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Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation


mafketis  38 | 11091
7 Jun 2019   #361
Someone always jumping in front of others to get a new position?

Almost the exact opposite actually....
Chemikiem
7 Jun 2019   #362
Someone always last in line because they procrastinated for too long, and others got in first? As Pawian said, tortoise and hare scenario?
mafketis  38 | 11091
7 Jun 2019   #363
no

now I'm thinking this is more limited that I thought (or dated or regional). I used to hear the term zając often used for what might be called a phony candidate for a position. When rules required there be more than one candidate (and there wasn't) somebody had to be found to be a candidate on paper so the position could be legally filled.

Occasionally the zając might not realize that their candidacy is welcome just for that reason while sometimes a person would step into the role knowing what it was.
OP pawian  221 | 25699
7 Jun 2019   #364
I wonder why a ram specifically?

Simple. Ram comes with sheep and as we say sheepish in English, we are getting close to ramish(ed).

I used to hear the term zając often used for what might be called a phony candidate for a position

That`s interesting. Never heard it in this usage.

However, now I have checked zając and in urban slang it means a problem with diarrhea.

miejski.pl/slowo-Zaj%C4%85c
Chemikiem
8 Jun 2019   #365
the term zając often used for what might be called a phony candidate for a position.

Aha, ok, wouldn't have known that one.

Ram comes with sheep and as we say sheepish in English, we are getting close to ramish(ed).

Hmm. Maybe I'm on the wrong tack here, but sheepish and flabbergasted don't mean the same thing, or perhaps everything at this point has gone way over my head!

We all looked at a bare bone like magpies.
OP pawian  221 | 25699
8 Jun 2019   #366
Maybe I'm on the wrong tack here, but sheepish and flabbergasted don't mean the same thing

Well, of course, I didn`t claim it was a scientifically proven linguistic connection,, I just proposed it as a hypothesis. But still, if we take sheepish as embarassed, there is a little liking to flabbergasted, isn`t there? At least when we look at sb`s countenance at the moment.

Your new one should be modified a little: to look at sth like a magpie at a bare bone.
Chemikiem
9 Jun 2019   #367
So that is ' gapić się jak sroka w gnat ' whereas I thought it was ' wszyscy patrzyliśmy jak sroka w gnat '
Ok, thanks for that. Looks like no-one will have a guess though........
OP pawian  221 | 25699
9 Jun 2019   #368
Yes, sroka w gnat. Admit you have found it after our conversation about ramish/sheepish? :):)

To look at sth long and in a dull witted way.

Discussions in other threads reminded me of a few lie idioms, e.g, Lie like hired, lie like from music note sheet,,

Lie means not tell the truth.

And before I forget, a splinter from another thread:
climb down onto the dogs.
Chemikiem
10 Jun 2019   #369
To look at sth long and in a dull witted way.

I have heard your explanation, but also another meaning, to stare in disbelief, as if one could hardly believe one's eyes.

climb down onto the dogs.

Does it mean to sink as low as you can go? To go to the dogs, as in 'this country's going to the dogs' for example?

I will have to think about the others.

Admit you have found it after our conversation about ramish/sheepish? :):)

Of course not! :)
OP pawian  221 | 25699
10 Jun 2019   #370
but also another meaning, to stare in disbelief, as if one could hardly believe one's eyes.

No, I didn`t kow that meaning and to make sure, I checked the online dictionary, there isn`t such, staring is only long, stubborn and thoughtless.

wsjp.pl/index.php?id_hasla=10141

Yes, of course, going to the dogs but the Polish one with that climbing down is nicer, I suppose.

Those others are very easy, how can some guys lie in the forum? :):)

A new one: What do you express with that comment?: Pretty flowers!
10iwonka10  - | 359
11 Jun 2019   #371
A new one: What do you express with that comment?: Pretty flowers!
@ pawian

I thing surprise....astonishment
OP pawian  221 | 25699
12 Jun 2019   #372
Only a little. Some online dictionaries mention astonishment, but it isn`t the main motive behind it.. Pretty flowers can be exchanged with pretty story or pretty plaster/gypsum.
Chemikiem
12 Jun 2019   #373
What do you express with that comment?

Awkwardness, annoyance? Is it like a pretty kettle of fish? A difficult situation?
OP pawian  221 | 25699
12 Jun 2019   #374
Yes, it expresses disapproval, angered disappointment,. My mum always said it about flowers when I did sth stupid at home. Or when she came back from the meeting with my teachers. :):)
Chemikiem
12 Jun 2019   #375
Nah, I bet you were a model student :)

Here is where the buried dog lies.
Lyzko  41 | 9657
12 Jun 2019   #376
Same as in German. Only in English, perhaps an appropriate (if neither colloquial nor idiomatic) translation might be "Ah, there's the rub!"

"Aye,....!" to be more precise:-)
OP pawian  221 | 25699
13 Jun 2019   #377
Nah, I bet you were a model student :)

Model with grades but loser with behaviour - I did silly things for pure fun.. :)

As for buried dog, yes, Łyzko is right because I don`t need to consult a dictionary to remember that phrase: Hier ist der Hund begraben. Or das? It is used when you have found the solution to a problem.

From Saxon (king) to forest.
Lyzko  41 | 9657
13 Jun 2019   #378
"Da liegt der Hund begraben." is the exact translation.
OP pawian  221 | 25699
13 Jun 2019   #379
Yes, I was so close. I didn`t learn German as a child for nought. :)
Lyzko  41 | 9657
13 Jun 2019   #380
Yes you were. Good for you!
:-)
Chemikiem
13 Jun 2019   #381
"Ah, there's the rub!"

It is used when you have found the solution to a problem.

Yep, well done guys :)

Will have to think a bit longer about the Saxon king idiom.....
kaprys  3 | 2076
16 Jun 2019   #382
@Chemikiem
It's actually a saying and the translation is kind of tricky - as 'forest' in this case refers to a surname @pawian
Chemikiem
16 Jun 2019   #383
Thanks Kaprys, but I'm totally stumped by this one!
kaprys  3 | 2076
16 Jun 2019   #384
@Chemikiem
Think about the Polish translation of Saxon as a noun - but the shorter one, the one that rhymes with the Polish word for forest (the word Saxon has two Polish translations)
Chemikiem
16 Jun 2019   #385
That would be 'sas' to rhyme with 'las' then, but I'm still none the wiser......unless it's something to do with the meanings of something being close together in context, sort of like the words varying in only one letter. If you can understand what I'm trying to say here that is!
kaprys  3 | 2076
16 Jun 2019   #386
@Chemikiem
You're right about sas and las :)

Now use it with the prepositions from pawian's translation.
It's an interesting saying as it has some historical background.
Chemikiem
16 Jun 2019   #387
It's an interesting saying as it has some historical background.

I'm sure not to get this then! It is the meaning of the saying that is the point of the thread. 'Sas ", I have discovered, is a Central European coat of arms, and it was borne by Polish-Lithuanian noble families, although this probably isn't relevant at all!

use it with the prepositions from pawian's translation.

Od Sasa do Lasa?

meanings of something being close together in context,

After thinking some more about this, maybe it means that things are going in two completely different directions. If it's not that, I've run out of ideas.
Ironside  50 | 12413
16 Jun 2019   #388
After thinking some more about this,

Chemikiem, pawian is misleading you. From Saxon to Las. i.e. From the elected King of Poland August II ( Elector of Saxony, the Wetting dynasty) to King Stanislaw Leszczynski ( In 1725 Stanisław's daughter Marie Leszczyńska married Louis XV of France. ) during the northern war Poland was in turmoil fighting a civil war with some supporting August II and others supporting Stanislaw I.

Here some wiki info:
the provinces of Lorraine and Bar for life.
In Lorraine, Stanisław proved to be a good administrator and promoted economic development. His court at Lunéville became famous as a cultural centre, and he founded an academy of science at Nancy and a military college. In 1749 he published a book entitled Free Voice to Make Freedom Safe, an outline of his proposed changes in the Polish constitution.

OP pawian  221 | 25699
16 Jun 2019   #389
After thinking some more about this, maybe it means that things are going in two completely different directions.

Yes!

It seems you have done nice research on it because not many people know that the royal connotations of the idiom are secondary. The original saying od sasa do lasa refered to horses in the carriage: sas meant left or slowly while las meant the gate. One horse went left/slowly while the other to the gate.
kaprys  3 | 2076
16 Jun 2019   #390
I've heard both versions of the etymology of the saying (though my history teachee mentioned just but the previous) but if we're to translate it into English, why mix them?

@Chemikiem
Well done :)

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