I will be performing the wedding ceremony for friends of mine in a couple months and need a little help. He is from Poland and she is from the American south. As there are a few native Polish speakers who will be there, but mostly English-only I thought it would be a good opener to teach everyone a phrase in Polish. Particularly funny would be to make it a ‘Southerism’.
The problem is I don’t speak a word of Polish myself, so I was hoping to get some help translating and pronouncing one. I am hoping to pick one that will translate fairly well idiomatically when it is translated literally, and not be too long or hard for English speakers to say. This would be repeat-after-me and then tell them what they all said kind of things, so it doesn’t have to be too easy either.
Thoughts of ones to use so far:
Well Butter my butt and call me a biscuit.
It’s so dry the trees are bribing the dogs.
It’s colder than a witches titty in a brass bra.
He’s busier than a one-legged man at a butt kickin contest.
If you have ideas for better ones to use that would be great.
Also, I would like to have a second very easy word or phrase for congratulations or whatever it is traditional to say to a new couple. I could then as everyone to at some point in the evening to say it to the new couple.
Thanks everyone. I can always get the groom to do it for me, but I want to make it a surprise.
Maybe it would be better to ask a Polish person for amusing sayings that are actually used in Poland. This would be more meaningful than translating a Southernism into Polish, which (no matter how well you translated it) would lose all its “Southern flavor” and just end up being a weird, random sentence.
If you could find a funny Polish expression that has a meaning roughly similar to a funny Southern expression, you could present them both as a pair.
I’m dead tired right now and my brain is empty, but since there is still time, I should be able to rack something within day or two.
‘Southernisms’ that you gave as example doesn’t really translate well into Polish. I mean I can translate them literally, but they doesn’t even ring especially funny - just as WF Tomba said, random sentence.
I’ll be back to this thread (subscribed it) and until then other Polish-speakers are welcome to chime in.
Thank you guys much. I figured it would translate quite oddly, which would be part of the humor; it is intended as an icebreaker. We have all heard old saying from other cultures that when translated are just incredibly odd and generally funny. There is only one Polish-only speaker who will be there, so most people who understand the Polish will also understand the English. You are right though that a roughly equivalent saying might be better.
I have plenty of time, puppygod, so whenever you can get to it I would really appreciate it. As you know the language I will trust you as to what comes over as funny, just so long as you don’t sneak in something that insults their mothers and tell me I am saying ‘hello’.
I am from PA and live in Virginia but do not have many native Southern friends so I was reduced to looking them up on a website. I make no assurances that they are authentic, only that they sound southern and that they are funny. Authentic ones that would fit the situation would be excellent.
Ah. Given that, might I suggest “Colder than a witch’s tit?” That is both a more common traditional variant and something that might translate well into a Slavic language. That is, it’s sort of a weird sentence, but it might be a good, humorous icebreaker.
What I’d suggest is,
“Colder than a witch’s tit. In Polish, that’s (Polish literal translation) (A traditional Southern expression which is roughly equivalent to the Polish phrase “Colder than…”) The Poles say, ‘Colder than…’”
In other words, go both ways: render a traditional English folk simile or proverb into Polish, both literally and its equivalent, and then go the other way as well.
Perhaps. I was thinking that the crazyness of the translation wouldn’t be a problem though.
I had considered the phrase you mention as I believe it actually is a Polish expression, though I was actually hoping for something that would be a little further out there. I am fond of the biscuit buttering one, but apparently that wouldn’t work out all that well.