Tag Archives: Polish Proverbs

Not my circus, not my monkey

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/29/21
Primary Language: English

Me: How’d you hear about this?

SD: I think I heard about it on, um, I believe it was an Instagram post that was a screenshot of a Tumblr post, probably about 2016, maybe.

Me: What does it mean?

SD: So the phrase is not my circus not my monkey, I believe it’s an English translation from a Polish saying. It basically means it’s not my problem.

Me: What do you think the circus and monkey mean?

SD: I like to think that it’s like a literal circus, you know, like a travelling circus, uh, and there was like a loose monkey somewhere and someone saw this loose monkey and they were like well, you know, it’s probably from the travelling circus, but like it’s not my circus, it’s not my monkey.

Background: The informant, SD, was born in the US in the Bay Area. Her parents are also from the US. The informant does not speak the language, but informed me that this proverb is from Poland. She uses it a lot and uses it instead of saying not my problem, she thinks it’s just fun and likes to confuse other people when she says it.

Context: This piece was collected during an in person conversation.

Thoughts: I’ve heard multiple other people use this phrase in the past couple years. When I looked it up after I heard it the first time, it came up always as “Not my circus, not my monkeys” but I’ve only ever heard it with monkey singular. That’s just an interesting variation that I don’t feel changes the meaning much. Her getting it from online shows the easily shareable quality, especially with something quippy and short like a proverb. Phrases pass into speech from various online sites and it has become a saying understood in vernacular.

Polish Proverbs: Lying and the Vertically Challenged

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

  • “Kłamstwa mają krótkie nogi”
    • Transliterated Proverb
      • Kłamstwa = Lies
      • Mają = Have
      • Krótkie = Short
      • Nogi = Legs
    • Full Translation: Lies have short legs
      • Explanation: Lies travel upon weak and flimsy foundations that are will undoubtedly be discovered and be caught up to by a regular pair of legs.

Background:

The informant is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

The act of lying is universally considered a negative and this would definitely would be a virtue that is practiced in a Catholic home. This would especially be effective as a warning to children to discourage them for lying as they would easily be found out. When I first heard it I thought it was referring to the legs of a table instead of legs on a human being. By being such a small table, I thought the proverb detailed that lies made for flimsy foundations instead of being short legs that cannot run very far. I’m not sure if a variation exists for the phrase about how lies eventually becomes truths if one repeats it enough and how that correlates to the quote.

Are you something to write home about?

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

  • “Jak cię widzą tak cię piszą”
    • Transliterated Proverb
      • Jak = How
      • cię = you
      • widzą = they
      • tak = see
      • piszą = they write
    • Full Translation: How they see you is how they write [perceive] you
      • Explanation: The proverb refers to how one presents themselves outwardly are what people will think of them as a whole. One should endeavor to try and make themselves presentable not in a way to impress others but to more accurately reflect who they really are on the outside lest they give off a negative impression of themselves.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

How one outwardly appears is what people will consider him on the inside. The proverb tells me that it was said for people to act more honestly with themselves to other people instead of putting on fronts to pretend to be who they are not. It comes off as sound advice but has a judgmental tinge to it by how it seems to suggest that “what you see is what you get” sort of denotations from it as well. I think the quote is another that can be used on the youth to promote honest growths in personality and accepting others, to present the best version of themselves so that the good person that an individual knows that they are inside can shine forth without any misrepresentation or misinterpretation. It is rather beautiful in a way despite being simple suggestion to present oneself as best as they can be as to not have any wrongful slander made against them.

Fickle in Luck, Fickle in Love

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

  • “Te który maja miłość w kartę nie ma miłości”
    • Transliterated Proverb
      • Te który = Those who
      • Maja = Have
      • Miłość = Love
      • w kartę = With cards
      • nie = No
      • ma = Has
    • Full Translation: Those who have love in cards have no love.
      • Explanation: The proverb refers to how those who have fair luck in life do not have love in their lives.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

What comes to my mind is that whoever has luck or whoever flaunts their luck is hiding the fact they have no love in their lives. Humility is a rather enormous concept in the Catholic faith so it only makes sense that those who are prideful about themselves, their fortune, and their lives are rather empty beneath it all and have no genuine love. Love also goes without saying as another key concept in Christianity as a whole and a life without love, or God’s love, is probably not life at all. Since this still Catholicism we’re discussing, it is never too late to renounce those prideful ways to become more humble so there isn’t a permanently accusatory tone there but there isn’t technically a suggestion for repentance, only pointing out an observation. Also seems to be another version of “lucky at cards, unlucky in love”.