# zegara tarcza



## Sniegurochka

Cześć,
I am translating Anna Jantar's song "Tylko mnie poproś do tańca." What is " zegara tarcza"? Here are the lines:

Tylko mnie poproś do tańca
Dopóki młoda godzina
Pożółknie zegara tarcza
Zanim wybije mój czas 


I translated:
Don't ask anyone else but me to dance,
While it is still my time, while I am still around,
May that chewed up cigarette turn all yellowish,
Just as long as it is before my time is over.

What exactly does it mean?


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## PawelBierut

The translation is: _clock face._

_Zegara tarcza_ is not what you can usually hear.  It is written in  inverted order, (but it is a poetry). 

Normal way to say that is: cyferblat, tarcza zegarowa, tarcza zegara.


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## PawelBierut

The lyrics mean more or less:

Just ask me to dance
As long as the hour is still young
The clock face will turn yellowish
Before my time will come

*Edit: *Your translation of the first verse can be OK. The meaning is ambiguous.


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## LilianaB

Yes, I agree with Pawel. This is more or less what the lyrics mean, if you don't need them to be performed, of course, because these would not fit the music.  I would say: "When the hour is still young". It is really "The yellow face of the clock" --- nothing more, if you want to be precise (third line).  "Before my time strikes", or better, perhaps, "before the clock strikes my hour"


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## PawelBierut

LilianaB said:


> It is really "The yellow face of the clock" --- nothing more, if you want to be precise (third line).


I can't agree. _Pożółknie _suggests that in the future face of the clock will change colour to yellow / have a yellowish hue.


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## Thomas1

I agree with Pawel. Come to think of it, there are at least three possible interpretations of the verb 'pożółknąć':


turn yellow(ish) 
gradually turn yellow(ish) 
partly turn yellow(ish) 
The first one is what we normally take it to mean. The other nuance is related to whether the colour is 'yellow' or 'yellowish'. In this case, I'd be inclined to understand it as 'yellowish'.
I'd suggest 'Before my time comes' instead of 'Before my time will come', though.


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## LilianaB

No. It does have to be _yellowish_. It means literary _that has turned yellow_, but in poetry you can slightly play with words.


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## Thomas1

Well, it does sound better to me this way too. However, in other situations it might not be so obvious, I think. If you're talking about leaves you can translate 'pożółknąć' as 'turn yellow' too.


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## LilianaB

PawelBierut said:


> The lyrics mean more or less:
> 
> Just ask me to dance
> As long as the hour is still young
> The clock face will turn yellowish
> Before my time will come
> 
> *Edit: *Your translation of the first verse can be OK. The meaning is ambiguous.



I think your translation of the first line is right. The first line is not ambiguous if you listen how it was sung --  the stress and intonation. I think it only means that, in this song.


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