Bar mleczny
PRL ended in 1989, but much of its everyday vocabulary survives. Ten words associated with life in communist Poland, some older than the regime itself.
bar mleczny
phrase · noun
- EN
- milk bar, subsidised canteen
- RU
- дешёвая столовая
W barze mlecznym obiad z kompotem to dwadzieścia złotych.
In a milk bar dinner with kompot is twenty zloty.
Milk because the first ones, from 1896, served dairy and no meat. Still open, still partly state-subsidised, still the cheapest hot obiad in any city — and a queue at one o'clock.
komuna
noun · feminine, colloquial
- EN
- the communist era, the regime
- RU
- совок; при коммунистах
Za komuny na telefon czekało się dziesięć lat.
Under communism you waited ten years for a phone line.
RU коммуна is a commune. Polish komuna, colloquially, is the whole 1945-1989 regime and era, and za komuny is the standard opener for any story from before. Neutral to mildly scornful.
na kartki
phrase · adverb
- EN
- on ration cards, rationed
- RU
- по талонам, по карточкам
Mięso, cukier i benzyna były wtedy na kartki.
Meat, sugar and petrol were rationed back then.
Sugar went on cards in 1976, meat in 1981, and the last coupons vanished in 1989. Kartka is any card or sheet of paper; na kartki is the whole economy of the eighties in two words.
maluch
noun · masculine
- EN
- the Fiat 126p; a toddler
- RU
- малыш; Фиат 126п
Całą rodziną jeździliśmy maluchem nad morze.
The whole family used to drive to the seaside in a Fiat 126p.
From mały. The Fiat 126p was built in Bielsko-Biała and Tychy from 1973 to 2000, and the nickname became the official model name at the end. Also a toddler, as in a nursery's grupa maluchów.
wersalka
noun · feminine
- EN
- fold-out sofa bed
- RU
- диван-кровать
Goście śpią na wersalce w dużym pokoju.
Guests sleep on the sofa bed in the living room.
The PRL sofa that unfolded into the night's bed, one per living room, and still the word for any sofa bed. RU диван is a sofa, Polish dywan is a carpet, and wersalka is what you sleep on.
meblościanka
noun · feminine
- EN
- wall unit
- RU
- мебельная стенка
W salonie do dziś stoi meblościanka po dziadkach.
The grandparents' wall unit still stands in the living room.
Meble plus ścianka: one wall of shelves, cupboards and a glass case for the good glasses. Designed by the Kowalskis in 1961, made in millions, and still standing in a flat you have visited.
komis
noun · masculine
- EN
- consignment shop; used-car dealer
- RU
- комиссионка; авторынок
Kupiłem auto w komisie, z gwarancją na rok.
I bought the car at a used-car dealer's, with a year's warranty.
In PRL the komis sold second-hand Western goods on commission. Today it survives almost only as komis samochodowy: a used car is z komisu. RU комиссионка is the same idea, older.
fucha
noun · feminine, colloquial
- EN
- side job, cash-in-hand gig
- RU
- халтура, шабашка
Po godzinach bierze fuchy, remontuje łazienki.
After hours he takes side jobs, renovating bathrooms.
Work on the side, often informal and paid in cash, though not always undeclared: robić fuchy. Chałtura is the arty cousin.
Pewex
noun · masculine
- EN
- Pewex, the hard-currency shop
- RU
- Берёзка (валютный магазин)
Dżinsy z Peweksu były marzeniem każdego nastolatka.
Jeans from Pewex were every teenager's dream.
Przedsiębiorstwo Eksportu Wewnętrznego: state shops selling Western goods for dollars only, the Polish Берёзка. Long gone, but jak z Peweksu still means unreachably luxurious.
cinkciarz
noun · masculine
- EN
- black-market money changer
- RU
- валютчик, фарцовщик
Cinkciarze stali pod Peweksem i szeptali: change money.
The money changers stood outside Pewex whispering 'change money'.
From 'change money', said in a Polish accent to tourists outside hotels. The trade died in 1989 with legal kantors — and one of the biggest online kantors is cheerfully named Cinkciarz.pl.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten