WHO AND WHEN COINED THE TERM DUPEK?

The expletive arsehole frequently heard in English-language films so copiously present on Polish TV these days is probably what led to some translator thinking up the word dupek. Probably some time in the 1990s. As far as I know, prior to then, only the terrm półdupek had existed in Polish. Anyone recall when they first heard the term dupek?

It's much older than that, probably way pre-WW2, and has nothing to do with półdupek. Most European languages have this sort of ass-associated term for a nasty, stupid, arrogant person.

Wasn,t me....honest....

I first heard it in 1992 (I want to say late summer, early autumn) in a line for a phone (I was second in line when the guy and the phone kept talking and talking. When the guy ahead of me finally got to the phone, he apologized for not calling earlier but some 'dupek' had been hogging the line. I had never heard the expression before but it was pretty clear what was meant.

Since then I've been told by a few people that the implications of dupek are less nastiness and arrogance (defining features of an asshole) than general stupidity (of the kind that inconveniences others).

Generally in translating American 'asshole' into Polish, I think cham or palant would be better.

Have you ever seen dupek in any pre-1990s dictionary of slang or colloquial Polish?

Where the hell do you get your 'revelations' from ? I heard and used the word when I was in my primary school (the eighties), it's also a slang term for 'jack' at cards.

SOrry, I never had the privilege of attending a primary school in Poland, but I do no recall the term being used widely (if at all) in TV voice-overs prior to the 1990s. I was simply requesting confirmation of my suspicion. The purpsoe of this forum is to learn things you didn't know earlier, innit?

BTW I no knwo fo the playing card connection.

Taking your information about Poland from TV productions is not the best source, don't you think ? Besides there was strong censorship, which not only included chopping off anything that was politically suspicious, but also stronger swearwords (there were exceptions, mind you).


So now you know.

Voice over translations (and subtitles too I imagine) were very ... prissy until sometime in the 1990's.

I remember reading letters to the editor in the early 90's complaining about crude expressions like 'strzelić w łeb' appearing in voice over translations (there was no thought about whether this was an appropriate translation of the original, just that it was crude and should be made more ladylike).

Translations also maintained rigorous use of the vocative although this isn't used that much in everyday Polish (and I knew a translator who got into trouble for not using the vocative, the fact that his usage was clolser to everyday usage didn't matter).

I even heard of translation of the words 'Oh, f*ck' as 'Jezu Chryste' in one of movies. I'm not sure if it's true or just an urban legend.

The tv translations are known for being really bad, so it might have been the case, but personally I think I have heard that word before...

Speaking of translations: "Die hard" (the movie with Bruce Willis) was called "Szklana pułapka" in Polish ("glass trap", it makes some sense, as "die hard" is actually hard to translate into Polish properly, also the movie was about a guy trapped in a glass building).

Unfortunately there was "Die harder", about Bruce Willis running around the airport... they called it Szklana Pułapka 2.

Prison Break is Skazany na Śmierć according to the retarded translators (Sentenced to death)... LOL

The best Polish translation I've heard to date is for the well-known classic film "Some Like It Hot" with Marilyn, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

In Poland it became " Pol zartem, pol serio".
Just how did this happen?

translate "jezus chrystus - skazany na smierc" into english ;-)

I will help ya, jesus christ - prison break