# peegierostwo



## pandrill

What does it mean in English and is it an offensive word if so how offensive


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## LilianaB

Pieroństwo (you must have misheard it). I am not sure if this is Polish. it is definitely Silesian. It means _something bad_ -- (but not really bad -- more in a funny way). _Damned_, _Bloody_, this sort of thing, but softer.  It comes from Devil (pieron - or piorun) Thunder. The other word does not make sense, and you probably misheard this one. It is used by Polish people, I think.


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## dreamlike

If it was "pieroństwo" then I entirely agree with Liliana, that's what it means. It might have been "*p*ee*g*ie*r*ostwo" -- deriving from the acronym PGR (państwowe gospodarstwo rolne). Here's wikipedia entry.

Where did you come across it, pandrill?


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## pandrill

I have a grievance to do at work between 2 Polsih workers, the one who has put the grievance in says that he is deeply offended by been called a "farmer" or "villiage idiot" which he says  "*p*ee*g*ie*r*ostwo" means to him, the 2 workers don't get on with each other and I want to do right by both workers, he says he is from a small villiage in Poland does he have a good reason to be deeply offended by the remark?


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## dreamlike

I thought as much. So it really is Peegierostwo. Yes, it's extremely disparaging and I too would feel deeply offended by being called "peegierostwo", had I come from rural areas. This kind of insults are pathetic, to say the least. You don't get to choose where you're born... and there's nothing wrong with being born outside urban areas....


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## pandrill

Thank you it makes more sense now, and I totally agree where you are born is totally irrelevant.


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## LilianaB

Yes, I agree with Dreamlike. I did not think about any kind of nationalized farms. Yes, someone may get offended by it, especially someone who easily gets offended. It also depends how it is said -- the tone of voice and everything, and how serious the person is saying it is.


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## dreamlike

It doesn't really matter, Liliana, it's not about people being squeamish or not. The word itself has a very negative and contemptuous overtones. It's very offensive. See:

peegiero*stwo 

*and words such as
pospól*stwo,* tałataj*stwo*, szubraw*stwo 
*


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## kknd

i wouldn't say it's offensive but rather disdainful.


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## dreamlike

kknd said:


> i wouldn't say it's offensive but rather disdainful.


I don't think the two are mutually exclusive  It's offensive because a person can take offense at being called this way. It's disdainful because of its overtones.


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## kknd

using this kind of reasoning you're asking for trouble!  those notions aren't mutually exclusive nor they completely overlap—this is the reason we want to distinguish them! it might happen that one of it implies other (and probably this could happens here). this word can be disdainful which makes it offensive but we can find offensive word which isn't disdainful in respect to the word described (ie. _zajebisty_ which might be considered disdainful towards receiver). speaking of that i guess that 'offensiveness' and 'disdainfulness' describe distinct categories… hmm… i hope i'm not much of topic!? hahahah!


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## LilianaB

I just thought about it -- wasn't it PGR, in communist Poland? The word should be then *pegieerowstwo*.


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## dreamlike

Whether you say "pegieerowstwo" or "peegierostwo", they both amount to the same thing. In rapid speech you wouldn't even make out what the person exactly said. And I'm not quite sure myself which is the correct one. It's rather unusual thing to say.


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## LilianaB

They don't sound the same Dreamlike, and Polish is a phonetic language, so from /pegieer/  it should be _pegieerowstwo_.


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## dreamlike

Hmmm, you're right, that's pretty logical. Sorry, I'm not at my best today... but going back to my previous point, I meant that if the person was speaking very quickly, you wouldn't even make out whether he or she 'pegieero...' or 'peegiero'.  How does it matter, anyway


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## mcibor

Co do pisowni, to podobno powinno się pisać
pegeer
czytać
pegieer
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=pl&fromgroups=#!topic/pl.hum.polszczyzna/ifMVJ9dVpW0

ale widziałem również napisane jako peegier, chociaż nie było to na pewno poprawne.


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## Ben Jamin

mcibor said:


> Co do pisowni, to podobno powinno się pisać
> pegeer
> czytać
> pegieer
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=pl&fromgroups=#!topic/pl.hum.polszczyzna/ifMVJ9dVpW0
> 
> ale widziałem również napisane jako peegier, chociaż nie było to na pewno poprawne.


Of course it was wrong. The name was Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne (PGR), meaning State (owned) Agricultural Establishment (farm). The pronounciation was pe-ge-er (not pe-e-ger, maybe a later corruption).
The State Farms were held in a very low esteem by the private farmers, and even more so by townspeople. Not always justly, but this was the political correctness among the people not belonging to the communist establishment at that time.


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## dreamlike

Ben Jamin said:


> The State Farms were held in a very low esteem by the private farmers, and even more so by townspeople. Not always justly, but this was the political correctness among the people not belonging to the communist establishment at that time.


Have you meant it as a joke?


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## Ben Jamin

dreamlike said:


> Have you meant it as a joke?


No, I haven't.


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## tengounaduda

PGR... pe-gie-er, tak to bedzie wymowione przez wiekszosc osob mowiacych po polsku. "pegieerostwo" to nie tylko odniesienie do miejsca pochodzenia, ale takze sposobu zycia. Niestety lata komunizmy sprawily, ze osoby zatrudnione w PGR z pokolenia na pokolenie nabieraly pewnych przyzwyczajen, ktore ograniczaly ich zdolnosci adaptacyjne do zmieniajacych sie warunkow. PGR dawal wszystko, prace, jakies tam pieniadze, zywil (zupa regeneracyjna), ubieral (w waciaki, walonki i beret), organizowal zycie kulturalne (swietlica), dawal dach na glowa (bloki pegieerowskie). Powszechnie uwazano, ze ludzie z pegieerow kradna. Czy kradli wiecej niz inni zatrudnienie w kombinatach panstwowych, trudno powiedziec, nie mniej ten element zachowania, zeby zabrac do domu co panstwowe, czyli po prostu okrasc pracodawce, byl dosc trwale wpisany w krajobraz tamtych czasow.


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## R.O

In my opinion it shouldn't be _peegierowstwo _but _pegie(e)rostwo.

_For the record, just because a word can be offensive doesn't mean it was in the particular situation.


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## Ben Jamin

R.O said:


> In my opinion it shouldn't be _peegierowstwo _but _pegie(e)rostwo.
> 
> _For the record, just because a word can be offensive doesn't mean it was in the particular situation.



You're right, but this has already been signalized.


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## R.O

I see. It must've gone unnoticed for me.


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## dreamlike

R.O said:


> For the record, just because a word can be offensive doesn't mean it was in the particular situation.



I can't conceive of a situation in which it would not be used to offend someone, unless we're talking about a light-hearted banter between friends. But the two people have to be on friendly terms and know each other very well -- otherwise, it's extremely offensive to me, just like calling somebody a 'wieśniak'.


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## R.O

I'm afraid life is a little more complicated than that.


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## dreamlike

R.O said:


> I'm afraid life is a little more complicated than that.


Yeah, life is a complicated affair, no doubt about that. Which does not change the fact that the word under discussion is a highly disparaging one, and I suppose that most of the time it's used as such. 

See words like: pospól*stwo,* tałataj*stwo*, szubraw*stwo 


*


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## R.O

I don't doubt that. What I wanted to convey is that arbitration of arguments or misunderstandings based on opinions of a few Polish native speakers on the given word is not a good idea. You need to know much more than merely the definition. For all we know it might be someone's job at stake. That's how I see it.


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## dreamlike

If someone's job might be on the line, then futher context would not go amiss, that much is true, but it's rather unlikely that the word has been used jocularly. Anyway, the OP seemed happy with the answers, so I don't know whether he or she will ever turn up again.


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## R.O

The thing is further context might be unobtainable unless those two hapless chaps come forward and explain what it was all about. I'm sure most of us have had altercations which looked completely different at the beginning and at the end.


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## dreamlike

Truth be told, having read the OP's explanation from post #4, I don't think more context is warranted. Clearly, the two work-mates were on bad terms with each other, one of them feeling offended by being called the very 'pegieerostwo'.



> I have a grievance to do at work between 2 Polsih workers, the one who has put the grievance in says that he is deeply offended by been called a "farmer" or "villiage idiot" which he says "*peegierostwo" means to him, the 2 workers don't get on with each other and I want to do right by both workers, he says he is from a small villiage in Poland does he have a good reason to be deeply offended by the remark?*


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## Ben Jamin

R.O said:


> I see. It must've gone unnoticed for me.



If you reread posts #5 to #17 you will find it in 6 postings.


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## R.O

Maybe it's life experience, maybe not, but I wouldn't so readily take it for granted what one person says something about other people. I know situations in which parents don't know the true relationships between their own children let alone an employer. The.information the OP provided us with may not be completely true.


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## dreamlike

R.O said:


> Maybe it's life experience, maybe not, but I wouldn't so readily take it for granted what one person says something about other people. I know situations in which parents don't know the true relationships between their own children let alone an employer. The.information the OP provided us with may not be completely true.


You're right. In any case, there's no telling whether it was completely true or not, and since the OP is rather unlikely to contribute to the thread again, I suggest that we just give it a rest. No need to split hairs.


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