# serwus!



## Encolpius

Hello, I'd like to ask you if that greeting is still used in Polish or is it old-fashioned? thanks a lot.


----------



## Marcus Africanus

If used then rarely. I haven't heard it for a long time. It is used in Austria.


----------



## majlo

I haven't used it in years either. It's used very rarely.


----------



## konfit

sounds totally strange do not use it ever there is a plenty of more common greatings


----------



## BezierCurve

The last person I know who used to use it was my grandfather, coming from Warsaw.


----------



## ryba

Serwus!

It was widely used by my grandparents' generation and still in use when my parents were little. My maternal grandpas were Poles from western Ukraine (Kałusz, Lwów), maybe it has something to do (?).

I remember talking about _serwus_ with people my age and they were all aware of its existence and knew its meaning, but I guess quite probably very few young kinds know it.

Anyway, if someone decides to use _serwus_ as a greeting (be careful, I don't think it can be used to say goodbye in Polish), they do it for fun, because it sounds funny (1) it's old-fashioned and 2) it's a latinism). 

Szervusz!


----------



## majlo

konfit said:


> do not use it ever


Why not? It could be used, not on a regular basis of course, but if you want your greeting to have a humorous tone to it, then by all means, go for it!


----------



## BezierCurve

This is amazing, but after participating in this forum yesterday I had a game of scrabble online (Polish "Literaki") and the first player I met greeted me with "serwus". 
Quite a coincidence, isn't it?

So, I guess Majlo's right.


----------



## Thomas1

I am also familiar with the word, I hear it very rarely from people  around 50 and don't use it myself. I heard it also in a recent Polish  series _Czas honoru_ of which action takes place during the WW2. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the normal way of greeting someone back in those days (like cześć is today).


ryba said:


> Serwus![...]
> Anyway, if someone decides to use _serwus_ as a greeting (be careful, I don't think it can be used to say goodbye in Polish), they do it for fun, because it sounds funny (1) it's old-fashioned and 2) it's a latinism).
> 
> Szervusz!


Ryba, I think it can be used to say goodbye too.


----------



## Marcus Africanus

In my opinion Serwus can be used for Goodbye too. So it is also in SJP:

serwus ndm
pot. rodzaj poufałego pozdrowienia przy powitaniu lub pożegnaniu, używanego w stosunku do kolegów, towarzyszy itp.; cześć, czołem
Serwus, co słychać?!
Serwus, powodzenia!
łc.

At school we said sometimes: Serwus, jestem nerwus.


----------



## ryba

Thanks, Thomas and Marcus, I wasn't sure about that! We live and learn...





Marcus Africanus said:


> At school we said sometimes: Serwus, jestem nerwus.


Or "Serwus, nazywam się nerwus" (I learned it from my parents).

There's also this old _gra półsłówek_ "Serwus, Niusia!"


----------

