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Hejka / Nara - a trendy youth greeting in Poland?


Polonius3 994 | 12,367
4 Dec 2011 #1
I've just learnt from Prof. Miodek's TV show on language that hejka is a trendy youth greeting. Are you fmailiar with it? Do you yourself use it? It seems to be the addition of the suffix

-ka to the hippie-era hej. Miodek also noted that English sorry had mutated into sorki and sorka. According to some of the young people in Warsaw interviewed on the show, some said hejka was used mainly towards girls. Do you garee?
Magdalena 3 | 1,837
4 Dec 2011 #2
Hejka and sorki have been around for literally ages... Why don't you get in touch with some Polish teenagers and talk to them directly? They would be the ones to tell you what's really trendy.
Seanus 15 | 19,674
4 Dec 2011 #3
I don't 'garee', no. Is it a dance? I agree with Magda. Hejka is not so new.
TheSosna - | 1
4 Dec 2011 #4
I'm teenager, and IMHO 'hejka' is a bit, you know, stupid. For sure, it's not trendy. I would recommend you to greet your friends by saying 'siema'. It's the best youth greeting.

And to say goodbye use 'nara', 'narka' or 'na razie'. If you would like to learn some polish either informal or formal words, write to my email ;)
smurf 39 | 1,971
4 Dec 2011 #5
The thing I don't get is that I hear people saying it as a way of saying goodbye, now I realise that it's because czesc is one word to use for both hi and goodbye, but saying hej as a way of saying goodbye is something I don't think I'll ever get into the practice of saying. I do say it as a hi though, but that's coz back at home I used to too.
mafketis 36 | 10,707
4 Dec 2011 #6
The thing I don't get is that I hear people saying it as a way of saying goodbye

In my experience hej has always been more common as a leave taking expression rather than a greeting. I assume the same would go for hejka.

The expression I hate, hate, HATE is 'do zobaczyska' .....
smurf 39 | 1,971
4 Dec 2011 #7
In my experience hej has always been more common as a leave taking expression rather than a greeting. I assume the same would go for hejka.

yea, mostly I've heard it as that, sometimes as a greeting tho. Which is a bit weird as I can only presume that it comes from the Americanism of saying "hey" for "hi" As I said I used to use it in Ireland too....I blame the influence of such crap tv as Friends & Scrubs.

do zobaczyska

I can honestly say I don't even attempt to say that as it's far too difficult to pronounce.
gumishu 13 | 6,134
5 Dec 2011 #8
mafketis: do zobaczyska

one of the easier words to pronounce in Polish - should be no problem for an English person to repeat it after hearing it - run it through ivona.com and you'll see
Steveramsfan 2 | 306
5 Dec 2011 #9
Polonius3

My Polish Grammer book thats 15 years old has 'Hej' in as Hi. It says nothing about it being used as goodbye.

My Girlfriend and Ex girlfriend use 'Hej' at the start of emails.
Wroclaw 44 | 5,379
6 Dec 2011 #10
It says nothing about it being used as goodbye.

i use 'hej' 'no hej' and have been doing so for more than twenty years.
lubukamine - | 2
9 Jan 2012 #11
[Moved from]: What does Narka (nara) mean in Polish?

my question is already said on the subject :)
PolishDomains - | 3
9 Jan 2012 #12
it's short form of "na razie" - an informal way to say good bye
"naraziówa" is even more informal
patrick 6 | 113
9 Jan 2012 #14
Is it the same as "tera", "siora" and "herba"? My mother-in-law talks like this all the time.
ColdSteel - | 20
14 Jan 2012 #15
'Tera' and 'zara' are dialectal forms of 'teraz' and 'zaraz'. 'Siora' is slang for 'siostra', 'herba' is a funny abbreviation of herbata. I guess your mother-in-law just speaks like that for fun or she has an inclination for catching some slang.
tesmia - | 4
2 Aug 2012 #16
It's generally used mostly by teenagers and people in their early 20-ies
rybnik 18 | 1,454
2 Aug 2012 #17
i use 'hej' 'no hej' and have been doing so for more than twenty years.

ditto..for hello and goodbye
Eva Aeri - | 14
3 Aug 2012 #18
I'm in my late twenties and I say' hej' 'czesc' 'siema' . My friends who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s also use 'hej', so does my mum who is 60 and even my grandma:) It's a very versatile informal way to say hi to someone you know. ' Hejka is not cool because noone uses it :) Professor Miodek is usually 10 years behind in regards to slang/colloquial expressions:) He's a language purist, so his advice is great when you're writing a novel, not so much when you want to learn which colloquial expressions are in:)
Lyzko
4 Aug 2012 #19
So what's more or less the shade of difference between "Cześć!", "Witaj!", "Hejka" (almost sounds SwedishLOL) and "Czołem"?
Magdalena 3 | 1,837
4 Aug 2012 #20
I would say the meaning is pretty much the same - informal greeting. The difference would lie mainly in the age of the speaker, as each of these greetings was cool at a different time ;-) Of course, they are all used interchangeably, sometimes ironically.
boletus 30 | 1,361
5 Aug 2012 #21
I like the Góral's "hej" - it may mean anything you want, because Górals are such people that they can say "hej" in the "yes" and in "no" meaning. Among Górals "hej" is everywhere. Hej can be a greeting "heheeejjj", milk is "hej" and butter is "hej", "kwaśnica góralska hej", and everything can be "hej".

Just go on youtube and check the Górale songs:
Hej szalała szalała,
Hej Górale
Hej Górale nie bijta się
Hej Malućki, Malućki
Hej bystro woda
Hej ponad regle turnice

But this not only specific to Górals:

Ciągną, ciągną sanie, góralskie koniki
Hej, jadą w saniach panny, przy nich janosiki
Coraz który krzyknie nie wiadomo na co
Hej, echo odpowiada, bo mu za to płacą

Spod kopyt lecą skry, hej lecą skry
Zmarznięta ziemia drży, hej ziemia drży
Dziewczyna tuli się, hej tuli się
...
tekstowo.pl/piosenka,skaldowie,z_kopyta_kulig_rwie.html
Lyzko
5 Aug 2012 #22
Thanks, folks!
kondzior 11 | 1,046
5 Aug 2012 #23
The "hejka" thing faded out long ago.
pawian 221 | 24,014
6 Aug 2012 #24
Are you fmailiar with it?

Yes, I heard it a few times on the radio or Tv but I don`t remember hearing it from my students.
OP Polonius3 994 | 12,367
23 Jul 2017 #25
"Czołem"?

Don't forget serwus!
jon357 74 | 21,780
23 Jul 2017 #26
That's one I've mainly heard in the south.

I'm not fond of hejka, but nara sounds good.


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