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What does "ya zha smadia" mean in English?


katie1234
28 Mar 2015 #1
Hi,
My mom (who has since passed) used to say something that sounded like "yazha smadia" as an expression of frustration. She may have been garbling it slightly because she didn't speak Polish, but had picked up just a few phrases from her Polish grandparents who raised her. I believe she told me it meant "Jesus,Mary and Joseph", but I don't think that's right, at least not literally.

Can someone tell me what this means and the correct Polish spelling?
Thanks!
bond 3 | 10
28 Mar 2015 #2
i'm not Polish but i think she wanted to say "Jezus Maria" otherwise i can't relate this to anything else in Polish that would make sense to me.
Looker - | 1,134
28 Mar 2015 #3
I agree with bond - it can be "Jezus Maria" expression - nothing else comes to my mind, and I'm Polish.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph" translation also well illustrate these words.
Roger5 1 | 1,446
28 Mar 2015 #4
Jezus Maria. No doubt about it.
Mike Buzz
31 Aug 2016 #5
My Polish mother and her sisters said the exact same thing. Definitely not "Maria". I got to thinking about it today and thought I would Google it. That's what led me here. The phrase has to have some meaning to it. I catch myself saying it sometime. Mom would be proud.
DominicB - | 2,707
31 Aug 2016 #6
Polish "r" can sound a lot like an English "d", so "Maria" can sound like "Madia". The same with Spanish "r". I used to be a dorm daddy and one on the girls in the dorm was a Mexican called "Maria". The other students used to call her "Muddy" because that's what they think they heard when she said her name, and it sorta stuck.
984562
31 Aug 2016 #7
Let me guess, you say it when you received some kind of news just before you ask what happen?
Perhaps when you dropped something, fell down or someone else did etc. Possibly when you got caught off guard and got scared?

Then your mom would definitely be proud of you, say something like good boy just before correcting your pronunciation that you have failed so miserably at.
Firstwife
26 May 2017 #8
We are Polish, and my parents, who were fluent in Polish, pronounced it this way: Yezoosmadia You-szhefi (Jesus, Mary, Joseph). Sometimes they only said the first part. Also, my dad always used to say "check-i, check-i" when he wanted me to wait & pay attention.
gumishu 13 | 6,138
26 May 2017 #9
"check-i, check-i

it's czekaj or czekej depending on the region your dad was from
Herbaty
27 May 2017 #10
Jezus Maria!

My mother used to utter that, sounding just like you spelled it, but she came from a Serbian speaking home. (she did understand my father's Polish speaking family, though, and they understood her Polo-Serbian pidgin lingo).
khapp411
9 Dec 2020 #11
my great grandmother, grandmother and mother used to say something that sounded like:" Hawke-ay jesuz maria"(with a very ROLLED "R").. which i was told meant Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Slovak.. always heard this when we did something wrong as kids!!!!LOL!
pawian 224 | 24,465
9 Dec 2020 #12
Hawke-ay jesuz maria" meant Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Slovak..

Hawke-ay meant Joseph? In Slovak? Probably not.
Tsieg
13 Mar 2021 #13
My grandmother said the same thing. She was from the town of Koprivnika which when she was born was still in Austria-Hungary
egongos
9 Dec 2022 #14
My dad was Hungarian and this phrase Yezoosmadia then add St. Joseph sounds like what he would say in times of frustration and he said it meant Jesus Mary Joseph
jon357 74 | 22,060
9 Dec 2022 #15
Yezoosmadia

Jezus Maria. You hear people (usually older people) saying it now and again.
Alien 20 | 5,031
10 Dec 2022 #16
older people

Maybe older people, everyone else used to say " kurwa mać" - phrase that performs the same function.
Bhauss
19 Feb 2024 #17
My grandfather used to say something like , Yezoosmadia Christos panna porco dio. I just learned from you all the meaning of Yezoosmadia but does anyone know what the rest of that sentence would mean? I'm sure I'm not spelling it right.
Ironside 53 | 12,420
19 Feb 2024 #18
the rest of that sentence would mean?

too late you weren't interested then, now it is anyone's guess, you should have asked your grandpa when he was still around.
Alien 20 | 5,031
19 Feb 2024 #19
Christos panna porco dio.

Chrystusa panna porodziła, or
Chrystusa Pana porodziła.
pawian 224 | 24,465
20 Feb 2024 #20
My grandfather used to say something like , Yezoosmadia Christos panna porco dio.

And my grandma used to say something like: Dooh shventy zastovau panny maryi. We had a problem how to interpret her words coz she was lisping. Today, at last, we have found out she meant: Duch Święty zmajstrował Pannie Maryi. We are so relieved cos we thought our grandpa was saying sth indecent.


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