My husband and I have been together almost 14 years. That is a long time.
So far, he has learned a handful of Polish words.
On our honeymoon, we were in Poland picking mushrooms. He used the word Piekny during that trip.
Piekny in Polish means "Beautiful".
Today in the car, he told me with pride about how he was working at his boss's house. A couple of men came up who needed to do something with the house and were asking for the boss. My husband recognized their accents and said "Dzien dobre". He said the men visibly relaxed and began speaking to him.
He proudly told me that when one of the Polish men asked him if he spoke Polish, he smiled, put his fingers together in the universal sign of "Small" and said "Piekny".
I asked him, "What do you think Piekny means?" He looked puzzled and said "Small. Right?"
I shook my head and said "Ummm, no. I guess at least you tried." I guess.
He smiled, shrugged and said "Well, I called mushroom piekny in Poland too. Oh well."
He then turned to me and said "That's because you are my Piekny. My beautiful wife." Nice try, smooth operator.
I wonder what he will think Piekny means next time he says it.
Suddenly, I have an overwhelming need to speak more Polish with my children.
Na razie...
A Mama born in Poland with "Gypsy Blood" living on the American Prairie with her daughters, two future Miss Poland and Nobel Peace prize recipients :: Food, Travel, Life...
4 comments:
I so wish I had the tongue for a second language, but I have O.L.D.!
I took French I & II in high school. And while I passed both classes, I knew I was no where near ready to take on French III in college, so I went back and took French I & II again, in colllege. By the end of it, I could read it decently, but still couldn't speak it a whole lot.
Then, wanting to communicate with a larger group of people in this western state, I took Convesational Spanish in college. I got through the first semester and walked out of the classroom in an outright panic when I went to take the next level.
One of my French teachers in college cited a study done that said people who are logical & analytical have a harder time learning other languages than people who are less so because they always want to ask why & in the beginning, you just need to rote learn it.
That study made me a whole lot calmer about my Other Language Deficiency. And they don't seem to make a vitamin or supplement for O.L.D. Sigh.
Maybe your husband has O.L.D. too?
And O.L.D. should never be confused with "old" because that's a whole other set of symptoms! :>
You're piekny for speaking more than one language! :>
LOL Love this. Also, congratulations on 14 years!
My husband and kid both know love you and kisses in Polish. I think my husband knows a few other random things I've taught him like "I'm hungry, nothing green" making fun of how he doesn't eat any vegetables!
Funny, at least he has an appreciation for beautiful mushrooms, the only answer to this is you need to visit Poland more often, or at least Chicago it can feel like poland sometimes. My husband knows weird words like Pierogi z Miesem (pierogies with meat), duze piwo (large beer) which he really loves to use when in Poland. Congratulations on 14 years.
http://polwig.com
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