# Podpasować



## Krzys7796

Hi,

The following text is taken from a dialogue and I was wondering how native Poles understand and use the verb "podpasować" as opposed to just "pasować" 

"...no to może to im podpasowało...."


----------



## kknd

*G*reets!

*A*nother nice question! _*P*odpasować_ in my opinion is informal substitute for _spodobać się_ ("like", "appeal") where _pasować_ is rather more formal (meaning "suit", "match").


----------



## Ben Jamin

Krzys7796 said:


> Hi,
> 
> The following text is taken from a dialogue and I was wondering how native Poles understand and use the verb "podpasować" as opposed to just "pasować"
> 
> "...no to może to im podpasowało...."


"podpasować" is not opposed to "dopasować", it's a *slang *word meaning "to be suitable for somebody". Don't use it in writing.


----------



## Thomas1

The trouble is that, although we use it, the word is nonexistent in Polish dictionaries. 

'podpasować' can also mean 'dopasować' in certain contexts.

[Cross-posted.]
EDIT: Ben Jamin, there's no mention of 'dopasować' in the original post. I think that 'as opposed' means 'in comparison to' in this context.


----------



## LilianaB

Ben Jamin said:


> "podpasować" is not opposed to "dopasować", it's a *slang *word meaning "to be suitable for somebody". Don't use it in writing.



I agree with Ben Jamin. As far as a I know it is only a slang word of some type of a dialect. "Dobrać" might be the standard word. I have not seen "podpasowac" in writing. (in any type of literature, or articles)


----------



## Ben Jamin

Thomas1 said:


> The trouble is that, although we use it, the word is nonexistent in Polish dictionaries.
> 
> 'podpasować' can also mean 'dopasować' in certain contexts.
> 
> [Cross-posted.]
> EDIT: Ben Jamin, there's no mention of 'dopasować' in the original post. I think that 'as opposed' means 'in comparison to' in this context.



Sorry, my error. But the original post has "pasować", and my comment does not need a change, it is still valid with "pasować".


----------



## dreamlike

There's no such verb as 'podpasować', it's just a thing that people blurt in rapid speech, and it has the meaning of 'to suit somebody'.


----------



## BezierCurve

This is one of the moments, when contemporary dictionaries of Polish fail miserably. 

There is no such word in Polish, it's just something a few million people use in everyday speech.

As for the original question, I think it's something between "I'd like it" or "it'd suit me".


----------



## dreamlike

I'd say that 'use' is too big a word ... I find 'blurt' to be far more applicable here.  But as a matter of fact, you're right, of course.


----------



## Ben Jamin

BezierCurve said:


> This is one of the moments, when contemporary dictionaries of Polish fail miserably.
> 
> There is no such word in Polish, it's just something a few million people use in everyęday speech.
> 
> As for the original question, I think it's something between "I'd like it" or "it'd suit me".


You fail to recognize that a language consists of many registers and "substandard languages" (dialects, sociolects, and more).
You could say "it does not exist in standard Polish, or "is not recognized in standard Polish (język literacki)", but not "it does not exist".

Generally speaking, many members of the Polish forum do not recognize the many facets of the language, and it goes in both directions: they either deny the existence of the standard language, or substandard languages, and judge their own dialect as the only existing.


----------



## BezierCurve

> You fail to recognize that a language consists of many registers and "substandard languages" (dialects, sociolects, and more).
> You could say "it does not exist in standard Polish, or "is not recognized in standard Polish (język literacki)", but not "it does not exist".
> 
> Generally speaking, many members of the Polish forum do not recognize the many facets of the language, and it goes in both directions: they either deny the existence of the standard language, or substandard languages, and judge their own dialect as the only existing.



But isn't the purpose of a good dictionary to reflect all the facets of the language? Since words like "podpasować" are widely used in colloquial speech, then why not include it just like it's already done with "klima" and "siłka"? Both of these are relatively new as compared to "podpasować".

I'd say the real problem lies not here, in the way the forum members look at it, but within the highly subjective approach of the authors of the dictionaries of contemporary Polish. One of the best examples was including the file format "doc" in some of dictionaries as a legitimate word as opposed to other file formats - just because _that_ was part of the "computer world" already explored by the majority of the authors of dictionaries.


----------



## dreamlike

Well, perhaps the word 'podpasować' is not used widely enough, Bezier. I don't hear it all that often. To say that dictionary compilers deliberately overlooked 'podpasować' is far-fetched at best.


----------



## BezierCurve

Yet you do hear it from time to time, probably more often than "bejcować" or "antycypować".

I don't know about the authors doing it deliberately or not.


----------



## Thomas1

BezierCurve said:


> But isn't the purpose of a good dictionary to reflect all the facets of the language? Since words like "podpasować" are widely used in colloquial speech, then why not include it just like it's already done with "klima" and "siłka"? Both of these are relatively new as compared to "podpasować".
> 
> I'd say the real problem lies not here, in the way the forum members look at it, but within the highly subjective approach of the authors of the dictionaries of contemporary Polish. One of the best examples was including the file format "doc" in some of dictionaries as a legitimate word as opposed to other file formats - just because _that_ was part of the "computer world" already explored by the majority of the authors of dictionaries.


I agree. I think that the mention that the word isn't present in Polish dictionaries is also very suggestive as to its connotations. Besides lexicographers have the necessary tools for tagging words, so why not include it? The following argument isn't very convincing to me:Wyrazistość słowotwórczo-znaczeniowa tego typu sprzyja  powstawaniu formacji doraźnych, nie ustabilizowanych w normie  leksykalnej języka, np. podzłościć się. podprzyjaźniać się, podpasować, podsypiać [...]
http://books.google.pl/books?id=zLQ...a=X&ei=nPusUdXoNOO64ATOtoHIAQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ​It also proves that lexicographers do realise that the word exists.

The word 'ramol' isn't used all that often either (unless you watch movies translated into Polish, for example, for public TV), but still you'll find it in most dictionaries of the Polish language. 

Now give a big hand to _The New Kosciuszko Foundation (Polish-English) Dictionary_:podpasować 
pf.
podpasować komuś pot. suit sb down to the ground; be right up sb's street.​


----------



## Ben Jamin

Thomas1 said:


> I agree. I think that the mention that the word isn't present in Polish dictionaries is also very suggestive as to its connotations. Besides lexicographers have the necessary tools for tagging words, so why not include it? The following argument isn't very convincing to me:Wyrazistość słowotwórczo-znaczeniowa tego typu sprzyja  powstawaniu formacji doraźnych, nie ustabilizowanych w normie  leksykalnej języka, np. podzłościć się. podprzyjaźniać się, podpasować, podsypiać [...]
> http://books.google.pl/books?
> id=zL...a=X&ei=nPusUdXoNOO64ATOtoHIAQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ​It also proves that lexicographers do realise that the word exists.
> 
> The word 'ramol' isn't used all that often either (unless you watch movies translated into Polish, for example, for public TV), but still you'll find it in most dictionaries of the Polish language.
> 
> Now give a big hand to _The New Kosciuszko Foundation (Polish-English) Dictionary_:podpasować
> pf.
> podpasować komuś pot. suit sb down to the ground; be right up sb's street.​



As you can see, this dictionary does not mark the word with any additional information about the language register. The word is, however, a strong social marker, and is generally perceived as a "puero-plebeism". Somewhere close to "Halfred P. Doolittle". It can be the reason why dictionaries usually ignore it.


----------



## Thomas1

Ben Jamin said:


> As you can see, this dictionary does not mark the word with any additional information about the language register. The word is, however, a strong social marker, and is generally perceived as a "puero-plebeism". Somewhere close to "Halfred P. Doolittle". It can be the reason why dictionaries usually ignore it.


Please have a closer look at the entry. I agree with the classification in the dictionary.


----------



## Ben Jamin

Thomas1 said:


> Please have a closer look at the entry. I agree with the classification in the dictionary.



This is not obvious in your post.


----------



## Thomas1

Ben Jamin said:


> This is not obvious in your post.


Given the little piece of sample we have ("...no to może to im podpasowało....") and the mention that 'podpasować' doesn't exist in dictionaries, I thought it was _nihil novi sub sole_ that we're talking about an informal context and the words are colloquial. 'podpasować' is a word that is mainly used in informal settings, for example, with friends, but you wouldn't use it, for instance, in a scientific work.


----------



## LilianaB

I don't think it is used in certain regions at all -- like the South West, for example. I have personally not heard this word used too many times -- I think it is a version of "dopasować", "dobrać".


----------



## Ben Jamin

LilianaB said:


> I think it is a version of "dopasować", "dobrać".



No, it is not.


----------



## LilianaB

1."To choose the right thing", 2. "to like something, to find something pleasurable or profitable," isn't it? It is definitely slang, or an idiolect even. I don't even know why we are discussing it, if he did not provide any exact context (just very vague). I am not really going to discuss it, or even think about it, unless he provides the exact context in which it is to be used, or in which it was used.


----------



## Ben Jamin

LilianaB said:


> 1."To choose the right thing", 2. "to like something, to find something pleasurable or profitable," isn't it? It is definitely slang, or an idiolect even. I don't even know why we are discussing it, if he did not provide any exact context (just very vague). I am not really going to discuss it, or even think about it, unless he provides the exact context in which it is to be used, or in which it was used.



Post #14 gives the meaning of the verb “podpasować” (quote from _The New Kosciuszko Foundation (Polish-English) Dictionary_), as the word is used in substandard Polish colloquial speech by people who wish to mark their distance to the “correct speech” in order to not sound formal, or have a poor vocabulary. Not recognized in formal or educated speech.
There is no use in guessing other hypothetical meanings of the word.


----------



## dreamlike

Ben Jamin said:


> Post #14 gives the meaning of the verb “podpasować” (quote from _The New Kosciuszko Foundation (Polish-English) Dictionary_), as the word is used in substandard Polish colloquial speech by people *who wish to mark their distance to the “correct speech” in order to not sound formal, or have a poor vocabulary*. Not recognized in formal or educated speech.
> There is no use in guessing other hypothetical meanings of the word.


To think that there's some mental process accompanying the use of 'podpasować' is rather naive.


----------



## Ben Jamin

dreamlike said:


> To think that there's some mental process accompanying the use of 'podpasować' is rather naive.



There is always a mental process (how could you speak without a mind), but it can be unconscious.
Be so kind, and don't use words like "naive" without a good reason. They don't improve the discussion. Courtesy is always welcome.


----------



## dreamlike

I meant only that people who blurt words such as 'podpasować' don't really give much thought to it.


----------



## Thomas1

Ben Jamin said:


> LilianaB said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it is a version of "dopasować", "dobrać".
> 
> 
> 
> No, it is not.
Click to expand...

It isn't in this context, but it can also mean what Liliana's suggesting.


----------

