# Laski



## frenchlanguagelearner2

Hello,

I am wondering about someone who described me as a laski in Polish. Supposedly it is some kind of compliment but I have been unable to find the slang/translation online. 
The only thing I have found is something about walking cane ?!

: ) 

Thank you!


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## jazyk

It must have something to do with Czech láska, love. Here's what I found:

*4. * _pot._ «o bardzo zgrabnej, atrakcyjnej dziewczynie»

It says: colloquial, related to a shapely, attractive girl.


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## majlo

I second that. That's exactly what it is.


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## mcibor

Laska, szmula, fruzia are few of the names men give to attractive girls they don't know.
Laska is the most common one, but to say the truth, all are rather taken badly by girls in Poland.


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## jazyk

> Laska, *szmula*, fruzia are few of the names men give to attractive girls they don't know.


This is funny. It reminds me of Czech smůla (bad luck) and šmudla (a slovenly person, a slob).


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## mcibor

I don't think that word szmula comes from Czech, cause in Polish it comes from sea men speach.
You can find reference here


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## Thomas1

mcibor said:


> Laska, szmula, fruzia are few of the names men give to attractive girls they don't know.
> [...]


I have never seen nor heard the last two. It looks like "szmula" is a regional cant, which would even comply... 

Tom


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## kknd

It's also used as a form of referring girlfriend(s) (or even female friends in a mock way) by guys. Nonetheless: I've never heard any body using it when referring to ugly or plain girl, this has some sexual connotations—the girl(s) is sexually attractive in someway—and the male is noticing it in this rough manner.


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## Oletta

Thomas1 said:


> I have never seen nor heard the last two.


 Neither have I! The board seems to be a good source of Polish vocabulary for native speakers as well, .


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## skrypizas

used as slang, "laski" is the plural form of "laska" which in english could be directly translated as a "babe" or good looking girl. 

literally it means "cane"


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## BezierCurve

Never heard of "szmula" before I met a few guys from Szczecin - some 4 years ago.


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## mcibor

Yes, we from Szczecin started to reuse this word.

BTW, once my Poznań friend's kids came crying from school saying "They are calling us ziomale ;("

Ziomal, ziomek - kumpel - (eng: pal, guy)

Whereas fruzia is not so much used, but can be heard in here


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## mcibor

What is also quite interesting, there's also augmentative of word "laska". It's "lachon".

xxx

Strangely girls at my place of work usually just laugh, when being named lachon


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## ryba

*Laska* referred to a human being means

basically:
1. an attractive girl/woman

by extension:
2. a girl/woman

accompanied by a possessive:
3. girlfriend.

All of those are colloquial and belong rather to the male language although many girls use them too.



mcibor said:


> Laska, szmula, fruzia are few of the names men give to attractive girls they don't know.
> Laska is the most common one, but to say the truth, all are rather taken badly by girls in Poland.



The last two are regionalisms.

I'm from Turek and I study in Poznań and had never heard any of them. Neither have my 3 friends (from Elbląg, Toruń and Poznań) I've just asked about it.



mcibor said:


> What is also quite interesting, there's also augmentative of word "laska". It's "lachon".
> 
> xxx
> 
> Strangely girls at my place of work usually just laugh, when being named lachon



Hahahahahaha, yeah, that's right, the word has gotten quite popular with young people quite recently (at least in Poznań it has).

Some girls find the word _lachon_ even more reducing them to the fisical aspect than _laska_ which is a classic but still in use now, maybe because it 1) has not gotten that lexicalized so it sounds more "shoking" 2) as it is an augmentative of _laska_ it sounds more "brutal".

I personally find _lachon_ very funny just like many other slang words and expressions I use daily with my friends and it seems to me that most people also see it as something funny and thus fun to say, hahaha.

My mum doesn't.


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## majlo

I don't like the word _lachon_. It's relatively new to me. I'm sure I've heard it for the first time this year.
A few of my female friends say this word in jest to refer to other girls.


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## BezierCurve

I heard "lachon" some 12 years ago, form a friend who was some 45 years old at that time - if I remember well. But I agree, it's not very common.


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## Thomas1

majlo said:


> I don't like the word _lachon_. [...]


Same here. The reason is, at least in my case, that I associate it with another _lacho-_ word, which definitely has got very negative connotations.

On a related note, here in Warsaw also _koza _is also used to mean _laska_, I've only ever come across it in the first and second meanings given by ryba.

Tom


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## majlo

Thomas1 said:


> Same here. The reason is, at least in my case, that I associate it with another _lacho-_ word, which definitely has got very negative connotations.



I might not realize it before, but I think it's the same reason in my case too.


Thomas1 said:


> On a related note, here in Warsaw also _koza _is also used to mean _laska_, I've only ever come across it in the first and second meanings given by ryba.
> 
> Tom



I'm sure we could still find more words to refer to a girl. Going on with the animal terminology, I'm positive some of you have come across _foka (seal)_ as well as its diminutive form, _foczka_.


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## ryba

BezierCurve said:


> I heard "lachon" some 12 years ago, form a friend who was some 45 years old at that time - if I remember well. But I agree, it's not very common.



Poszukaj na YouTubie "Wyrywanie lachona" Kabaretu Moralnego Niepokoju.



Thomas1 said:


> Same here. The reason is, at least in my case, that I associate it with another _lacho-_ word, which definitely has got very negative connotations.



What word??!! 

As far as I know, the only bad connotations one may have are related to the word "laska", not to "lachon". Apart from "laska" meaning 'cane' and things I wrote in the *post above* I have heard the word "laska" 1. referred to the penis and 2. referred to oral sex given to a man.

That's why, as I said in  #*14*, after all I prefer the word "lachon". In spite of being (originally) a little more rude than "laska" it may sound cheerful  and is acceptable when it is clear you're just joking (remember that Poles love linguistic jokes; O.K., some girls don't). So, it is funnier.

I would appreciate if you could say what kind of "lacho-" word you're talking about.

Pozdrawiam.


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## Thomas1

Well, the word I was having in mind is lachociąg.
I didn't want to use this word for obvious reasons and since I thought it was known well enough that everyone could guess what it was, but apparently it isn't. Curiously engough, when I come to think of it now it may be a regional slang.


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## feliz1984

_Lachonarium_ (= a place where you can find "lachons") is quite interesting as well, I think


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## ryba

Thomas1 said:


> Well, the word I was having in mind is lachociąg.
> I didn't want to use this word for obvious reasons and since I thought it was known well enough that everyone could guess what it was, but apparently it isn't. Curiously engough, when I come to think of it now it may be a regional slang.



Ojej. 

I had never heard it before, I don't know if people in Wielkopolska use it but I definitely haven't even heard anyone say it. W sumie, nie gadam o takich sprawach za często, a od postronnych nigdy do mnie to słowo nie doleciało.

W każdym razie, dzięki, Tomku!


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## kknd

As mentioned above basic meaning of _laska_ is 'a cane' (0). Slang word _laska_ in the meaning of 'a foxy girl' (1) has been probably deriven from other slang word _laska_ meaning 'fellatio' (2); sticking to this ethymology one must assume that in the beginning (2) was used when referring to girls active sexually in this way and it's semantic field has expanded afterwards. Nonetheless one cannot deny (or can?) that (1) could induce (2) in meaning…

Note: when dealing with _laska_ in sense (2) semantic drift from (2) to (0) and vice versa is easily seen, where connection of (0) and (1) is not so straight-forward.


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## BezierCurve

Now I remember a word "girlaski", met for the first time in a Polish book writtne in fifties/sixties... That was what they called girls dancing in some cheap club, as far as i remember.


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## Gochna

I found your discussion very interesting. As a pretty (and modest ) girl I've heard lots of words describing good-looking women, but I must admit that I've never come across "szmula" or "fruzia"... 
I wouldn't use "laska" although I don't find it offensive in any way, and I use "lachon" a lot talking to my girl friends.
I haven't understood the "lacho-.." word either... Maybe in Poznan (where I did my studies) and _Łódź _(where I lived for some time ) it is not used... or my male friends never dare to use it where I am around. 
Thanks for your posts anyway, learned a lot


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## mcibor

In Szczecin, where I come from, word szmula is quite popular. And fruzia is not used (I never heard it on streat), but is understood thanks to hip hop singer Łona.

Lachociąg is known to me, and refers only to men, from what I know. Is very obtrusive.


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## Thomas1

Gochna said:


> [..]
> I haven't understood the "lacho-.." word either... Maybe in Poznan (where I did my studies) and _Łódź _(where I lived for some time ) it is not used... or my male friends never dare to use it where I am around.
> Thanks for your posts anyway, learned a lot


Come to think of it if I heard the word, then it was always in only male company. I have never heard it when a woman was about.



mcibor said:


> [...]
> Lachociąg is known to me, and refers only to men,[...]


Hm... here it denotes only a woman. I have never heard it used to denote a man.

Tom


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## ryba

So, let's talk about the gender...



Thomas1 said:


> Hm... here it denotes only a woman. I have never heard it used to denote a man.


I don't know any _lachociąg_ but I think the word's structure doesn't indicate which sex it should be referred to. I depends more on the person and their sexual orientation I guess.

Curiously enough, I have heard the word _lachon_ referred to a man (!). Semantically, there is no inconvenience in it as _lachon_ is a masculine word.

I have also heard a masculine version of _laska_. Some girls say _lasek_. By "some" I mean two or three friends of mine, I don't think it is a wide-spread use, it is more of another linguistic play people invent.

Pozdrawiam.


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## e7ka

In Poland boys sometimes call 'laska' when they see a girl clothed like a prostitude, so in some situations it is not a compliment. It depends on way in which they say that word. If they shout it out or call it out swashbucklingly it is certainly not a compliment.

Sometimes friend call to his girlfriends "hey laski" and in this situation it means just hi but in a funny and not insulting way.
So it is all about to whom and how you say the word 'laska'


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## majlo

I have just seen a comment made on one of my friend's photos on one of the Polish social networking websites: _Ale z Ciebie lachon!!!_ The comment was made by her sister.


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## ryba

e7ka said:


> In Poland boys sometimes call 'laska' when they see a girl clothed like a prostitude, so in some situations it is not a compliment. It depends on way in which they say that word. If they shout it out or call it out swashbucklingly it is certainly not a compliment.


I have never heard (of) such a usage and I have never heard the word "laska" used in vocative, except for the plural "laski".
I think it is simply slang for "girl" and, being slang it may sound less respectful, just that.



e7ka said:


> Sometimes friend call to his girlfriends "hey laski" and in this situation it means just hi but in a funny and not insulting way.
> So it is all about to whom and how you say the word 'laska'






majlo said:


> I have just seen a comment made on one of my friend's photos on one of the Polish social networking websites: _Ale z Ciebie lachon!!!_ The comment was made by her sister.


Właśnie takie użycie uważam za naturalne (czyli wobec kogoś mniej lub bardziej bliskiego i z lekką nutką frywolności/żartu).


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## e7ka

As we can see it depence on situation and circumscription. More often I've heard that word in negative meaning. And that word is very useful if it's going about (for example) boozers and skates.


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## Thomas1

ryba said:


> So, let's talk about the gender...
> 
> 
> I don't know any _lachociąg_ but I think the word's structure doesn't indicate which sex it should be referred to. I depends more on the person and their sexual orientation I guess.[...]


There's also convention which makes the denotation rather unequivocal and other usages as accidental or simply strange if used outside the context. Mind you I wasn't referring to the grammatical gender at all.





ryba said:


> e7ka said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Poland boys sometimes call 'laska' when they see a girl clothed like a prostitude, so in some situations it is not a compliment. It depends on way in which they say that word. If they shout it out or call it out swashbucklingly it is certainly not a compliment.
> [...]
> 
> 
> 
> I have never heard (of) such a usage and I have never heard the word "laska" used in vocative, [...]
> I think it is simply slang for "girl" and, being slang it may sound less respectful, just that.
Click to expand...

I concur. In such a situation, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the word I am discussing above with Ryba.


Tom


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## janek

"Laska" has become increasingly neutral, and is usually said with appreciation, meaning shapely, good looking girl or woman. Of course, it's far from being Queen's Polish . Sometimes, however, it might just substitute "girl" or "gal", for example when used in vocative plural, also by women (it's still highly informal), like this phrase I've heard from a middle-aged woman who spoke to a bunch of similarly aged friends in a disco:

*Laski, jedziemy do domu. *
Girls, let's go home. 

I haven't heard the word "laski" in negative meaning for a very long time, unless it's used as a taunt, but in such context any word can have a derogatory meaning.


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## jazyk

http://poradnia.pwn.pl/lista.php?id=10290


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