tomekcatkins 8 | 130 19 Aug 2009 #1Do you know funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language? I found two:1) Parasol / parasolka (przeciwsłoneczna) - 'para (el) sol' means 'for the sun' in Spanish, but the Polish use the name for an umbrella. The word 'parasolka (przeciwsłoneczna)' (little parasol (against the sun)) refers to a sunshade on the other hand.2) Prysznic - The Polish word for shower refers to the surname of a Czech hydrotherapisten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenz_Priessnitzwhile in most other languages the word for shower is derived from the Italian 'doccia' (from the Latin 'ducere' - 'to lead/guide')en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ducere
benszymanski 8 | 465 19 Aug 2009 #2but the Polish use the name for an umbrellaand ironically "umbrella" which in English we use to shield from rain comes from the latin "umbella" meaning "shade, shadow".
OP tomekcatkins 8 | 130 19 Aug 2009 #3Well, now that's interesting! Didn't know that. Then the French word 'parapluie' (pluie = rain) makes more sense. :P
Piorun - | 658 19 Aug 2009 #4How about ekstrahuje form of ekstrahowaćwhich reminds me of a jokePodchodzi sprzątaczka do laboranta:sprzątaczka - Co Pan robi?laborant - EkstraHUJEsprzątaczka -To ja poproszę dwa!
OP tomekcatkins 8 | 130 19 Aug 2009 #5Could you explain what's curious about the 'ekstrahuje'-form of 'ekstrahować' in English, Piorun? :-)Does 'huje' has something to do with 'chuje' or something?
Myszolow 3 | 157 20 Aug 2009 #6Does 'huje' has something to do with 'chuje' or something?h and ch are pronounced the same in Polish so anything with that ending gets a schoolboy snigger. ;)My wife was telling me about a hilarious latin lesson when they were learning the declension of hic, haec, hoc. And someone had to read it out without laughing. It goes something like this...hic haec hochunc hanc hochujus hujus hujushuic huic huichoc hoc hoc...bet it was hilarious.
mafketis 37 | 10,875 20 Aug 2009 #7Does 'huje' has something to do with 'chuje' or something?ekstrahuje sounds just like 'ekstra chuje' (where ekstra means something like 'great!' 'wonderful!')and while the 'correct' spelling is chuj the tradition in grafitti has usually been to write it huj, so it even looks like ...
cinek 2 | 347 20 Aug 2009 #8Do you know funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language'Rower' (bicycle) is derived from name of a manufacturer of bicycles (Rover).Cinek
benszymanski 8 | 465 20 Aug 2009 #9Here's another strange thing I noticed in Polish - words such as "biznesmen" to mean a businessman. For some reason they adopted the plural "men" and not "man" which doesn't seem that logical to me. Same thing with "supermen" where you hear things such as "on jest supermenem".I guess that the reason for this could be that "men" is the more natural sound in Polish, but then how comes they went with "man" in barman and barmanka?
mafketis 37 | 10,875 20 Aug 2009 #10I think it might be vowel harmony,basically Polish doesn't have the sound in English 'man' and to Poles it sounds like either Polish a or e depending on the context and the choice of e or a in borrowings from English seems to depend on the previous vowelbarmanrockman (rocker)dżentelmen (gentleman)biznesmensupermenThere might be some exceptions but I think that makes some sense.
OP tomekcatkins 8 | 130 21 Aug 2009 #11The Americans tend to speak the 'a' as an 'e', so maybe the Polish adopted the "American pronunciation".As well I believe the British pronounce the 'a' in 'gentleman' more as an 'u' (as in 'run') then as an 'a'.
Sasha 2 | 1,083 21 Aug 2009 #14So your answer is yes. :) That's interesting... I didn't any other Slavs used it in this meaning, a lot understand though.
Polonius3 994 | 12,367 22 Aug 2009 #16Sasha - Kak nazywajetsja eto pa russki? Chwost?(What's it in Russian - khvost?)Doesn't tusz (as in wziąć tusz) exist in Polish anymore for shower? Presumably from French douche. I think I saw it in Dyzma, but maybe that was pre-war Polish.
Lorenc 4 | 28 22 Aug 2009 #17I'd like to make some side remarks prompted by the etymologies quoted by tomekcatkins in the first message. First, according to Polish Wikipedia pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasol the Polish word "parasol" comes from Italian "parasole":"Słowo parasol pochodzi od włoskiego parasole co dosłownie znaczy słońcochron."In turn, the Italian word "parasole" is composed by "para-", a common prefix meaning "to shelter" and "sole" (sun).I don't know if Italian "parasole" is truly an Italian invention or if it was taken by some other (necessarily romance) language. In any case, as far as I know, the common words for it in Spanish are quitasol or sombrilla.About "doccia", according to the Garzanti dictionary, it comes from Latin "ductione(m)", in meaning (water) duct/pipe [naturally, ductionem does ultimately come from "ducere"=to conduct/lead, so the quoted etymology is not incorrect].Turning to Polish, something a noticed in my little experience with it is that it sometimes (often?) uses different words than most other European languages, including slavic ones.Take, for example, the word "moon"/księżyc; its name in other slavic languages is (looking at wikipedia):Polish: KsiężycCzech: MěsícSlovak:MesiacCroatian: MjesecSlovene: LunaBulgarian: ЛунаRussian: ЛунаUkrainian: МісяцьBelorussian: МесяцMacedonian: МесечинаA part from Polish, we can see in all these languages the occurrence of the Latin (and modern Italian, Spanish, French etc.) root "Luna" or of a slavic root exemplified by e.g. Czech Měsíc. Why not in Polish? What's the etymology of księżyc ?
mafketis 37 | 10,875 22 Aug 2009 #18Doesn't tusz (as in wziąć tusz) exist in Polish anymore for shower?Never heard it. I've only heard tusz in the meaning 'ink' (especially computer printers) and 'mascara'.
Sasha 2 | 1,083 23 Aug 2009 #19Not only this one...Russian too. My Czech friend understand that as well.Sasha - Kak nazywajetsja eto pa russki? Chwost?(What's it in Russian - khvost?)Polonius I think I got your logic. :) Did you look up the etymology of the word "huj"?Khvost means "tail". E.g. dog's tail=psiny khvost.Russian: ЛунаActually both: luna and mesjac. Depending on a stage of a month. When it's round it's luna, when it's half or less then mesjac. Although nobody pays attention to that fact and everyone picks the word he wants. Luna is more romantic word I guess... so if you have a stroll with a gall better use "luna".
Polonius3 994 | 12,367 23 Aug 2009 #20I think I read somewhere once that it came form książę - meaning a princely celestial body, but not sure???I know many feel Wikipedia is none too reliable but it does include tusz as shower:TuszNazwa tego hasła odnosi się do więcej niż jednego pojęcia.tusz (farba)rysunek wykonany tuszemkosmetyk do rzęsprysznic, natryskfanfaratouche (szermierka) (czyt. tusz) – dotknięcie przeciwnika broniątusz (zapasy) – położenie przeciwnika na łopatki
Lenka 5 | 3,459 8 Jan 2010 #22"Tuszę" can also mean:"I think","in my opinion" but it's not used today.
vetala - | 382 8 Jan 2010 #23A part from Polish, we can see in all these languages the occurrence of the Latin (and modern Italian, Spanish, French etc.) root "Luna" or of a slavic root exemplified by e.g. Czech Měsíc. Why not in Polish? What's the etymology of księżyc ?'Miesiąc' used to mean 'moon' a long time ago but now it's no longer used in this context (now it means 'month'). It's the same with many other words such as 'lico' old Polish for face, still in use in some other Slavic languages.
Zafrira - | 5 8 Jan 2010 #24According to Wikipedia, the word 'księżyc" centuries ago meant "książę" = "prince". The general name for moon was then, as Vetala wrote, "miesiąc", but every month the moon was believed to be a young son of the former one ("king"), that's why between new moon and the first quarter it was called prince, "księżyc". Later on it became a general name and replaced "miesiąc".
enkidu 7 | 623 9 Jan 2010 #25Fart - sudden struck of luck. Like when you avoid car accident by inches.Then you fart.
barcelonesa 1 Apr 2011 #26But the Spanish word for umbrella is paraguas--literally "para" (for) + "agua" (water).
Chrzaszcz 12 | 103 6 Nov 2011 #27Of course, the English word 'Lunatic' has derived from 'lunaticus' believing the moon has an effect on mental health.There was once a Lunacy Act 1890-1922.
sa11y 5 | 331 21 Aug 2012 #29[Moved from]: What are your favorite lines in Polish movies?Polish movies (especially those from communist era) have very specific kind of humor.Have you got any favorite lines that you could share with the rest of us?One of my favorites is "Kopernik Byla kobieta! ("Copernicus was a women!") from "Seksmisja".Other good one: "Londyn? Nie ma takiego miasta Londyn! Jest Lądek, Lądek Zdrój! (London? There is no such town as London. There is Lądek, Lądek Zdrój!) - this is from "Miś".