19 / #
panienka wrote: Why it's so misleading It's not misleading, that would imply that the evolution of languages had the sole purpose of deceiving you. It's just due to the fact that they are totally different languages, not even part of the same family. I myself wonder while learning Polish why there is absolutely no recognisable word (except the load-words) in Polish. M-G (it's all one big set-up!) Edit: the part of the not recognisable words is not entirely true, I just figured. When I try to learn Polish with my own native language, Dutch, as basis, I find that there ARE some recognisable words: one simple example is Szukaj, the Polish word for search. In Dutch that would be Zoek. The combination oe is in Dutch pronounced like a Polish U. With a little imagination you can figure out what Szukaj means without using a dictionairy.

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07	Mar 15, 08, 07:34 / #
Who, you? - sounds like an innocent question in English, but like a nasty insult in Polish Cheaper may mean less expensive in English, but in Polish, again, you might sound like you're saying something slightly rude. Słoń is elephant, not swan. Nothing rude about that. panienka wrote: combine - join kombinować - contrive C'est combien - how much is that? - French!

JustysiaSThreads: 15 Posts: 2,868 Joined: Oct 14, 07 MEMBER	Mar 17, 08, 13:44 / #
pet in English is a dog or a cat or a hamster, or any animal you keep in the house pet in Polish is a fag Gary is an English/American name gary in Polish is saucepans or pots ;)

tornado2007Threads: 20 Posts: 3,497 Joined: Jul 11, 07	Mar 17, 08, 14:02 / #
z_darius wrote: Polish kant English cunt Polish PiS English piss (these actually seem to be synonyms at times) Polish mak English muck i totally get where your coming from there :) JustysiaS wrote: Gary is an English/American name gary in Polish is saucepans or pots ;) lol, a name that means something in another language

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07	Mar 17, 08, 14:33 / #
z_darius wrote: Polish kant English cunt You're not really going to mistake these two either in writing or orally. JustysiaS wrote: gary in Polish is saucepans or pots To pot (verb: to put plants in pots) Pot - Polish for sweat / perspire. - Osiol (bringing a bit of horticulture to the forum, again and again and again and again)

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Edited by: panienka Mar 17, 08, 14:41 / #
osiol wrote: - Osiol hmm, by the way i think pronunciation of donkey is similar to Polish domki (small houses) ;)

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Mar 15, 08, 11:57 / #
i remember also: capture - seize kaptur - hood

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Mar 17, 08, 08:19 / #
panienka wrote: wrote: combine - join kombinować - contrive actually, kombinować as contrive is of secondary or tertiary meaning. Kombinowac primarilly has exactly the same meaning as English combine i.e. łączyć różne elementy w określoną całość. In both languages the word is of Latin origin. panienka wrote: When Polish says akurat it means no,you are wrong I dunno. It MAY mean that, but this is not the primary meaning of the word. Kinda like English "yeah, right". Back to misleading ones: Polish kant English cunt Polish PiS English piss (these actually seem to be synonyms at times) Polish mak English muck

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Mar 17, 08, 13:56 / #
right JustysiaS, in fact i didn't realise hehe

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07	Mar 17, 08, 15:08 / #
panienka wrote: i think pronunciation of donkey is similar to Polish domki That may be better than it being likened to the word 'bąki'.

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Mar 17, 08, 21:08 / #
osiol wrote: That may be better than it being likened to the word 'bąki'. bonk - bąk

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,410 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Mar 17, 08, 23:11 / #
ham (hog'a rump) - ham (an @s$hole-person) but why is it misleading? hmm.. these are totaly different languages and really none of these words sound the same.. similar, sure but not the same. practice your pronunciation. the meanings are completely different too. hmm..

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Edited by: panienka Mar 18, 08, 08:57 / #
plk123 wrote: but why is it misleading? because when i was learning English i was sure actually means aktualnie etc. , it might be a bit helpful for some people :)

tornado2007Threads: 20 Posts: 3,497 Joined: Jul 11, 07	Mar 18, 08, 11:48 / #
z_darius wrote: bonk - bąk lol, thought Bak, was a polish centre back, and yes the commentators do pronounce it bonk!! panienka wrote: but why is it misleading? because when i was learning English i was sure actually means aktualnie etc. , it might be a bit helpful for some people :) i wondered the same thing too, i learnt French at school and there not that many misleading words that were both very similar but meant two totally different things in both English/\|French. Although i guess i've never thought of it like you have. Maybe its just an english/polish thing, lol, a secret mesaage!!

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Mar 18, 08, 13:40 / #
In English 'No' means 'Nie', in Polish 'No' means 'Well?', 'So, uh..' e.g. 'No, co słychać?' = So, what's up?

polishgirltx	Mar 18, 08, 13:43 / #
Marek wrote: 'No' means 'Well?' 'no' does not means 'well'.... it means 'yes'.... but: 'No to co slychac?' = "So, what's up?'

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Mar 18, 08, 13:47 / #
polishgirltx wrote: 'no' does not means 'well'. Marek is right. "no" has more meanings than just "yes".

polishgirltx	Mar 18, 08, 13:50 / #
z_darius wrote: "no" has more meanings than just "yes". ok...could you give me a few more examples?

panienkaThreads: 2 Posts: 215 Joined: Mar 4, 08	Mar 18, 08, 13:52 / #
i think z_darius is right, we can say "no nie wiem..." etc. :)

polishgirltx	Mar 18, 08, 13:56 / #
yes....i checked.... 'no' itself means yes or well... but when combined with other words, means different stuff.... you're right guys

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Mar 18, 08, 13:57 / #
polishgirltx wrote: ok...could you give me a few more examples? No tak (it doesn't mean "yes yes") No... siadaj (well, sit down) No i co ja mu powiem? (and what am I going to tell him?) No i sie spierdolilo (and so it got fvucked up)