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Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation


Feniks  1 | 545
2 May 2024   #1651
How did the idiom come into being ????

I have no idea.

A clue is that the term originates in a very non-standard form of Polish that has its own name for things.

I have no idea about this either. I thought maybe you meant Lechitic languages but I don't think you do. Still can't get the 'spider' either.
OP pawian  221 | 25006
2 May 2024   #1652
I have no idea.

That`s what a proud and courageous Brit says! With such people like you Churchill defeated Nazis (in alliance with Poles and Ams, of course). You are a guessing role model for other posters. :):):)

Coz you are such, I will tell you that it came into being in 1960s when youngsters started playing big beat on their electric guitars. Before the rehearsal or actual concert, they had to connect their instruments to amplifiers. And then they checked on each other if everything was well connected.

Your guitar plays??
Yes, everything`s OK!!
Good!

jon357  73 | 22992
2 May 2024   #1653
Lechitic languages but I don't think you do

No. A way of speaking used by a very specific group of people, all of them with chequered histories.

Think of a spider's web made of metal.

Poles and Ams

People always forget the Canadians and Indians.
Feniks  1 | 545
3 May 2024   #1654
And then they checked on each other if everything was well connected.

OK, thanks for the explanation.

A way of speaking used by a very specific group of people, all of them with chequered histories.

Prison slang?
Feniks  1 | 545
3 May 2024   #1655
Prison slang?

Grypsera?
Feniks  1 | 545
3 May 2024   #1656
Think of a spider's web made of metal.

A wheel? I keep thinking this is some kind of transport.
jon357  73 | 22992
3 May 2024   #1657
Poles and Ams

Grypsera?

Yes! Though more often nowadays it's just called gryps. At least it is in Warsaw; the language (and even the name for the language) varies from place to place.

wheel

Something fixed and immobile.

Edit. It's a metal grill fixed on the outside of a cell window.
mafketis  38 | 10930
3 May 2024   #1658
Though more often nowadays it's just called gryps.

I first heard it called 'gryps' (in a very non-Warsaw part of Poland) long before I knew the name 'grypsera'.... so that's not new at all.

One online dictionary gives 'złodziej strychowy' for 'pająk' though I'm not sure what that is... maybe a cat burglar?

There was an early 90s movie with a gymnast who became a cat burglar (for a good cause) called 'pajęczarki' so....
OP pawian  221 | 25006
4 May 2024   #1659
I first heard it called 'gryps' (in a very non-Warsaw part of Poland) long before I knew the name 'grypsera'.

Gryps is a secret message on a little piece of paper that an inmate sends out of prison, usually through a mate who leaves.

Grypsera is the jargon of inmates. E.g,, what is anchor in inmates` language??
jon357  73 | 22992
4 May 2024   #1660
maybe a cat burglar?

Sort of. More people who burgle the top floor flat in apartment buildings. The reason some top floor flats have a pająk over the window.

a secret message on a little piece of paper

It can be, however the language is usually called gryps rather than grypsera by insiders nowadays. A very fast evolving language and with distinct variants from prison to prison.
mafketis  38 | 10930
4 May 2024   #1661
Gryps is a secret message on a little piece of paper

When I heard it the person (not a prisoner but someone who was visiting for work reasons) referred to some words they had learned as 'gryps'... I've heard similar usage over the years....
Feniks  1 | 545
4 May 2024   #1662
It's a metal grill fixed on the outside of a cell window.

I'd never have got that one!

The reason some top floor flats have a pająk over the window.

Not just confined to cells then.
jon357  73 | 22992
4 May 2024   #1663
Not just confined to cells then.

A big thing in Polish cities where people don't generally have contents insurance.

Another gryps word is "Cadillac" (a single bed in a cell), and one of the better known ones is "kosa"; can you guess what it means?

Sometimes prisoners say "nie zarzucać, idę na krótko" or "nie zarzucać, idę na ostro". When do they say this?
Feniks  1 | 545
4 May 2024   #1664
kosa"

Knife?

When do they say this?

Does this have anything to do with eating?
jon357  73 | 22992
4 May 2024   #1665
Knife?

Yes.

Does this have anything to do with eating?

Yes. Zarzucać is about eating.

They aren't the most delicate of sentences.
Feniks  1 | 545
5 May 2024   #1666
Another easy one.

To hold two magpies by the tail. What does it mean?
gumishu  15 | 6167
6 May 2024   #1667
To hold two magpies by the tail.

I'm far from being an expert, but shouldn't that read: "To catch(grab?) two magpies by one tail"
mafketis  38 | 10930
6 May 2024   #1668
hold two magpies by the tail. What does it mean?

two birds, one stone....
Feniks  1 | 545
7 May 2024   #1669
shouldn't that read: "To catch(grab?) two magpies by one tail"

In Polish the idiom is: trzymać dwie sroki za ogon

I think the translation is correct? I think there are other versions of this idiom though.

two birds, one stone.

Yep :) Or to deal with several matters at the same time.
gumishu  15 | 6167
7 May 2024   #1670
trzymać dwie sroki za ogon

well, maybe you know something that I do not, but I never encountered it in this form, but rather this form: "Złapać dwie sroki za jeden ogon"
OP pawian  221 | 25006
7 May 2024   #1671
but I never encountered it in this form,

Catch or hold, both are correct.

pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/trzyma%C4%87_dwie_sroki_za_ogon
Feniks  1 | 545
14 May 2024   #1672
Another easy one.

' Where dogs bark with their asses' - what does it mean?
Alien  23 | 5596
16 May 2024   #1673
Where dogs bark with their asses

This doesn't mean anything to me.
Feniks  1 | 545
16 May 2024   #1674
That does surprise me unless it's not commonly used these days.

In Polish:

'Tam gdzie psy dupami szczekają'

If no-one else has a go I'll post the meaning.
gumishu  15 | 6167
16 May 2024   #1675
'Tam gdzie psy dupami szczekają'

it means more or less the same thing as "Tam gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc" (Where the devil says good night")
jon357  73 | 22992
17 May 2024   #1676
diabeł mówi dobranoc

Where the crows don't fly...
Feniks  1 | 545
20 May 2024   #1677
it means more or less the same thing as "Tam gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc" (

Correct! A remote backwater. Somewhere in the ass end of nowhere.
Lyzko  41 | 9561
21 May 2024   #1678
A similar expression exists in German, lit. "A place where the hares and the foxes bid each other a good night".
OP pawian  221 | 25006
22 May 2024   #1679
' Where dogs bark with their asses'

I see it has become trendy in the forum to exploit ass topics.... :):):):)

A famous Pole said once - it all starts with an ass and ends with it too. I don`t remember who said it without googling.
Feniks  1 | 545
27 May 2024   #1680
A new one:

'Like aunt in Czechia' - what does it mean?

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