Czad (CHAD)
Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, which in Poland is commonly referred to as czad. In Polish slang the word czad may be used, in a similar way as the noun ‘knockout’ in English, to name something exciting and energetic, like for instance a lively piece of music.
Fajka (FA-EE-KA)
Unhealthy as it may be, some people like to smoke a ciggy after sex. In Poland if you’d like a ciggy you’d might have to settle for… a pipe. In Polish fajka which originally means ‘pipe’ is a popular word for a cigarette.
Fura (FOO-RA)
In Poland it wouldn’t be your ride getting pimped, it would be your cart. Fura which means more or less ‘cart’ is the Polish slang word for ‘car’. If you’re interested in advanced Polish slang you can try saying ‘a fly ride’, which would take on the form of wypas fura.
Jeleń (YEAH-LEN)
In Polish if you want to say that someone is a sucker, you can say that he or she is a deer. The word jeleń literally means ‘deer’ and can also mean ‘sucker’ in the language spoken on the Vistula.
Kapusta (KA-POO-STA)
Cabbage is something that one might want to cook in a pot. Unless of course it’s the Polish kind of cabbage which happens to be money.
Kimono (KEE-MO-NO)
Sleeping off immoderate drunkenness is a good way of getting rid of that kind of intoxication. One of the Polish expressions for ‘going to sleep’ translates into ‘hitting the kimono’, where ‘hit’ is used as in ‘let’s hit the streets’. ‘Kimono’ has the same form and meaning both in Polish and English.
Laska (LASS-KA)
In case ‘Pimp my Cart’ doesn’t sound exotic enough try this one. If the name of the band Dixie Chicks were in Polish that Slavic name would literally translate into English as Dixie Sticks. In Polish the word laska means ‘stick’ and is also widely used as a slang term for a woman or a girl.
Nadziany (NA-JA-NEH)
If you want to say in Polish that someone’s loaded (meaning rich) you can say that person’s filled, as one would say about a doughnut. Nadziany is a Polish adjective that means ‘filled’ and can be used to describe a person with a lot of money.
Narąbany (NA-ROM-BA-NEH)
The line ‘loaded like a freight train’ from the G’N’R song Night Train refers to a different kind of ‘loaded’. The Polish slang word for ‘loaded’ as in intoxicated or drunk is narąbany. A typical Polish comparison similar to the one cited translates into ‘loaded like a Messerschmitt’.
Paw (PAV)
Sometimes when a person’s very drunk he or she needs to puke. Polish slang poetically describes puking as ‘letting the peacock out’. In Polish the word ‘paw’ means ‘peacock’ but can also be used as a counterpart of the noun ‘puke’.
Pojechać (po-YEAH-hatch)
Calling someone a deer in Poland in the wrong way might be seen as dissing that person. In Poland if you diss somebody you ‘ride over’ that person. Pojechać is a Polish verb which means ‘to ride’ and may be used as a counterpart of ‘diss’.
Wypas (VEH-pass)
You can use this word as an adjective if you want to say that something is fly, meaning that thing is great or excellent. Don’t be surprised if some Poles misinterpret this use of ‘wypas’ as this Polish word originally means ‘pasture’ as in for instance ‘the pasture of sheep’.
Wiosło (VEE-OSS-wo)
So what would the hypothetic Dixie Sticks be playing on in Poland? Instead of playing axes, they’d be playing paddles. The Polish word for ‘paddle’, which is wiosło, is sometimes used by Poles to name a guitar.
Author: Marek Kępa