Just the other day I was asked what (if any) Polish equivalents of these words would be, and frankly, I didn’t have a clue.
All the Poles I know refer to ice tea as “ice tea” and news is “news”, or sometimes “nius”. I checked with a couple of dictionaries, and asked a couple of people, and one of those people referred me to “Poradnik Językowy” vol. 5. A practical Polish language handbook, of sorts, published by PWN. In this book a bunch of really smart people (though not as smart as Profesor Miodek, I think) dispense language advice. It’s a compilation of questions asked by ordinary Polish speakers with answers by the very highly educated Polish language experts.
I’m not sure whether I like this book or not. It’s useful, that’s a fact, but some of those very smart people are so traditional and orthodox when it comes to our beautiful language that sometimes it’s hard to take their learned opinion seriously.
But, to my surprise, there was an entry on “ice tea” in there (page 331) and “news” (page 335).
First of all, there’s this misconception in Poland that ice tea is just hot tea that got cold, but that’s OK, I guess. Not everyone in Poland needs to make ice tea the way I make it. The real issue seems not how to make it, but what to call it. There’s “kawa mrożona” (ice coffee) in Poland already, so what’s wrong with “herbata mrożona”? Absolutely nothing, apart from the fact that it sounds a little goofy. And besides, most Poles I know refer to this beverage as “ice tea” anyway.
The author of the entry on “ice tea” agreed that “herbata mrożona” would be an OK Polish “Polish” equivalent and left it at that.
The “news” bit was a little more complicated. Apparently, it’s a Polish word these days, and it’s even been assigned a gender – masculine, to be exact. In plural it’s “newsy”. The author also advocates that the Polish spelling of the word should be “nius”. Because since we already have “mejl”, we might as well have “nius.”
See? That was easy!
Oh, and don’t forget, “news” and “newsy” decline like any other normal Polish noun would. So you’d say “Przeczytałam (I read) ciekawego (interesting) newsa,” if you’re talking about just one bit of news.
Comments:
Gabriel:
‘Newsy’ is a useless word… why use it when polish already has “wiadosmosci”? D:
Bill:
OK, I’ve heard both “herbata mrożona” and “mrożona herbata”, but have never heard “iced tea”. Perhaps Poles living abroad use the term “iced tea” the same way my American friends in Poland prefer to use the word “piwo” even when speaking English amongst themselves.
As for “news” or “niusy”, I’ve also never heard it there. The words “wiadomości” and “aktualności” seem to have universal currency in both the spoken language and in the media.
John:
I hope the Poles don’t ever get as language possesive as the French and refuse to use English words that work.
Maria Clara Soares Correia:
I got a mail without text, this time. Any technical problem? I am sorry to miss even a precious word of this blog!…
Love to all
Clara
Anna Ikeda:
Maria,
I hope it was just a temporary glitch and everything’s fine now.
Gabriel,
totally agree. But hey, it’s so much more wordly and “sophisticated” to say niusy, right.
Bill,
At least in Gdańsk everyone I talk to says “ice tea”, maybe it’s the snob factor?
John,
yeah, I know what you mean. But hey, what should we do when we have Polish words that already work? 😉
Jill:
A friend wants to know what the word is for “to complain” in Russian/Polish/Yiddish that sounds like “borsch” or “borst”? I suggested borscht, but I have limited knowledge of the language. Any response, please.
Henryk:
Jill, wouldn’t you by any chance be thinking of “kvetch”?
If so, I believe it’s Yiddish, or East-European Yiddish; it hasn’t made into Polish, though; I don’t know about Russian.
Borscht, on the other hand, is a rootbeet soup – a Polish national dish, actually, and a very tasty one, too, especially if you are Polish, like I am. It’s also very well-renowned in Russia and there is a Ukrainian variant as well.
I hope there is some delicious borscht in store for you somewhere, but not too much kvetch 🙂 .
Henryk:
– I meant: “made IT into Polish”