There are plenty of Poles with eastern origins, so naturally those with eastern origins, Kiev, Tsarist Russia say Busia. My family even though Polish (from my fathers, mothers side) was Lithuanian, lived and owned property in Russia. Poland-Lithuania was huge in it's time. Some traces excist even today.
For the benefit of those expat PF-ers who for some unknown reason are particularly annoyed by the PolAm term busia (also spelt busha) for granny, in Baltimore there is actually an eatery called Busia's Kitchen. Here is one review or, I should say, reaction:
I've read countless Polish restaurant reviews where the reviewer commented "this is just like being in my busia's kitchen." So I wondered, why has no enterprising restaurateur opened up a restaurant called "Busia's Kitchen"? Then I found one on the Internet. Ha! This is definitely not like MY busia's kitchen! Hey, Baltimore-area members, how's the food from Busia's Kitchen? Please ask them to make a swing through Kalamazoo!
Ah, the famous "busia" again! There was a time when the word became the landmark for the Polish Forum. From then on, the raison d'être of this forum was to attack relentleslly anyone who said that Kopernik, Frederic Chopin, Marie Curie and the word "busia" were Polish. And now you come up with such a discovery! I think you should send your pictures as soon as possible to PO Box 101, Mount Prospect, IL 60056, United States.
I'm all in favour of Americans talking about 'busia'. But I'm utterly baffled why they would want to use a word which has simply never existed in the Polish language to demonstrate their supposed Polishness.
So I wondered, why has no enterprising restaurateur opened up a restaurant called "Busia's Kitchen"? Then I found one on the Internet. Ha!
From what I can see it's not a restaurant, more of a food-truck. And while I'd happily get stuck into a few things on their menu (the kung pao chicken taco would be first I think), the menu isn't all that Polish really. For a start there's no bigos (which I would have thought would be idea for a food truck).
Here's their website: busiaskitchen.com And here's their facebook: facebook.com/pages/Busias-Kitchen/201595189928116
For the benefit of those expat PF-ers who for some unknown reason are particularly annoiyed by the PolAm term busia
We have already established that it is some Polish American slang that most likely started on the other side of the pond. No point digging it any more imo.
I really fancy getting my chops round Busia's Spinach and Feta Quesadilla (in a dinner sense, I wasn't being vulgar, far from it).
It's a pity that the owner doesn't give US food truck classics a bit of a Polish twist (I reckon a bigos burrito could work well) but I suppose she's just serving her customers what they want.
it is some Polish American slang
American. It certainly isn't a Polish word and never has been.
The best pierogi in my opinion are Bolognese ones. Quite traditional in their way too, since they've been made in Lwów since the 1930s. Feta and olive pierogi are good too.
If Americans want to use the word Busia, good luck to them; they can use absolutely any word they want. Even though the word is unknown in Poland.
If Americans want to use the word Busia, good luck to them; they can use absolutely any word they want.
THANK YOU for your permission British jon ! My grandma made the best ever however with the kilo of butter and kilo of sour cream that she added I just had to quit eating them when I got older.
My sister didn't quit in her old age and now if she was an inch taller she would be perfectly round. Our Polish family uses many Polish/American slang words that are not known in Poland. Most of them originated in the factories of Detroit in the 40's & 50's.
Permission granted. Many such words emerge when people in different countries use a language. It's part of the human communicative process. And no reason why Polish or any other Eastern European cuisine should not develop with time as new ingredients and ideas about eating appear.
No PolAm ever said busia was Polish -- it is an indigenous Polish-American term. In the Colonies (USA), Brits are referred to as Limeys although that's not the case in the English Motherland. (In Oz Brits are called pommies BTW.) In Québec there's a sign on a cemetery fence that reads "Défense de trépasser". In continental French that means "dying is prohibited" but in French Canada it is franglais for "No trespassing". The German of the Pennsylvania Dutch as well as Milwaukee Deutsch are not the same as the German of Frankfurt or Berlin. And there are all kinds of pidgin and creole argots that create their own terms for things and have every right to. Only an ignoramus would contend that they must slavishly obey Old Country linguistic patterns.
I'm also a polish American and I heard busha and Jaja ( I know incorrect spelling). Instead of fighting about whether it's real polish or not, be happy that Poland as an idea and a place has spread so far from where it used to be...polish Americans are very proud of their heritage. People left their country but still felt a connection to it... Poland as a romantic idea goes all the way back bc the country didn't have an identity for a long time.
I'm not Polish (can't all be perfect), but I heard busha from my polish friend as a kid, and he learned it at home, during the 1940's. So it's been around for a while.
I find this thread very interesting as I was always under the impression these terms were "real Polish". I'm a 3rd generation American of extremely varied ancestry. My paternal grandfather's family came from farms not far west of Gdansk. My paternal grandmother's father was from Lithuania, and her mother was from somewhere around the Poland/Lithuanian border.
Family lore has it that great-grandfather had an obviously Lithuanian name and was told on the boat coming over that he should change it to sound Polish, because Americans thought Poles to be harder workers than Lithuanians. He did so by ending it in -ski instead of -kus, but a big problem with that was he could barely speak Polish. Great-grandmother's maiden name was Romanovsky, and said that their farm may have straddled the border, because some years the Lithuanian tax collector came, but in others, the Polish tax collector showed up. She spoke Polish but not Lithuanian, and met my great-grandfather in Pittsburgh before coming to Calumet City, Illinois about 1900 when Cal City was almost entirely Polish immigrants.
That being said...in our family, they were Buscia and Dziadzia, and never anything but that. That's what my father, born in 1929, was told to call them for his entire life, and as far as I know, all of my friends of Polish ancestry here referred to either their grandparents or great-grandparents as Buscia and Dziadzia. My grandmother was very anxious for the arrival of our son, her first great-grandchild, so she could be finally called Buscia too.
Calumet city use to be a east euro stronghold. Same with many areas close to downtown Chicago. Most the poles have sinced moved to the suburbs esp on the north side.
My father's father was from Poland. He arrived as a young child in the US. My dad, now in his mid-50s, still refers to his Polish grandmother as "Bushia." I'm spelling that wrong, I'm sure.
Just wanted to point out that he's half Polish/half Italian and the Polish side said "Bushia."
This Bushia word always amazes me when I see it. Poles in Poland don`t use it. So where does it come from? Shorter version of Babusia? But even Babusia is unusual, at least in the area where I come from. Babcia, babunia are standard words. . In a kid book decades ago I read Bunia.
Doesn`t it come from Russian babushka - an old woman/ granny?
