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Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation


rozumiemnic  8 | 3875
28 Jun 2020   #841
I don't think it means anything pawian. I have certainly never heard it as an expression.
Lenka  5 | 3540
28 Jun 2020   #842
Think about boxing...
rozumiemnic  8 | 3875
28 Jun 2020   #843
Ahhh...something like...to be KO'd?

To be finished?

In English there us the saying 'to throw in the towel' also from boxing..also meaning to finish doing something that was v hard ...
Lenka  5 | 3540
28 Jun 2020   #844
Yes :) At least I think so. Sometimes I have a problem with recognising the saying :P
OP pawian  221 | 26094
29 Jun 2020   #845
Yes, Lenka and rozumiemnic, you are both right, the idiom takes its origin from a defeated boxer who is lying in the ring after KO. Today it is used in other contexts, also political, e.g., elections. Who is lying on the planks/floorboards after the first round?

Also, I read this one in a commentary:
He was already in the garden and about to meet the goose - who does this idiom refer to?
kaprys  3 | 2076
30 Jun 2020   #846
@pawian
It describes a situation when you fail shortly before achieving or succeeding in something and it's a line from a fable about a fox.
OP pawian  221 | 26094
30 Jun 2020   #847
Yes, of course! The fox was so close..... when: BANG! hahaha

Another election context:
What is: Little Warsaw, Little Krakow?

Another one: sth is worth a pound of tangled hair
kaprys  3 | 2076
30 Jun 2020   #848
@pawian
I'll leave kłaki but I'm kind of confused with little Warsaw and little Kraków. The previous might be 'warszafka' but the latter can't be krakufka; )
OP pawian  221 | 26094
30 Jun 2020   #849
Not Krakófka, but it`s a close one. Try masculine form .:)

Next one before I forget: sb/sth is going/driving on vapours.
Chemikiem
1 Jul 2020   #850
sth is worth a pound of tangled hair

Something is worthless?

sb/sth is going/driving on vapours.

Running on fumes or running on empty?
OP pawian  221 | 26094
1 Jul 2020   #851
Yes, and yes.

OK, if you have come back to guessing, let get orderly and I will use one of my fav books which I have just finished reading to kids. Tumbo From Good Hope Cape.

easy one first: to throw an eye
kaprys  3 | 2076
1 Jul 2020   #852
@pawian
Keeping to the spelling mistake in warszafka, I'd totally use krakufka. It's kind of derogatory so with spelling mistakes.
I'll leave it to others, though.
OP pawian  221 | 26094
1 Jul 2020   #853
No, let`s solve it right now, we won`t wait, life is too short.
It is Krakówek. With Warszawka, they are contemptuous expressions about pseudo elites from those cities - pretending to be rich and educated. hahaha
Ziemowit  14 | 3936
1 Jul 2020   #854
Krakówek

Very funny. A propos, have you already had a dig into your famous mounds to see how many Celtic warriors are buried inside them?
Chemikiem
1 Jul 2020   #855
to throw an eye

Cast a cursory glance over something?
Ironside  50 | 12493
1 Jul 2020   #856
Something is worthless?

not worth of a bucket of warm spit.

Cast a cursory glance over something?

yes
Chemikiem
1 Jul 2020   #857
not worth of a bucket of warm spit.

Didn't some politician say that? I've heard it before......
Ziemowit  14 | 3936
1 Jul 2020   #858
I have NEVER heard it before. Some sick politicians must have said it.
Chemikiem
1 Jul 2020   #859
Just looked it up. It wasn't a politician it was a US vice president, John Nance Garner.
mafketis  38 | 11107
1 Jul 2020   #860
A US vice president is by definition a politician....
OP pawian  221 | 26094
3 Jul 2020   #861
to see how many Celtic warriors are buried inside them?

They don`t need to dig, it is enough to use scanners now. Only one body was found - Krak`s. And his pet dragon`s next to it.

It is Krakówek. With Warszawka,

It seems Mr President reads our forum coz one day after we had mentioned it here he used the expression krakówek.

wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,143907,26096422,duda-mowil-o-krakowku-i-warszawce-prof-bralczyk-bez-watpienia.html:
Chemikiem
4 Jul 2020   #862
What is meant by Bear's favour?
OP pawian  221 | 26094
4 Jul 2020   #863
A favour which brings more harm than good. In one of La Fontaine`s fables, a bear wants to kill a fly which bothers his human friend, but as it uses a heavy rock, it kills both the man and the fly.


  • 60b56624c31a954ca500.jpg
OP pawian  221 | 26094
6 Jul 2020   #864
Again, election fever context: to make sb into a balloon.
Chemikiem
7 Jul 2020   #865
A favour which brings more harm than good.

Yes, you are correct of course.

to make sb into a balloon.

I think it's pretty much like 'to turn someone into a horse'. To make a fool of somebody? Deliberately duping or misleading them?

This is an easy one:

A bad ballerina blames the hem of her skirt.
gumishu  15 | 6193
8 Jul 2020   #866
To make a fool of somebody

you are genius, Pam - nothing short of

an I'm not being ironic
OP pawian  221 | 26094
8 Jul 2020   #867
today two idioms were used at the lunch table:

give sb into the bone.
give sb school

Chemikiem
8 Jul 2020   #868
an I'm not being ironic

Are you sure you don't mean sarcastic ;-)

give sb into the bone.

Give somebody a hard time? To punish them?

give sb school

To put someone through the mill, to treat them harshly?
OP pawian  221 | 26094
11 Jul 2020   #869
Yes and yes, actually both have similar meanings.

How about this one:
to horseradish sb.
Chemikiem
12 Jul 2020   #870
to horseradish sb.

To give someone a bollocking, to reprimand them?

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