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London, July 4 : "Frendy", "drinkowac", "szoping" - these are some of the words of a secret slang that the million Poles in Britain have made up so that no-one but them can understand.
The mixture of Polish and English - dubbed Ponglish - has developed so quickly it has become a cult language with young immigrants. "Frendy", "drinkowac", "szoping" - these are some of the words of a secret slang that the million Poles in Britain have made up so that no-one but them can understand.
The mixture of Polish and English - dubbed Ponglish - has developed so quickly it has become a cult language with young immigrants.
UK Poles no longer pay 'podatki' (taxes), but British 'taksy'; they travel by 'tuba' (tube) and they complain about the 'trafik' (traffic).
They spend 'kesh' (cash,) take 'offy' (days off) and make 'fony' or 'cally' (phone calls) to their 'frendy' (friends.)
The phenomenon is so widespread that Ponglish even has its own entry in online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
It is described as: "A language spoken by Poles living in the British Isles which takes English words and gives them Polish endings, or translates English idioms and grammatical structures literally into Polish."
Magda Pustola, from the Polish Cultural Institute in London, told The Sun: "It's not a conscious, rational thing. It's just there and slips out. In a way it's about getting creative. We mix the two languages together all the time. It's absolutely common to blend words and phrases. We find that more and more English is creeping into our Polish." (ANI)
© 2007 ANI
