# robaczywa muzyka



## jacquesvd

Is 'robaczywa muzyka' what is called 'ein Ohrwurm' in German? Although I am sure to have read 'earworm' in English as a translation for 'Ohrwurm' (a tune that sticks in the ear) I cannot find it in any English dictionary other than in the literal meaning; nor do I find 'robaczywa muzyka' in the sense of Ohrwurm in my dictionary but I'm sure I saw it somewhere as a header in Przekrój.


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## BezierCurve

Nie czytałem jeszcze tego artykułu, więc nie wiem do czego się odnosi. Do tej pory nie spotkałem się jednakk z takim określeniem. Zwykle powiedziałbym o takiej muzyce, że "wpada w ucho".


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## Ben Jamin

BezierCurve said:


> Nie czytałem jeszcze tego artykułu, więc nie wiem do czego się odnosi. Do tej pory nie spotkałem się jednakk z takim określeniem. Zwykle powiedziałbym o takiej muzyce, że "wpada w ucho".


'Robaczywy' in Polish has only negative connotations: rotten, infested, decaying, stinking, disgusting, etc. Not to be used about something you are supposed to like. The literal meaning is "infested with worms".
Only punk music would like to be called 'robaczywa'.


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## mokinga

Hi
A google search of "robaczyway muzyka" brings up only a few dozen matches and most of them link back to a couple of sources only, incuding the article you menioned to.  While you need a member access to read the article in "Przekrój", I found some references to it:
http://musicspot.pl/dawrweszte/886/Muzyczny_robal/

You might also find this explanation useful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm



> I cannot find it in any English dictionary other than in the literal meaning



I have definitely come across this expression before and you'll find quite a few online definitions.

Cheers


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## Thomas1

mokinga said:


> [...]
> I have definitely come across this expression before and you'll find quite a few online definitions. [...]


I see it for the first time, I didn't find any, unfortunately. The website you linked to suggests it's a one that causes some sort of  'disorder' in people consisting in compulsive repeating its theme. If I had to guess I'd say that 'robaczywa muzyka' was either of bad quality, _i.e._ it was tacky, or it conveyed indecent content. Could you please elaborate on what it means?


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## jacquesvd

Thomas1 said:


> I see it for the first time, I didn't find any, unfortunately. The website you linked to suggests it's a one that causes some sort of 'disorder' in people consisting in compulsive repeating its theme. If I had to guess I'd say that 'robaczywa muzyka' was either of bad quality, _i.e._ it was tacky, or it conveyed indecent content. Could you please elaborate on what it means?


 
I don't have the article anymore but for as far as I remember it cited the case of people who got so obsessed by a tune that they couldn't get it out of their brain anymore to the point that it became absolutely pathologic. So, the connotation was indeed negative here as Ben Jamin already suggested. 
However the article referred also to the German word 'Ohrwurm' in its metaphorical acceptance: meaning a tune that easily catches on and which doesn't have a negative connotation at all. It further referred to the English 'earworm' clearly in the metaphorical German acceptance of the word. My English dictionary only gives the literal meaning of a worm living in the ear, but apparently the word is also used metaphorically in the same sense as in German.

Bezier Curve's suggestion of 'wpada w ucho' clearly covers the catchiness of the tune but doesn't sound like a 'catchy or imaginative' translation of "Ohrwurm". Robaczywa muzyka certainly doesn't do that either and, after reading you all, clearly seems to stress the pathological aspect of people having gotten compulsively obsessed by a tune to the point that they cannot get it out of their brain anymore and need treatment. 

But if 'robaczywa muzyka' isn't the translation of the metaphorical German "Ohrwurm", is there another more 'catchy' translation than the explicative sentence 'muzyka ż wpada w ucho'?


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## BezierCurve

"Zaraźliwa muzyka/piosenka" is antoher option, but you won't hear it often I guess.


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## mokinga

Hi Thomas1

When I said that I had seen a few online definitions, I refered to the ones in English as Jacquesvd couldn't find any in English dicionaries so here are some examples:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/earworm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/earworm
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=earworm
http://www.wordspy.com/words/earworm.asp

(In English, it's not a very common expression but I have heard it on  occastions and only in contexts referring to this annoying piece of  music that won't leave your head.  Most people would simply say  something like "I can't get this song out of my head" or "I've got this  song stuck in my head" etc. )

Yes, the article that Jacquesvd refers to does talk more about the pathological meaning of "robaczywa muzyka" although I have come across a couple of links to forums in Polish using  'robal muzyczny' to mean 'a catchy tune that won't leave me'. However, judging from the limited number of hits on Google, it seems like a very, very obscure expression.

P.S. re-reading my previous post I noticed that I hadn't fixed my partial  deletions with the resulting "incuding the article you menioned to" . That's one mangled English! Apologies.


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## Thomas1

jacquesvd said:


> I don't have the article anymore but for as far as I remember it cited the case of people who got so obsessed by a tune that they couldn't get it out of their brain anymore to the point that it became absolutely pathologic. So, the connotation was indeed negative here as Ben Jamin already suggested.
> However the article referred also to the German word 'Ohrwurm' in its metaphorical acceptance: meaning a tune that easily catches on and which doesn't have a negative connotation at all. It further referred to the English 'earworm' clearly in the metaphorical German acceptance of the word. My English dictionary only gives the literal meaning of a worm living in the ear, but apparently the word is also used metaphorically in the same sense as in German.





> earworm [ˈɪəˌwɜːm]_n_ (Music / Pop Music) _Informal_ an irritatingly  catchy tune[from German _Ohrwurm_ earwig]
> 
> http://www.thefreedictionary.com/earworm


I take 'earworm' to carry negative connotations, Jacques. Perhaps, the  author using the German word doesn't use it with negative connotations,  but he does so while using the English 'earworm.' To check that the  article is indispensable I'm afraid.
By the way, do you think it's conceivable that 'Ohrwurm' can be used in  this particular context, i.e. of a pathological thinking about a tune,  with negative connotations in German?


> Bezier Curve's suggestion of 'wpada w ucho' clearly covers the catchiness of the tune but doesn't sound like a 'catchy or imaginative' translation of "Ohrwurm". Robaczywa muzyka certainly doesn't do that either and, after reading you all, clearly seems to stress the pathological aspect of people having gotten compulsively obsessed by a tune to the point that they cannot get it out of their brain anymore and need treatment.
> 
> But if 'robaczywa muzyka' isn't the translation of the metaphorical German "Ohrwurm", is there another more 'catchy' translation than the explicative sentence 'muzyka ż wpada w ucho'?


I think that the author may try to graff the English term in  Polish and so we have 'robaczywa muzyka.' It may be hard to come up with something accurate, because the phenomenon is quite recent. In common parlance, no term has been coined that would cover this meaning of 'earworm' to the best of my knowledge, but I'd like to see what Mokinga can tell us about 'robaczywa muzyka.' It is also possible that 'robaczywa muzyka' will catch on and we will start using this term if nothing better appears.

EDIT: Mokinga, I've just seen your post, it hadn't been there yet when I started to write mine, thanks for clarification.


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## jacquesvd

Thomas1 said:


> I take 'earworm' to carry negative connotations, Jacques. Perhaps, the author using the German word doesn't use it with negative connotations, but he does so while using the English 'earworm.' To check that the article is indispensable I'm afraid.
> By the way, do you think it's conceivable that 'Ohrwurm' can be used in this particular context, i.e. of a pathological thinking about a tune, with negative connotations in German?
> 
> Here's the German definition of Orhwurm from Wikipedia: Ohrwurm ist die umgangsprachliche Bezeichnung für ein eingängiges und merkfähiges Musikstück, das dem Hörer für eine längere Zeit in Erinerrung bleibt und einen hohen akustischen und Reproduktionswert besitzt. This clearly excludes any negative connotation.
> 
> As for the English earworm which apparently is not yet in the dictionaries Wikipedia says: Earworm is a loan translation from the German Orhwurm and is a portion of song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, colloquially put as music being stuck in one's head.
> 
> So, also in English the word earworm itself doesn't have a negative connotation in this metaphorical sense. Whilst the article (that I don't have anymore) went on to describe pathological aspects which are not simply covered by the word Ohrwurm in itself, I started wondering what would be a Polish translation for this word and originally thought robaczywa muzyka would be that word, but the answers here on the forum suggest that it would not be quite appropriate. Bezier Curve's suggestion of
> 'zaraźliwa muzyka' comes close but isn't totally the same: I understand 'zaraźliwa muzyka' to mean a music that is 'contagious' and therefore most of the time but not ecessarily so sticks in the head. Anyway I believe it comes very close.


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## Ben Jamin

jacquesvd said:


> Thomas1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I take 'earworm' to carry negative connotations, Jacques. Perhaps, the author using the German word doesn't use it with negative connotations, but he does so while using the English 'earworm.' To check that the article is indispensable I'm afraid.
> By the way, do you think it's conceivable that 'Ohrwurm' can be used in this particular context, i.e. of a pathological thinking about a tune, with negative connotations in German?
> 
> Here's the German definition of Orhwurm from Wikipedia: Ohrwurm ist die umgangsprachliche Bezeichnung für ein eingängiges und merkfähiges Musikstück, das dem Hörer für eine längere Zeit in Erinerrung bleibt und einen hohen akustischen und Reproduktionswert besitzt. This clearly excludes any negative connotation.
> 
> As for the English earworm which apparently is not yet in the dictionaries Wikipedia says: Earworm is a loan translation from the German Orhwurm and is a portion of song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, colloquially put as music being stuck in one's head.
> 
> So, also in English the word earworm itself doesn't have a negative connotation in this metaphorical sense. Whilst the article (that I don't have anymore) went on to describe pathological aspects which are not simply covered by the word Ohrwurm in itself, I started wondering what would be a Polish translation for this word and originally thought robaczywa muzyka would be that word, but the answers here on the forum suggest that it would not be quite appropriate. Bezier Curve's suggestion of
> 'zaraźliwa muzyka' comes close but isn't totally the same: I understand 'zaraźliwa muzyka' to mean a music that is 'contagious' and therefore most of the time but not ecessarily so sticks in the head. Anyway I believe it comes very close.
> 
> 
> 
> The question that started this thread was about the term "robaczywa muzyka" in Polish, where this expression definitely has strong negative, and only negative connotations.
Click to expand...


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