Where is that "something" that makes others think you are really good in language

When I was asked "You are not going to Jew me,are you?" it was more in a sense of not giving a fair share for the money/rip off.I must have looked shocked (never heard it before) because this person immidiately said "I am not a racist or anything!".

Grubas,sad to say that is an accepted expression in the states and it is in reference to getting ripped off.

Another good one, p3undone.

Grubas, I'm sure the expression was used innocently enough. The underlying meaning though does not change things; Jews were perceived for far too long, beginning in Medaeval Europe, as cheap, usurous rascals who'd gladly chisle both friend and foe out of their rightful share. The idiom you used in innocuous conversation, noetheless propogates this dangerous and pervasive myth:-)

I heard "going Polack" as a variation of "going postal".

I didn't. Doesn't make much sense either now, does it?))))

Go postal = (z)wariatować

Go polak = zostać głupotem ???

No.Go nuts just like go postal.


(z)WARIOWAĆ.

Ah, yes! "wariat" is the person, not the action:-)

Didn't realize "go Polak" in Polish means to go crazy ("nuts" a bit too slang hereLOL) It's certainly NOT used in American parlance.

I've never heard that expression before.

Nor have I. It may either be British or a (literal) translation from the Polish into English, more likely:-)

I do love that. So literal ;)
Or Whipmawhopmagate in York named as it was the street (gata in norse) that you whipped your whop (a breed of dog) all the way up it to the church on a Saints day........christians are fekking weird sometimes :)


Thats got a *saxon* ring to it, I think Ginnel and Snikket are old Norse?
I love our crazy language ,give it 50 years and "curva" will be in the dictionary and being giggled at by school kids :)


No, *polak* is still not a name that has caught on in Britain...English people just tend to add F###ing to the front of Pole.......you lot are so creative in your *racist* terms,when I was a kid and played Riff in West Side Story I had to look up 80% of the terms to see who the hell I was meant to be insulting ,still not 100% :)

Funny fact, West Side Story was origionaly going to be called East Side Story about Poles vs Jews not *americans* vs PRs.......
hehehe, just realised, I got myself killed 6 nights a week because I got in a fight with someone who called my mate a Polak :)

haha funny you say that, 'spierdalaj' seems to have taken off in our local school, and there's only a few Polish kids.....

going back to the OP, if I understand the question, the secret of appearing to be good at a language is a touch of BS, lots of agreeing, and using the 20 per cent of the conversation that u HAVE understood to best advantage...

As perfectly ilustrated by this *Polish * paratrooper in a classic Sunday afternoon warfilm :)
youtu.be/-GLp3Oye2ec

Oh, re *spear dali* whats that yoghurt advert that makes me do a double take ,actually sounds like the even ruder version of spear dali ? :O

edit. Pier d'ol aye...or however its spelt,always makes me chuckle when those supposedly classy birds say that :)

Only yogurt ad i can think of is the one for " perle de lait ". it's got to be that one :)

lol "zwariatowac" sounds like Waldus Kiepski style :D

Not exactly so, but nevertheless the discussion have turned out to be very interesting. It revealed a very important thing, namely that using idiomatic expressions is vital part of being "good at a language". Having read the disussion, I have looked back at my own personal history of using English just to discover that I've never got to the stage of applying idioms to my conversations! As a student who happened to live for six month in the shadow of the gorgeous Durham Cathedral in Britain, as well as in London for some time, in a strictly British environment (with no connection to Polish whatsover during that time) in the 1980s, I think I developed fairly fine oral skills in English, to the point of being not recognizable as a non-British person in certain undemanding telephone conversations with the native speakers of English (pronounciation acquired thanks to the BBC TV courses and University of Warsaw books accompanying these courses). Yet, idioms were escaping my attention. Later on, I slowly gave up my love for English for my new love of French, and it was not until this year that I used my first English idiom ever (!) in a chat with British friends from Nottingham who came to visit me in Poland.

Idioms are another invisible, so to speak, background layer of a language. They don't carry any indespensible information, but they carry the very condensed information connected to the language history. You have to be excellent at a language to use them freely and spontaneously, almost unconsciously - as they are indeed used. I don't think I would be readily able to use a very specific English idiom, even if I carefully learned it before; likewise I don't think that any non-native person would be able to quickly apply an idiom like "przejechał się jak Zabłocki na mydle" in a running conversation in Polish.

The idiom I used in the conversation with the Nottingham people was very simple, indeed. It was the only one I have managed to recall from another discussion one year earlier, a discussion on various English idioms with my other Brititsh friends who came to visit me in Poland from Manchester. This lovely English, absolutely British, and extremely plain idiom was: "It's not my cup of tea" (but I did not mean "my cup of tea", though I was drinking one, actually).

Why didn't you show a clip with Jenny Agutter? Her English (body) was superb.

good one ziemowit, you are right about the idioms, so hard to use, even at a high level...

.


teehee Jenny Agutter, she must be in the fond teenage memories of thousands of now middle aged British men.

Phew, not just me then, I know its not quite a Polish swear word,but it sounds close enough to raise a smile...like that Tickler chedder cheese Ad that sounds like the narrator is saying Hitler......


Haway bonny lad,when ye gannin back?
(seriously, how did you cope with the VERY strong regional accents in that part of the world? Some Northumbrian accents are clear and slow,but some of them speak so fast its hard for people even from Yorkshire to understand them :) )


and not quite middle aged men too :)

I think with immersion you can learn idioms before you learn *proper* language.
For example, Im sure I pass as native French because I tend to copy phrases straight from le haine or Engrenages,ie,contempory *street French* rather than anything from a phrase book.

But, granted,thats only in shop,bar,checkout type situations,a few half grunted words and standard replies....you'd catch me out trying to engage in a real conversation with me in French :)

I'm afraid she was the cause of my sinning against my own flesh (in the days before RCC said it was OK).

Tef,see you in random, but, The Eagle Has Landed is about the only film where she does NOT get her kit off..... :)

I know. Great, wasn't she?
On topic. I love the French saying Only the first bottle is expensive. You might have to think about that for a minute. I did.

oh yes I recall my then 12 or 13 year old bro becoming rather excited about watching 'the railway children'.....especially the bit where she removes her big red knickers to wave at the train.....remember?

Whats more shocking is finding out that her *kid sister* in that film was actually a chain smoking 22 year old party girl :)

JA, strange one though, in fairness,pretty weird looking, piggy little face,but has a certain *thing* that made her very sexy......ah well :)

Hasn't the whole thing been triggered off by this famous song:
We don't need no education,
We don't need no mind control!
Hey, teacher, leave us all alone ... ?

It is funny that those who, like the English, don't have the double negatives, want them in their speech, while those who, like the French, do have them, don't want them ("Je sais pas" in place of "Je ne sais pas").

I didn't know the French were campaigning for that. Perhaps it's just the lingua-fascists at the Academy Francaise.
"I can't get any...satisfaction. No, no, no."
Doesn't really work, does it?

hooray for double negatives!
i never said nothing to nobody!

I ain't got no money,I ain't got no car and I ain't no nice guy!

Ah, the brilliant Pink Floyd.........but shouldn't the last line be " Hey, Teacher, leave them kids alone?"
The good news is for those Brits fond of using the double negative, learning Polish should be a walk in the park lol!!! (Could explain why i have so much trouble learning the Polish language) :) :)

How about these expressions? "he's selling wolf tickets" or "his mouth is writing a check his body can't cash",both in reference to being able to back yourself up.

Heres one;
When you can't think of the name of something (random mix of English English and US English)

I can't find the, err...deely/wottsit/ wottsitsname/wottsitsface/thingy/thingummybob/thingummyjig/watchamacal lit...........and dozens of regional variations :)

Some can also be used for proper names,ie
Thats that actor from XYZ, whats his name, thingy/whoshisface/whatchamacallhim.......