# Przed wojną jabłka były smaczniejsze



## mihau

Witajcie ludziska/hello people,

Wielkie dzięki za poprawienie moich błędów i tych ojczystych i tych obcojęzycznych,
Thank you for correcting my Polish and English mistakes,

Moje dzisiejsze pytanie brzmi, jak przetłumaczyć
Jak mawiała moja babcia, przed wojną jabłka były smaczniejsze.

Zastanawiam się czy jest jakiś zwrot lub specyficzne angielskie powiedzonko obrazujące to przysłowie/powiedzenie. 

Pozdrawiam


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## mihau

Czy jest poprawne: 
"As my grandmother used to say before the war apples were delicious/more delicious"?


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## Faycelina

As a translation your one should be pretty OK. But I think you meant a proverb in English that would be appropriate in the same context, am I right? Can you explain your saying?
Do you mean that your grondmother used to say that when she was young everything was better? I'm not pretty sure of the meaning of it...


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## mihau

You are correct Faycelina, it has to be an English proverb or saying....


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## Thomas1

Could you please explain what this proverb is supposed to mean?

As to your translation I would word it a little differently:
"My grandmother used to say (that) apples were/had been better before the war".
But that may be a question of taste.


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## mihau

It happens quite often that some old people like to complain about their present lives. They tend to embellish the past by saying everything used to be better. Of course, they were young, etc so for them it may be true. However, generally speaking we live in better conditions than our ancestors used to live. http://thefreetea.blogspot.com/2010/02/jest-coraz-lepiej.html
It is very interesting what Steven Pinker says on TED (the link is at the end of the article).


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## Thomas1

Thanks. 
I know what you're talking about, but am not that familiar with the phrase in question. I know Kiedyś... nie było tyle X. Jak ja byłem młody to..., Za moich czasów...

Anyway, natives, again, proved very helpful: As my grandmother used to say before the war apples were.


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## ><FISH'>

A similar (sort of) idiom would be "The grass is (always) greener (on the other side (of the fence))", meaning that things that are inaccessible to people are automatically more appealing because of it. This usually applies to places, but it can apply to anything, even time periods. It also applies gratuitously when people seek out a foreign partner, because it is more exotic and thus more appealing.

Specifically for time periods, there is a sort of cliché or stereotype when it comes to old people which is commonly used as satire which goes loosely like; "Back in _my_ day...". Of course, this is almost always accompanied by an emphasized regional accent for effect, so it isn't quite the same in text.


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## majlo

As for the direct translation, I would word it like this: "As my grandma used to say - apples tasted better before the war". 

Anyway, I really like this phrase. In Polish, I mean.  I think this grandma is absolutely right.


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## Cynthia F

majlo said:


> As for the direct translation, I would word it like this: "As my grandma used to say - apples tasted better before the war".



I agree with this translation. 

However as a native, I don't think this is one of the more common phrases. In fact I'm struggling to think if I have ever heard anyone say it.


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## majlo

Cynthia F said:


> However as a native, I don't think this is one of the more common phrases. In fact I'm struggling to think if I have ever heard anyone say it.



It appears that we've just made a new English idiom.


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## Cynthia F

I'm sorry majlo, I've just asked around my office, and most of the people over the age of 40, have all heard of it. 

Perhaps, it's just an age thing?


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## majlo

Possibly. I wasn't aware of that saying before, but on reading it I could easily discern the meaning of it. Anyway, we have to wait a little more before we make a new English idiom.


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