Mowie Ponglish

Poles living and working in Britain in Ireland have created a new language: Ponglish, according to news in the Daily Telegraph of London. Article By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin and Michael Leidig Last Updated: 12:01am BST 03/07/2008 :

Poles who have flocked to live and work in Britain have created a hybrid language mixing English and Polish. Just as French and English combined to form Franglais, the Polish have their own linguistic cocktail: Ponglish.

The slang takes in everything from taxes –­ taksy – to driving, whose Ponglish equivalent, drajwnic, seems unlikely until it is pronounced: driveneech.

Those Ponglish drivers, of course, are sure to take care around "kornerze" on the "strity" while in the "kara".

After a hard day's work, what better than a chat with some "frendy"?




A spot of old school romance, on the other hand, seems less likely, with precious little magic in the Ponglish phrase "miec sex".

"We mix the two languages together all the time," said Magda Pustola, from the Polish Cultural Institute in London. "It's absolutely common to blend words and phrases. We find that more and more English is creeping into our Polish ­ even in meetings at the institute."

Some Polish workers in the UK report that the slang has become a secret language that infuriates older Poles back home who can't understand what they are saying.

But in Warsaw, young Poles are quickly adopting the new vocabulary.

There people are already "szoping" (shopping) for clothes, such as a 'tiszert', or going for a 'drinkowac' at the pub, presumably with a 'lajtowy' or light, easy going person.

"English is being used more and more," said Aneta Prasal-Wisniewska, a specialist on Polish and British cultural links at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw. "It's connected to the rise of the internet and the fact that people are travelling so much more." "There are some small Polish towns and cities where huge groups left to go the UK, now when they meet up together back in Poland it's no surprise if they use slang with English words," she said.

But she said that Ponglish has yet to bleed through into mainstream Polish society to the extent that Franglais has affected French, where a star might disappear for a discreet surgical 'lifting' before magically revealing 'un nouveau look'.

"I would be very surprised if its spreads into classical Polish," she said.

"It is not broadly adopted yet, certainly not as much as English has changed other European languages." Back in London however, Ponglish is becoming almost second nature for some Poles.

"It's not a conscious, rational thing," said Magda Pustola, "It's just there and slips out. In a way it's about getting creative." Other Ponglish words have not been borrowed, but simply stolen, out of necessity.

Ms Pustola said that the word "highstreet" had quickly been adopted by Poles in London "because we just don't have the equivalent of how London is made up of lots of little towns, each with a main street".

For those who believe that the English linguistic juggernaut is a one-way express however, she had some words of caution.

"At the institute we are always trying to smuggle Polish words into English," she said, pointing to a recent campaign to promote Poland's favourite drink: 'There is No V in Wodka'.

"We spell vodka with a W," she said, "so we campaigned to change all words with 'v'." British people, accordingly, might soon be 'wacuuming' or watching 'wideos'.

"You see," she said, "it works both ways."

Source: Daily Telegraph - London

What? Like we never heard dzia-dzia speak Ponglish? Often he would speak about Wisiting Uncle Wictor in Nova York.