# All Slavic languages: pretending to be an Englishman



## Athaulf

In Croatian and Serbian, there exists a somewhat weird saying quoted in the title. When someone is pretending to know nothing about some unpleasant fact, or acting aloof, or intentionally being unresponsive to avoid some unpleasant duty, we say _"pravi se Englez"_, which literally translates to _"he's pretending to be an Englishman." 

_For example, one could say, _"praviš se Englez"_ (_"you're pretending to be an Englishman"_) in a jokingly teasing manner to someone who is trying to evade questions about an embarrassing love interest. Alternatively, one could say it in a pretty harsh accusatory tone to someone who is conveniently "forgetting" about a debt he should pay back. Curiously, the masculine form _Englez_ (= _Englishman_, as opposed to _Engleskinja = Englishwoman_) is always used for both sexes in such expressions. 

Does any other Slavic language have a similar expression, and does anyone have any idea about where this strange idiom might have come from? Historically, the contact between the South Slavic peoples and the British has been minimal to nonexistent, which makes the situation even more strange. I'm not aware of any widespread popular stereotypes about the English that could have given rise to such an expression.


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## Kolan

Not in Russian, for sure. 

Hi there, in Toronto, and thanks, it was interesting to learn about such a @bloody@ qualities of English people (not British in general, I guess?), as they are seen from Balkan Mountains. 

Traditionally, for a numerous historical reasons_ les Anglais_ (_les Britanniques_) are seen by the Québec francophones mostly in a negative light, either.


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## Athaulf

Kolan said:


> Not in Russian, for sure.



Thanks for the info.



> Hi there, in Toronto, and thanks, it was interesting to learn about such a @bloody@ qualities of English people (not British in general, I guess?), as they are seen from Balkan Mountains.


Actually, Croatia is very far from the Balkan Mountains, and even Serbia barely touches them. 

Also, in Croatian and Serbian, the words for "England" and "English" are often imprecisely used to refer to the whole of Britain or U.K. In fact, these latter two expressions (_Britanija_, _Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo_) are barely ever heard in informal everyday speech.



> Traditionally, for a numerous historical reasons_ les Anglais_ (_les Britanniques_) are seen by the Québec francophones mostly in a negative light, either.


But as I wrote above, it's not like this saying reflects some kind of a widespread popular prejudice towards the English. Such prejudice is nonexistent, since historically, there has never been any significant contact with them, and until very recently (and maybe even nowadays), only a minuscule percentage of the population had ever met anyone British. Whatever the origin of the phrase might be, I'm sure it's not due to popular ethnic prejudice.


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## Jana337

Athaulf said:


> In Croatian and Serbian, there exists a somewhat weird saying quoted in the title. When someone is pretending to know nothing about some unpleasant fact, or acting aloof, or intentionally being unresponsive to avoid some unpleasant duty, we say _"pravi se Englez"_, which literally translates to _"he's pretending to be an Englishman."
> _


No, nothing similar in Czech





> For example, one could say, _"praviš se Englez"_ (_"you're pretending to be an Englishman"_) in a jokingly teasing manner to someone who is trying to evade questions about an embarrassing love interest. Alternatively, one could say it in a pretty harsh accusatory tone to someone who is conveniently "forgetting" about a debt he should pay back. Curiously, the masculine form _Englez_ (= _Englishman_, as opposed to _Engleskinja = Englishwoman_) is always used for both sexes in such expressions.


For someone who is avoiding a duty despite being urged or for someone who messed up and won't own up to it and/or remove the consequences you would say "dělá/hraje mrtvého brouka" - pretends being/plays a dead beatle. But you would say it about a third person, not directly in the second one (because you typically cannot approach the person and make him/her talk).


> Does any other Slavic language have a similar expression, and does anyone have any idea about where this strange idiom might have come from? Historically, the contact between the South Slavic peoples and the British has been minimal to nonexistent, which makes the situation even more strange. I'm not aware of any widespread popular stereotypes about the English that could have given rise to such an expression.


No idea.


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## Irbis

In Slovenian we use French in the similar way.
"he's pretending to be an Frenchman" would also mean that someone is trying to evade question, to leave without paying.

I would guess that the expression suggests that someone is pretending to be a foreigner and don't know a language and local customs. But why exactly French in Slovenian and English in Croatian and Serbian I have no idea.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

Yes, as Irbis said, in Slovene there are two idioms where Frenchmen are involved:
*delati se Francoza* = pretending oneself to be a Frenchman - the meaning is exactly the same as that Croatian/Serbian with an Englishman
_Read here._


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## Thomas1

We have the Polish equivalent _Nie udawaj Greka_ (don't pretend to be a Greek). It's more or less used the same way as yours. A police officer could say to a driver who's sped _Niech Pan nie udaje Greka przekroczył Pan dozwoloną prędkość._ Don't pretend to be a Greek you exceeded the legal limit. (if the driver were pestering and tried to get away with it). 

I found out from the Net that it has to do with Socrates whose method of coming to the truth was based upon asking questions to his interlocutors, and by this, giving the impression that he knew less than he really did, in this way he spurred them to see their errors.


Tom


Athaulf said:


> In Croatian and Serbian, there exists a somewhat weird saying quoted in the title. When someone is pretending to know nothing about some unpleasant fact, or acting aloof, or intentionally being unresponsive to avoid some unpleasant duty, we say _"pravi se Englez"_, which literally translates to _"he's pretending to be an Englishman." _
> 
> For example, one could say, _"praviš se Englez"_ (_"you're pretending to be an Englishman"_) in a jokingly teasing manner to someone who is trying to evade questions about an embarrassing love interest. Alternatively, one could say it in a pretty harsh accusatory tone to someone who is conveniently "forgetting" about a debt he should pay back. Curiously, the masculine form _Englez_ (= _Englishman_, as opposed to _Engleskinja = Englishwoman_) is always used for both sexes in such expressions.
> 
> Does any other Slavic language have a similar expression, and does anyone have any idea about where this strange idiom might have come from? Historically, the contact between the South Slavic peoples and the British has been minimal to nonexistent, which makes the situation even more strange. I'm not aware of any widespread popular stereotypes about the English that could have given rise to such an expression.


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## Anatoli

My quick translation into Russian as per the original question "He's pretending to be an Englishman.": "Он притворяется англичанином." or "Он притворяется, что он англичанин."


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## alcesta

I would add that there exists the same expression in Italian too, with the same meaning (fare l'inglese). I know the question is about other Slavic languages, but this at least could prove it's not limited only to Slavic languages and their notions of Britain.


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## Kriviq

In Bulgaria we call cunning and treacherous people "byzantines"


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## Bruno 1234

alcesta said:


> I would add that there exists the same expression in Italian too, with the same meaning (fare l'inglese). I know the question is about other Slavic languages, but this at least could prove it's not limited only to Slavic languages and their notions of Britain.




I suppose it's a bit late to follow this thread, but I'd like to tell that in Spanish this same expression is translated as "hacerse el sueco" (to pretend to be Swedish" (no te hagas el sueco: do not pretend that you don't hear/understand me).

Best regards.


Bruno


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## Brainiac

In Serbian slang, there are few definitions of  _"pravi se Englez"_.  
Since it's not appropriate to post them here, you may read it in Serbian dictionary of popular expressions and slang words. 
_http://vukajlija.com/pravi-se-englez

_


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## Bruno 1234

Brainiac said:


> In Serbian slang, there are few definitions of  _"pravi se Englez"_.
> Since it's not appropriate to post them here, you may read it in Serbian dictionary of popular expressions and slang words.
> _http://vukajlija.com/pravi-se-englez
> 
> _


You are right, Brainiac, let's forget slang: in Spanish there was/is the rather inappropiate expression of "hijo de la Gran Bretaña" (son of the Great Britain) where tha "Great Britain" stands for "big whore" (historically England is not among the countries preferred  for Spaniards...).


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

In French there is an expression _Avoir ses Anglais _(literally _To have her English_) which is slang for _To have her period (menstrual cycle).

_Although this is a bit off topic, it's interesting to note how different languages use the word English.


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## LilianaB

There is an expression in Russian to leave the English way, meaning to leave without saying good bye, unnoticed.


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## marco_2

LilianaB said:


> There is an expression in Russian to leave the English way, meaning to leave without saying good bye, unnoticed.



We have the same in Polish: *wyjść po angielsku *(to leave a party unnoticed). And we also have an expression *Anglik z Kołomyi *(an Englishman from Kolomea - a town, now in Western Ukraine), which describes a person, who e.g. tries to dress and behave elegantly, but he fails because of his lack of good manners and education.


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## LilianaB

I didn't know there were such expressions in Polish.. I only know angielska punktualnosc.


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## Marski

We have the same expression in Macedonian, but it's taken from Serbian. Usually we use it in the original (Serbian) form instead of Macedonian.


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## Azori

In Slovak: *"zmiznúť po anglicky"* (to disappear the English way). There's also a colloquial expression *"s kľudom Angličana" = *calmly / in a cold-blooded manner (literally "with a calmness of an Englishman")


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## marco_2

We also have a similar expression: *z angielską flegmą *= (to do sth) calmly / slowly / in a cold-blooded manner.


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