Cutting Edge: Ciąć

The root "-ciąć" means "to cut."  There are several variations of this word, and most of them have pretty close-knit meanings; that is, the meanings of the derivative words don't seem to wander much from the main root, unlike with other Polish verbs.  The main distinguishing feature of this group of words seems to be the irregular present-tense conjugation:

tnę
tniesz
tnie
tniemy
tniecie
tną

This conjugation seems to follow all the "ciąć" words through the different variations with different prefixes.  On occasion, one might stumble upon the slangy imaginary infinitive "tnąć," which is an incorrect form of "ciąć" reverse engineered and bastardized from the irregular conjugation, though there does exist a participle "tnąc" (with no accent mark on the final consonant).

The words that end in the variation "-cinać" have a more regular "-am -asz" conjugation, for example:

obcinam
obcinasz
obcina
obcinamy
obcinacie
obcinają

The main word related to this root is:

ciąć, pociąć - to cut, to cut through, to clip, to chop, to hack

ciąć na kawałki - to cut into pieces
ciać na plastry - to cut into slices, to slice
ciać na kostkę - to cut into cubes, to dice
ciąć się o coś - to fight over something

docinać, dociąć - to cut (all the way) through, to cut extra, to cut to fit; to taunt

docinek - taunt (noun)

nacinać, naciąć - to cut down

nadcinać, nadciąć - to nick, to score

nadcięcie - (surgical) incision; nick, notch (noun)

obcinać, obciąć - to cut, to clip

obcinać włosy - to have one's hair cut
obcinać paznokcie - to cut one's nails

odcinać, odciąć - to cut off, to chop off, to cut away

pociąć - to cut up, to chop, to shred; to incise

podcinać, podciąć - to trim, to prune, to clip

podcinać komuś nogi - to trip somebody (up)
podcinać/podciąć sobie żyły - to slit one's wrists
podciąć skrzydła - to take the wind out of somebody’s sails

przecinać, przeciąć - to cut, to slice; to cut short, to interrupt

przeciąć sobie palec - to cut one's finger
przeciąć wstęgę - to cut a ribbon
przeciąc zakład - to close a bet
przecinać na pół - to cut in half
przecinać ciszę - to break silence
przecinać kłótnie - to interrupt an argument

przecinek - comma (noun)

przycinać, przyciąć - to trim, to crop; to catch

przycinać na wymiar - to trim down to size
przycinać drzewa/krzewy - to prune trees/bushes
przyciąć sobie język - to bite one's tongue

przycinanie - pruning (noun)

rozcinać, rozciąć - to cut, to cleave, to sever

rozcięcie - dissection, slit; vent (noun)

ścinać, ściąć - to cut off, to fell (tree); to smash (ball in sports); to coagulate

ścinać zakręty - to cut corners
ściąć żniwa - to cut down the harvest
ściąć się - to flunk

ucinać, uciąć - to break off, to cut short; to have, to do

ucinać/uciąć sobie drzemkę - to take a nap

wcinać, wciąć - to cut into

wcięcie - indenture, notch (noun)

wycinać, wyciąć - to cut out

zacinać, zaciąć - to cut; to whip, to lash; to clench, to set; to jam

zacinać się, zaciać się - to cut oneself; to be stuck; to persist; to stammer
Coś się zacięło - Something got stuck

Cursing In Polish

Probably some of the most important words you can learn in any language (after you learn where you can run off to when you are doing the pee dance, and where you can get something to eat that is not currently squirming) are swear words.  Expressing frustration, anger, ridicule and disgust are important parts of creating shades of meaning, and Polish seems to be especially expressive in this regard, next to maybe Russian.  The Polish nation has been through a wide range of historically frustrating experiences (to put it mildly), and this has colored the vernacular with a wide palette.

One site that has a plethora of cussage is "YouSwear" which has a number of Polish curse words, among other languages (curiously enough, they also have curse words in "Chicken").  There is also the Toolpaq Guide To Polish Curse Words as well, which is more systematic and discriminating in its treatment.  Another list is on Nawcon, which has a page called "Polish Language Swearing."

A site that is not quite as comprehensive is the "Cursing And Swearing Dictionary," which, nonetheless, seems to cover some of the basics.  There is another short list on insults.net, and a short blog post on Transparent, which discusses usage somewhat but not nearly enough.  Also, there are some words on Memrise, but you can only see five words a page and there are a total of twenty.

Doubtless there are other sites out there as well...let me know if you find the gold mine.

Just Had To Remove A Link To An Infected Site

I just had to remove a link in my list of language learning blogs to a site that is apparently infected with malware.  It was called speakingadventure-dot-com (it's spelled out...DON'T GO THERE!!!).  I did not click on the link at any time after that site was compromised so I doubt I was infected.  The link had been on there for quite some time but the site must have recently gotten infected as Google Chrome would no longer let me on my blog site and gave a malware warning about content from this other site.

Though I could not get to my blog at all, I could get to the maintenance pages, and I just searched all the gadgets for any trace of the site that Chrome was telling me harbored the infection.  And, bingo, I found a link to it and just deleted it, resolving the problem in less than ten minutes after getting the warning and being blocked from my site.

So keep in mind that at any moment, any link that you have posted on your site could become infected somehow.  Or, even worse, someone could hack into your site and it could become infected as well.  Sobering thought.

Whew...I'm glad it was not something more involved, and I'm glad I figured it out quickly.

Fried...Or, Really, Fraj-ed

The only two words I have found so far in Polish with the root "fraj-" in them are:

"frajer, frajerka" which means "sucker"

"frajda," which means "fun" or "for kicks"
e.g. ale frajda! (what a blast!)

Przeciw: Opposition

I bet y'all have been waiting with bated breath for my next post (probably not, but ya never know), seeing as how I haven't put anything new on here in a while.  I've been kinda busy showing up for the craziness lately at the Texas Capitol.  Maybe that has nothing to do with learning Polish, and shouldn't be in a Polish learning blog.  Au contraire; I beg to differ.  I studied Polish on several occasions while I was there, even while I was chanting along with the crowd.  And, besides, it's my blog, so I can write what I want.  Ha ha.

But I digress, let's get back to the topic at hand.  I want to talk about "przeciw,"  which, in general, has to do with stuff that is opposite, contrary to, or against something.  A fitting topic to talk about in relation to thousands of screaming protestors who shut this mother down.  Yippie-ki-yay.

"Przeciw" or "przeciwko" means "against."  It is a preposition, and takes the dative case.  It also forms a prefix for a ton of compound words in Polish.  I'm not going to go into all the words that are involved here, because there are a whole lot of them.  Just turn to your friendly neighborhood Polish dictionary for further guidance on this subject.  But I will talk about a few of the derivative words that are used most frequently.

"Przeciwny" means "opposite" or "contrary."  "Przeciwnie" is an adverb that means "on/to the contrary."  And "przeciwieństwo" is a noun that means "opposition" or "contrast." "Przeciwnik" refers to an "adversary" or "opponent" (another noun).

"Sprzeciw" is a noun that means "opposition" or "objection."  "Naprzeciw" is a preposition meaning "opposite" or "across from."  It takes the genitive.

"Sprzeciwiać/sprzeciwić się" means "to oppose, to stand against."

Some examples of how to stand tough against those who keep us in shackles:

powstawać przeciw - to rise against
protestować przeciw - to protest against
walczyć przeciwko - to fight against
głosować przeciwko - to vote against
w przeciwieństwie do - in contrast to
przeciwdziałać - to work against, to counteract

More Phrases For Reinforcement

I did a previous post on phrasal reinforcement, or reinforcing the meanings of individual words by using them in conjunction with other words to create a unit of meaning that helps to illustrate their usage.  Here are some more noun phrases (usually adjective/noun or noun/noun) for thine edification.

słusznego wzrostu - of considerable height
zdrowy rozsądek - common sense
konferencja prasowa - press conference
działanie uboczne - side effect
wieża obserwacyjna - watchtower
rozstrzygający głos - decisive vote
odkryty teren - open space
handel zagraniczny - foreign commerce
pigułka antykoncepcyjna - contraceptive pill
przyciąganie ziemskie - gravity
kamień nerkowy - kidney stone
barszcz czerwony - red borscht
pracownik umysłowy - while-collar worker
zespół rockowy - rock group
psotne dziecko - mischievous child
ślepa uliczka - dead end
deficyt budżetowy - budget deficit

The New Kosciuszko Foundation Dictionary CD Is Problematic

In my post on Polish language learning recommendations, I gave high marks to "The New Kosciuszko Foundation Dictionary," a two-volume set.  I do like the book even though it has some omissions of words (but few dictionaries will have all words, and if they do they will be really expensive).  I bought this dictionary at a bookstore in Warsaw and it was a little over 300 złoty (about $100 in US money).

But recently I installed the CD that comes with the book, which purports to be a searchable version of both volumes with some added features.  The problem with the CD is that it displays the wrong character set, as you can see from the following screenshot:

But not only does it display the wrong characters, the support emails in the help file for the program are not operative any more, so good luck getting any support for the problem or for the program in general.  The website has also changed as well.  The help file is fairly sparse and does not even address this problem.  On the Kosciuszko Foundation's site, it is hard to find any email addresses for anybody, and it is doubtful that anyone there is associated with the dictionary.  Still, I have emailed multiple people there about the problem and asked them to forward to the correct person and have not even gotten a response.  This is troubling because perhaps someone has an easy answer and it seems I am simply being ignored.

I ran a compatibility check in Windows (you can do this for any program by right-clicking on the program and choosing it from the menu) for the program, and it goes through a series of questions and tests, then ultimately states that the program is incompatible, with no further details.  And I've tried running it in emulation modes for previous versions of Windows, and have gotten no better results.  And there doesn't seem to be any information on this through any internet searches.

I guess my next step will be to see if there is some sort of emulation window (free, hopefully) I can run this program in to get the right characters.  I have also experimented with changing to different character sets in Windows and that doesn't help either.  Really, I don't want to globally change my character set because other programs and files are running fine, but I thought I would at least try.

So my recommendation at this point is that the books are good, but the CD leaves something to be desired.

UPDATE:  The president of the Kosciuszko Foundation emailed me today and indicated that the company who they partnered with to make the CD has gone out of business, and as soon as they can raise the money to fix the problems with the CD, they will make it right with all the customers who purchased the original ones.  So it is somewhat gratifying that (hopefully) they will at some point correct the problem.

UPDATE:  Five months later (November 2013), there appears to have been no further attempt to fix this problem or put out any information to offer either any solution, or any progress toward a solution.  The CD is a lemon, and customer service is nonexistent.  However, the dictionary itself is solid.

High-Impact Aerobic Vocabulary Interval Training

Well, I didn't plan on this when I got to the gym today.  But when I stepped on the elliptical machine and started studying my Polish flash cards, I got an idea that I wanted to try out.

I worked out to a moderate pace, which for me is getting to a heart beat of about 130.  I kept that up for a few minutes, and then concentrated on one word on my flash cards.  After looking at the word for about thirty seconds, I started sprinting furiously on the machine until my heartbeat got up to 145, all the time concentrating on memorizing the word and its meaning.  When my heartbeat hit 145, I would then move back to lower-impact activity, slowing down on the machine.  Of course, my heartbeat would continue rising for a short time after I slowed down the activity, usually to about 160-165 (once it rose to 173), and I would keep up the slower activity, relaxing my body and ramping it down more and more, and watch my heart rate go lower from the peak.

When my heart rate would reach 115, I would pick out another word, and start the process again.  Thirty seconds at the "resting" rate of 115, then furiously sprint-pedaling up to 145, lowering the intensity and watching the heart rate go up and then down again, and then starting over with another word at 115.

Here are the cards I took with me to the gym today:

In case you're wondering, where there is a star, it signifies all-new material.  Not that you are wondering.

I got through the first card and about halfway through the second card, and worked out for about an hour.  My average heart rate for the workout was 128.  Then I did review in the sauna afterwards (not so great because the light was burned out, but there was some light coming in from the glass in the door).

I have no idea if this is a successful study strategy per se.  I would actually tend to guess that compared to a control group, it's not terribly great.  Usually studying while exercising is harder, because you're concentrating on doing many other things, and because your body's oxygen and processes are busy with other stuff.  I've found that the more I ramp up the intensity of my exercise, the harder it is to concentrate on the material I am trying to study while I am exercising.  The fact that I only got through one and a half cards in an hour is a little slow for my usual card study too.  Still, both exercise and study are made better by mixing up the routine, so there is surely some benefit to be gained from a new and fresh approach.

But being the freak that I am, I wish that I had more data about this experience.  Like how long it takes from 115 to 145, and then to peak, and then back down again.  Or whether there is variance in time in the intervals as more intervals are completed.  I'm sure there is more stuff I will think of that I wish I had captured data on.  Maybe later.  Now it's time to pay a visit to the chipotle sun-dried tomato hummus that I made a few days ago.