Polish words that sound funny?

I was recently talking to a (Polish) girl in work and somehow the word "chimney" came into the conversation, at which point she started laughing, because it sounds "funny". Anybody have any words they thought sounded funny when they were/are learning english/polish? For me, I always thought "chciałbym" sounded funny. Dunno why.

"Jako tako" (so-so)

Chimney sounds a bit like the Polish word ciemny, meaning dark. There's also a good reason why Polish people find the English word cheaper quite funny..

Why's that?

(Sorry, my Polish is still at the horrendous stage)

Sounds like cipa, which is a fairly mild word for part of the female anatomy.

oh wait, i think i know. But even with an Irish accent? I can understand that with an English accent it sounds like that....

It does! But if you vocalise the final r it doesn't. Same with the surnames Pinder and Cooper. Meaning, respectively, the same body part, and turd.

Whatever the accent, the word web sounds like łeb, a horses head, and the first name Ria sounds like ryja, meaning snout. Roy can sound a bit like the Polish word for swarm, as in bees.

kutafon, szmaciarz, zdzira, głąb, padalec , lodziara, małokutasiński

Puscidupa and klota can make people laugh too. Tresiportka too (one who shakes their kniockers). Also barłoźyć się. My ex used a (village slang) word once (about Renata Beger, who we met at a party) which means a woman who looks ok from a distance but a hag from close up. Wish I could remember it.

A Pole years ago told me never to say "Tea? Who you, yer bunny?" With good reason.

Not exactly English words that sound funny in Polish but entire Japanese song and what it sounds like in Polish.

but what I mean is, this girl found the word chimney funny only because she found it funny to hear and say it, not because it sounded similar to some polish words.


What does this mean?

I still remember telling a group of young girls i had bought a cheap car...

caused a few giggles....

Too obscene to translate...

For some reason when I pronounced the word Wino above a booze shop the english way(which I thought was a funny name for an offy...) my friend nearly pee'd herself laughing......still baffled,something to do with a sore belly was all i got from her mime.....

Very appropriate to say when stopped by the police for a minor traffic offence.

got to agree now I think about it.....does sound like a vocalisation of the after effects of drinking too much fizzy soda then vurping a little....

haha cool i'll wait for herself to get home from work :)

on a slightly different note, about 3 years ago when i started seeing my girl, she asked me to read "oczywiscie", which (as i'd had zero experience of reading polish) i pronounced as OK-SEE-WHY-SKI. now whenever we're in a conversation with other people about me learning Polish this story is ALWAYS brought up :)

Also, just thought i'd share this - I have awful trouble saying "do you want another drink" (ja wannanudder drink) after only 2-3 drinks

for me its asking to see an old geezers breasts !!!!! ( "First" p.p diw badge :) )

sorry isthatu2, i dont understand this :(

The Polish for Breasts and First sound almost the same,one little letter difference :)

Besides the ones that sound somewhat similar or close to ones native language the ones that are also very funny are the ones you can make literal translation into Polish or vice versa. For me words like (turtleneck, guerilla war) etc, at least that was the case when I was learning the language, but I imagine words like (samochód) to a native English speaker who is learning Polish language must also sound funny.

actually here's another one........pociąg

£ajno means dung!

A long time ago I tried to tell a rather grand old lady, a retired Central Commitee member's wife, that I was a Northerner, and coined the word Północnik. It doesn't exist, and if it did it would mean half a chamber pot.


As funny sounding as Obciągnąć (obchongnonch), which means to give a blow job.

haha yeah actually, sounds asian not polish.

any more like that?

keep 'em coming!

also, any words people found funny when learning english?

Try barłoźyć się, to canoodle. The Poles are quite good at giving nicknames. There used to be a stern barmaid in one of the city pubs called Stalowa Podpaska, meaning Steel Jamrag.

Działało.

Sounds more Chinese than Polish.

The name of princess-to be, Kate Middleton's sister Pippa . The name Pippa (comes from Philippa) in Polish means female genital organ-pipa with the same pronunciation.

It makes me laugh everytime I read or hear the name, which happens often lately :).

Me and my Polish mate were walking down a canal tow path. He asked me what a particular acquatic bird was wading on the surface of the canal.

I replied 'It's a swan'.

He burst out laughing - I had no idea why. He then explained that my pronunciation of 'swan' was exactly the same as 'słoń', meaning 'elephant'.

He just imagined an elephant swimming down the canal - it must have been an image!

Language is full of unexpected moments.

hahaha that reminds me years ago I toasted a Serbian drinking buddy with 'Slainte'.
'Why you say me small elephants?' he said, all confused. ;)

Is that 'Slainte' Irish for Cheers?!

I'm half Irish and have heard loads of 'craic' (crack) over in the Emerald Isle....


this brings on a gastronomic theme.....

The Northern Welsh word for microwave is the splendid onomatopoeic word 'popty ping'!!! Make sure you accentuate the final 'ping'! Somehow the sound of the microwave has become incorporated into the word...

Japanese:

Did Japanese a few years ago, and came across loads of funny words, meaning they sounded funny to myself.

The equivalent of the English word 'is' is 'desu' with a silent 'u' - pronounced 'dess', and is usually put at the end of a sentence.

'I am a stewardess' is 'Wa-ta-shi wa su-chu-wa-h-de-s de-s(u)'.

telephone number is 'denwo bango'.

German

One only word which does give me a wry smile is 'dudelsack' (bagpipes).

French

The French word for paperclip is 'trombone' - a paperclip does look like a trombone, or is that the other way round (n'est pas?).

Please, keep to the original topic. Thank you.

Przepraszam!

I got carried away!!!! ;-)