# Kura domowa



## meglila

as equivalent to a housewife - house hen? home hen?
thank you


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## majlo

It's "housewife". However, I don't think it carries pejorative associations like it does in Polish.


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## meglila

what I am looking for is actually this pejorative meaning. May be it just doesn't exist in English?


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## robin74

Housewife does carry a pejorative meaning. Homemaker is a neutral term.


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## meglila

so may be it exists in jargon?


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## ><FISH'>

"Housewife" does not really carry pejorative meaning on its own, and I cannot think of anything in English that is more pejorative. Many housewives have no problem referring to themselves that way. Usually if you want to make it sound offensive, you add some inflection to it. I.e. "Stay-at-home housewife" isn't pejorative either, but you can guarantee that someone reading/hearing this will find it pejorative since it emphasizes it.

EDIT: However "Housewife" will be received as an insult depending on the culture of the receiver. In the UK women prefer to be career-driven, and so being a housewife carries unmistakable social  stigma (but not linguistically). I have *heard* that being a housewife is more common in the U.S.


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## El Torero

IMHO "kura domowa" is colloquial but not necessarily offensive. 
Like ><FISH'> noted, some women may feel offended by that term, but it's a matter of self-perspective


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## majlo

One has to agree that it's a matter of self-perspective but I can bet that in Poland at least 7 out of 10 women won't like being referred to themselves as _kura domowa_. 

Anyway, I also started a thread on the same issue in the English Only forum.


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## Ben Jamin

El Torero said:


> IMHO "kura domowa" is colloquial but not necessarily offensive.
> Like ><FISH'> noted, some women may feel offended by that term, but it's a matter of self-perspective


 Make some research then, and ask 10 women if they would like to be called "kura domowa".


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## El Torero

i will
wait for my results ;]


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## esatie

Ben Jamin said:


> Make some research then, and ask 10 women if they would like to be called "kura domowa".



I would not 
Hm, maybe I could call myself "kura domowa" only as a joke, ironically - like Maria Peszek in "Rosół" http://www.teksty.org/Maria_Peszek,Rosół- but I am afraid that if man wants to use _kura domowa_ to describe any woman, he should always be prepared for a possible punch


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## Elvus

Not necessarily. Becoming a "kura domowa" is the greatest dream of one girl who was with me at high school class. Anyway, I know some more such girls. But it might be just a proof that my closest entourage keeps traditional and undegenerated values. Personally, I have nothing against it.


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## esatie

Well, we are talking about *calling* someone "kura domowa", not about values (ok, maybe about speaker's attitude to women refered this name).
The fact that women find it offensive does not mean that they don't care about cleanliness of their flats or don't want to take care about their families, come on! The problem is about attitude with is represented by the name "kura domowa" - it is humiliating and suggests inferiority of woman, who is -by this name - compared to some kind of well-equipped all-in-one machine.

Sorry for my mistakes, I am learning - constatly


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## Elvus

My post was also referring to *calling*. I wanted to indicate that my schoolmate would surely not feel offended being called so.


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## Ben Jamin

The term 'kura domowa' has had the connotation: 'a woman comitted only to the tasks at home - housekeeping, cooking, children, not interested in anything outside the home'. I would presume that today's women would not like to be assosiated with such (lack of) ambitions. The word itself may be a little obsolete, and the meaning not quite clear for the younger generation.


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## majlo

Ben Jamin said:


> I would presume that today's women would not like to be assosiated with such (lack of) ambitions.



Housekeeping and raising children is lack of ambitions?  What's this world coming to?


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## BezierCurve

Just another stereotype, no need to worry too much about it. I've been called "kura domowa" a few times lately and never had any problem with it. Not sure how it would feel if I were a woman though.


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## Elvus

I agree with majlo's opinion. Raising children is probably the most ambitious task of mankind and these who are in charge of it are particularly women - for children's good. And this is why we should honour and bow our heads to them.


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## ><FISH'>

Elvus said:


> I agree with majlo's opinion. Raising children is probably the most ambitious task of mankind and these who are in charge of it are particularly women - for children's good. And this is why we should honour and bow our heads to them.


So does that mean that women who can manage education/work as well as raising children are either superhuman or negligent?


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## BezierCurve

It's always this for that. You can't be with your kids all the time they need you and make a carrer at the same moment. And it does not matter what sex you are really.

Small children have to have their object (e.g. mother) around to develop as they should. Leaving them in a creche is always a necessity, but it doesn't help.


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## ><FISH'>

BezierCurve said:


> It's always this for that. You can't be with your kids all the time they need you and make a carrer at the same moment. And it does not matter what sex you are really.
> 
> Small children have to have their object (e.g. mother) around to develop as they should. Leaving them in a creche is always a necessity, but it doesn't help.


Who is to say that having a parent around all the time helps children develop as they _should_? Many children do develop just fine without constant supervision. I do not see the necessity for full-time care for children beyond a certain age. It can even be argued that too much guidance and supervision forces children to be weak and lacking in independence. They may be children, but they do have to become adults some day. Being clingy and growing up with an unrealistic sense of stability doesn't help prepare them for their lives.


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## BezierCurve

Margaret Maher is the one, John Bowlby is another and most of the therapists in the world who deal today with adults who lacked their parents around them will support that view.

To make it clear: I meant really small children, infants and toddlers, as I referred mostly to my own situation at the moment. I agree with you as for older kids. And that "certain age" would be around 1 year, I guess. 

Also, what you call here the "unrealistic sense of stability" is viewed completly different by children, for which it is a necessary base to be secure enough to explore the external world.


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## meglila

I've opened this discussion because on my faculty we've read a book entitled "Housewife" and then we've discussed to know how it looks around in different countries. I consider myself as a housewife - "a domestic hen", 'cause I' m taking care of my house, children and have no job outside my house, actually. I want to spend a maximum of the time with mines.
And I assume it completely.


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## dreamlike

Erm, Meglila... I have to admit it's a bid odd to see you contribute to this thread again after _two and a half years_  What prompted you to do so? It's been quite a while 
Welcome back!


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