A FEW WORDS ON MIKOŁAJKI

POLISH MEMORIES OF ŚWIĘTY MIKOŁAJ (Saint Nicholas)

Gray November has finished. It is time for a truly winter month, which not only brings snow, but also always puts us in a holiday mood. Although there is still some time left until Christmas, it is hard not to notice all the Christmas decorations in the streets, shops, restaurants and shopping malls as well as hear the Christmas songs played everywhere. In Polish classes more and more often foreigners ask about Polish Christmas customs and traditions.
There is one night and one morning at the beginning of December that every Polish child, and adult as well, looks forward to. And that is Mikołajki (Saint Nicholas Day), which is a name day of every Mikołaj (Nicholas) and a time to celebrate the day of Święty Mikołaj (Saint Nicholas). Remembering the generosity and goodness of the bishop of Myra we give each other small gifts on the night between 5th and 6th December.

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IN THE SHOES AND UNDER THE PILLOW

The gifts may be left in two places: in the shoes (which have been cleaned and polished by the owner) standing beside the bed, or under the pillow. Not only children but also teenagers often wake up at night to check whether Saint Nicholas has visited the house and left some trifles. No one expects a lavish gift on that day, it would be hard to put it under a pillow or fit into children’s shoes anyway. Sweets, small toys and trifles that may be useful in everyday life or at school are common gifts (a Polish course may be an ideal gift for Mikołajki, check here for details ).
However, instead of a gift or lying right next to it under the pillow or in your shoe, you might find a rózga (twig). That is a sign that you should work on your behaviour and improve if you want to avoid a „gift disappointment“ at Christmas.

AT SCHOOL AND AT WORK (A CUSTOM NOT ONLY IN POLAND)

Another nice custom related to 6th December (check here to see how to write dates in Polish) is celebrating Mikołajki at school or work. Everything starts with drawing the name of a person we are going to get a gift for. Then we have some time to think of a proper gift and buy it (at school children often make the gifts themselves). Next we put the nicely wrapped gifts with name tags attached to them into one sack. The gifts are distributed in a friendly atmosphere and the receivers often wonder who their Mikołaj has been this year, since anonymity is the greatest thing about Mikołajki.

ROZWODNIK (divorcee) AND STARA PANNA (old maid), OR TERMS FOR DESCRIBING MARITAL STATUS IN POLISH

As we have promised in our entry on patchwork family (you can find it here), we are going to present some nouns related to people’s marital status. We have already mentioned that people who are married are called mąż (husband) and żona (wife). These nouns sound familiar to virtually all participants of Polish courses. The ones you are going to read about are much more rarely used in Polish classes.

WHAT DO YOU CALL UNMARRIED PEOPLE IN POLISH?
Those, whose spouse died are wdowiec (widower) and wdowa (widow); people, who decided to end a failed relationship are called rozwodnik (divorcee, masculine) and rozwódka (divorcee, feminine). The two latter forms, despite being correct and used in the legal language, still have negative connotations in Polish society and are stigmatizing. Therefore, the terms rozwiedziony (divorced, masculine) and rozwiedziona (divorced, feminine) are becoming increasingly popular. Similar rule applies to those who have never changed their marital status and remain kawaler (unmarried man, bachelor) and panna (unmarried woman, spinster).  People who remained unmarried for too long (in some people’s opinion) used to be called stary kawaler (literally: old bachelor, confirmed bachelor) and stara panna (spinster, old maid) with contempt. However, nowadays,  following the social changes and the growing number of people who are not in a relationship (anymore) with anyone or decide to get married much later than older generations, the words singiel (single, masculine) and singielka (single, feminine) are gaining in popularity.

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KONKUBIN OR PARTNER? OTHER WORDS TO DESCRIBE MARITAL STATUS
What about those who are in steady but live-in,  not legalized relationships? And again, the legal and administration language affect everyday life. The official terms are konkubent or konkubin (cohabitant, masculine) and konkubina (cohabitant, feminine). However, these words have been used so often in the criminal news stories (e.g. Konkubent Marian Z. zabił swoją konkubinę Grażynę K. w trakcie libacji alkoholowej - , i.e. Marian M. cohabiting with Grażyna K. killed her while carousing) that they now are used in a pejorative sense by Polish people. The young generations use these terms humorously nowadays, and when they want to be serious, they go for partner/partnerka when talking about their other half.

As you can see, the terminology related to marital status is a very good indicator of changes in the society that clearly affect the language itself.

COLOURS IN POLISH IDIOMS

GREEN LIGHT TO LEARNING POLISH :)

Since it’s grey, bleak and gloomy outside and it gets everyone down, we propose focusing on  colours today. Naturally, colours is the topic that puts students into a good mood as it’s easy, pleasant and useful. Colours appear in classes (more on Polish courses here) as parts of idiomatic expressions, which is another favourite subject of everyone, not only foreigners studying Polish.
The ‘hero’ of today’s entry is the colour we all probably miss most these days: zielony (green).

FOR A START, ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF ZIELONY IN POLISH

You can zzielenieć ze złości  (literally: get green with anger) or z zazdrości (with envy), which means show extreme anger or envy. And if one of our acquaintances ma zielono w głowie (literally: has green in their head; is empty-headed, is an airhead), then they are careless and, unfortunately, irresponsible. A novice in any kind of business or activity is usually zielony (green) or nie ma zielonego pojęcia (has no clue/absolutely no idea; literally: has no green clue) what is to be done or what to do, so has no knowledge of the topic and is simply inexperienced and often young.
If someone has lost their job, we can say that they have been wysłany na zieloną trawkę (literally: sent to green grass/pasture).

Here are zielone płuca miasta – green lungs of the city. Check out our FB page
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FINALLY, ON THE POSITIVE SIDE OF ZIELONY IN POLISH

When new opportunities come up and we have been given a chance to put our plans or projects into practice, that means that someone zapalił/ dał zielone światło (lit/gave us the green light). Drivers may be interested to know that zielona fala (literally: green wave) refers to a situation when we can drive through a few consecutive crossroads without stopping because you there is green light every time, a phenomenon welcome by those stuck in the morning traffic jams. Zielone płuca (green lungs), i.e. forests and parks full of plants, provide healthier environment and make us feel better. And let’s not forget about zielone ludziki  (little green men), aliens whose skin is supposed to be green.

ON GETTING MARRIED AND PATCHWORK FAMILY. PRACTICAL POLISH WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

VERBS THAT COLLOCATE WITH THE NOUN ŚLUB 
Autumn may not be the most popular time of the year to plan a ślub (wedding), but this topic arouses interest in Polish classes regardless of the season. Let us remind you that in Polish you can brać ślub, i.e. get married (brać/wziąć ślub: check here to find out how to conjugate this verb). When we are talking about this occasion from the perspective of a woman, we say that she wychodzi/wyszła za mąż (wychodzić/wyjść za mąż, which can be understood as „she is getting/got a husband“), and when it’s from the perspective of a man, we say that he żeni się or ożenił się (żenić/ożenić się, which means that he is getting/got a wife)

Oto Mateusz i Klara. Oni wzięli ślub. Mateusz ożenił się z Klarą. Klara wyszła za Mateusza.
Literally: These are Mateusz and Klra. They got married. Mateusz took Klara as his wife. Klara took Mateusz as her husband.

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Another verb you can use in this situation is pobrać się, so:

Mateusz i Klara pobrali się w ostatnią sobotę. (Mateusz and Klara got married last Saturday)

PATCHWORK FAMILY. SOME FAMILY MEMBERS IN POLISH
When two people legalize their relationship outside of Poland and it is not marriage, we say that they zawarli związek partnerski albo weszli w związek partnerski (zawrzeć/ wejść w związek partnerski, i.e. enter/entered into a registered partnership).
As the result of a marriage in Poland people become mąż and żona (husband and wife). Frequently it is their next marriage and then this kind of couple together with the children from their previous relationships become a patchwork family (rodzina patchworkowa). The adults are then not only matka and ojciec (mother and father) for their own children but also become ojczym and macocha (stepfather and stepmother) for their spouse’s children. The word macocha has evolved over the years in the Polish language, since not so long ago it had ominous overtones. For the first time a child encountered this word while reading the Cinderella story. As we all remember, it wasn’t a positive connotation… Additionally, the negative overtone was emphasised by an expression traktować coś/ kogoś po macoszemu, i.e. treat something/someone unfairly, badly, harshly. Fortunately, along with the social changes in Poland the negative meaning of the word is gradually disappearing.

Soon you will be able to read more about Polish vocabulary referring to marital status.

AUTUMN VOCABULARY DILEMAS IN POLISH

NAMES OF FRUIT DELICACIES IN POLISH

Beautiful Polish golden autumn (Indian summer) has started (check here to find out where this name came from) and trees change their colour from green into yellow, red and brown. This is a perfect time for walks or for courses of Polish as a foreign language (alright, there always a good time to learn Polish;-)). And of ocurse, it’s time to make some preserved fruit products (przetwory) , such as dżemy (jams), konfitury (preserves), powidła (plum jam)... And now! Here’s the question: What is the difference between dżem and konfitura? Are these words synonyms, or do they describe completely different sweet products made from fruit?

IN FACT THEY’RE NOT THE SAME

They are definitely not synonyms, and the multitude of names in Polish comes from the difference in their taste and ... the preparation process.
Dżem is the most popular of them, of course. You can find it on a shelf in every shop in Poland, different kinds. It’s made from fruit or its parts. It’s enough to add lots of sugar to it, preferrably the so-called ‘gelling sugar’, and boil it for a long time, stirring from time to time.
Marmolada is the easiest to make (in Polish marmolada – marmalade – is a product made from any kind of fruit, not only citrus fruit). Just add equal amount of sugar to the fruit (50% to 50%), grate it, boil it and then leave it to cool. You can spread it on a slice of bread and eat right away.
If you are a gourmet, however, and love the taste of fruit without any thickeners, you should go for konfitura. You need to select fruit to make it. Only the one that looks best and tasty will be used and added to the sugar syrup prepared beforehand. Konfitury (preserves) require more effort and attention, since you should try not to damage the fruit while stirring and need to keep an eye on the temperature as it should be neither too high nor too low. At the end of the process it’s a good idea to coat the edges of the jars with cognac :) .

No matter which you prefer, dżem or konfitura,
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POLISH DELICACY

Powidła (plum jam) is a real Rolls-Royce among the Polish preserved fruit products. This is a Polish speciality and it is made only from plums (the węgierka variety is the best choice, Eng. common plum). Adding sugar is not necessary. However, you need time, since it takes several days for powidła to be ready. After that we can enjoy the taste of pure fruit during winter evenings.
Now that you know all these words and the differences between them you can get down to work, or simply go to the shop and simply pick a jar with an appropriate name on it. Enjoy!

NAMES OF MEALS IN POLISH

Nothing reflects the changes that have occurred in the Polish reality in the past 25 years better than the names of meals and the way we use them these days.

O KTÓREJ JECIE OBIAD? TRADITIONAL RHYTHM OF HAVING MEALS IN POLAND
This question comes up surprisingly often in Polish classes. The answer is not that obvious since it largely depends on our lifestyle and where we live. Traditionally Poles start their day with śniadanie (breakfast), around 10.30am they have their drugie śniadanie (second breakfast), which is usually a sandwich. Then comes obiad (lunch/dinner) eaten between 2 and 3pm (main meal of the day, usually consisting of two courses), children sometimes have podwieczorek (equivalent of tea) around 5pm, and that is a sweet snack before the last meal of the day, i.e. kolacja (dinner/supper) which is eaten around 7pm. Kolacja usually consists of one course and is definitely lighter than obiad and, depending on the season of the year, may be served cold or hot. The most important śniadanie (breakfast) of the year is, of course, the Easter breakfast (more information here), and the most formal kolacja (dinner/supper) is Wigilia, i.e. Christmas Eve dinner/supper (more on that here).
The model śniadanie - drugie śniadanie - obiad - (podwieczorek) – kolacja is a traditional one and is still followed by children, young people, unemployed adults and those living in small towns.

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ANGLICISMS IN NAMES OF MEALS
People living in large cities, studying or working from 9am to 5pm have obiad after work, and in the middle of the day they have ... lunch. The rhythm of meals and their times are similar to those in other countries. Śniadanie in the morning, lunch at midday and obiad early in the evening. With such a daily routine the noun kolacja is reserved for special occasions (kolacja służbowa - business dinner, kolacja romantyczna - romantic dinner) or refers to a meal eaten around 9pm (which is much less common in Poland than in southern countries). On days off, weekends, Polish middle class in larger cities has brunch, which is a late śniadanie or early lunch, usually eaten in restaurants or bistros (more on eating places here).

                      jem śniadanie, obiad, kolację. Check here the conjugation of the verb JEŚĆ (to eat)

Interestingly, even the Poles living in large cities give up on the Western European tradition in order to meet relatives for dinner on Sunday at 2pm (during which rosół, i.e. traditional chicken soup, is served) or to eat out together. Do you know now why restaurants in Poland are crowded on Sunday afternoons?

COMMUNICATION CONFUSION WITH KOMUNIKACJA

KOMUNIKACJA IN POLISH MEANS...

Today we’ll be talking about komunikacja, since this little word may easily confuse foreigners learning Polish.
Everything is fine as long as we are talking about komunikacja meaning the process of communicating, exchanging information or ideas. In this case the meaning of the word is crystal clear and even a beginner student of Polish does not see any difficulty or a catch here.

KOMUNIKACJA MEANING COMMUNICATION

There is komunikacja telefoniczna (telephone communication), mailowa (email) or internetowa (Internet), and listowna (through letters), which used to be popular in the past. We use  the word komunikacja with an adjective describing the means that enable information sharing and exchanging ideas. We can also use the preposition przez (through, by, over) and then we say kominukacja przez telefon, komunikatory, media społecznościowe (social media) or Internet. Remember that przez is followed by a noun in the accusative form.

WHAT LINKS KOMUNIKACJA AND TRANSPORT

However, the second meaning of the word causes surprise. Komunikacja in Polish also means movement consisting in maintaining the connection between two spots located within some distance from each other by various means of transport. There is komunikacja miejska (city/public transport), i.e. buses, trams, underground etc., podmiejska (suburban), connecting a city with its suburbs, międzymiastowa (intercity, literally: between cities) or międzynarodowa (international; from one country to another).  Therefore, a person who says they enjoy using komunikacja miejska on the way to work or their language course does not want to inform us about the ways of communicating with co-workers or classmates but to tell us that they get around by bus, tram or underground (Polish: jeździć autobusem, tramwajem, metrem; check here for conjugation of the verb jeździć).
And stała komunikacja między Warszawą a Poznaniem (regular connection between Warsaw and Poznań) means regular trains, for exmple, between these cities.
As you can see, good kominikacja always makes life easier.

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