Portfel po wypłacie
Money in the words people use about their own. Payday to payday, the secret stash, and the tab at the corner shop — with a hamster that Russian also keeps.
od pierwszego do pierwszego
phrase · adverb
- EN
- paycheck to paycheck (literally 'from the first to the first')
- RU
- от зарплаты до зарплаты
Żyjemy od pierwszego do pierwszego.
We live paycheck to paycheck.
Pierwszego is the first of the month, imagined as payday. Whatever date your salary actually lands, żyć od pierwszego do pierwszego is living from one to the next with nothing left between.
hajs
noun · masculine, slang
- EN
- cash, dough
- RU
- бабки, бабло
Nie mam hajsu na wakacje.
I haven't got the cash for a holiday.
Slang for money, younger and louder than kasa or forsa. It declines like any noun: bez hajsu, z hajsem. Hajs się zgadza — 'the money adds up' — is how people say a deal came out right.
stówa
noun · feminine, colloquial
- EN
- a hundred (złoty)
- RU
- сотка, сотня
Pożycz mi stówę do piątku.
Lend me a hundred till Friday.
Money counts in slang: dycha is ten, pięć dych fifty, stówa a hundred, bańka a million. The numbers pack you actually need.
zaskórniaki
noun · plural, colloquial
- EN
- a secret stash of money, savings put by
- RU
- заначка
Odłożyłam trochę zaskórniaków na czarną godzinę.
I secretly put some money aside for a rainy day.
Private savings, usually kept secret from someone — Russian заначка to the life. Na czarną godzinę, for the black hour, is the rainy day they are for.
chomikować
verb · imperfective, colloquial
- EN
- to hoard, to squirrel away
- RU
- запасать, копить (как хомяк)
Chomikuje paragony od lat.
He's been hoarding receipts for years.
From chomik, the hamster, which stuffs its cheeks for later. Russian хомячить mostly means eating greedily, though it can hoard too; the Polish hamster only stores.
zaciskać pasa
phrase · verb, imperfective
- EN
- to tighten your belt
- RU
- затягивать пояс
Po podwyżce czynszu musimy zaciskać pasa.
After the rent rise we have to tighten our belts.
The Russian image, with a Polish trap: pas takes the genitive here — zaciskać pasa, not pas. Perfective zacisnąć pasa for the one decisive tightening.
być pod kreską
phrase · verb
- EN
- to be in the red, overdrawn
- RU
- быть в минусе
Pod koniec miesiąca zawsze jestem pod kreską.
At the end of the month I'm always in the red.
Kreska is the line on the account balance, and you are under it. Also used of anything falling short of a threshold: partia jest pod kreską, below the electoral cut-off.
na krechę
phrase · adverb, colloquial
- EN
- on tick, on the slate, on credit
- RU
- в долг, под запись
W osiedlowym sklepie kiedyś dawali na krechę.
The corner shop used to let you buy on tick.
Krecha is a thick line or stroke — the tally mark of an unpaid debt. Kupić na krechę is to take now and pay later; żyć na krechę is living on credit.
przepuścić
verb · perfective, colloquial, + acc.
- EN
- to blow, to squander (money)
- RU
- спустить, промотать
Przepuścił całą premię w kasynie.
He blew his whole bonus at the casino.
The everyday meaning is to let through — przepuścić kogoś w drzwiach. With money, it goes straight through your fingers: przepuścić całą premię.
dusigrosz
noun · masculine, colloquial
- EN
- a skinflint, a penny-pincher
- RU
- скряга, жмот
Ten dusigrosz nigdy nie stawia kolejki.
That skinflint never buys a round.
Dusić, to strangle, plus grosz, the smallest coin: someone throttling every penny. Sknera is the close synonym; skąpy, the plain adjective.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten