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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Language Here's Something I Learned on Twitter Today

Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 3:13 PM

This has made me happy all day: "Not my problem" in Polish is "nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy." Literally "not my circus, not my monkey."
— Howard Tayler (@howardtayler) October 24, 2012

Love that expression.

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Comments (26) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

I even like the Polish word for monkey.

Malpy

Posted by Urgutha Forka on October 24, 2012 at 3:32 PM

That is awesome. Wish there was a chance in hell I could say it correctly in Polish.

Posted by Dougsf on October 24, 2012 at 3:42 PM

I love his webcomic.

Posted by It's called Schlock Mercenary on October 24, 2012 at 3:45 PM

I'll be using this at every opportunity (in English).

Posted by Fnarf

on October 24, 2012 at 4:00 PM

@3. I am also a huge Schlock Mercenary fan. I also generally enjoy his musings on movies.
But Sloggers! Go read www.schlockmercenary.com!

Posted by Hanoumatoi on October 24, 2012 at 4:01 PM

Mourdock. Akin. Hey, Romney, your circus, your monkeys.

Posted by originalcinner on October 24, 2012 at 4:13 PM

That is one terrific idiom.

I'm not going to make as bold of a vow as Fnarf, but I hope I remember to use the English version of this on occasion.

Dan, please try to use the phrase every now and again. Repetition helps the migration from short-term memory to long-term memory, and I'd like "not my circus, not my monkey" to make that journey.

Posted by Functional Atheist on October 24, 2012 at 4:18 PM

I love it. I already used it today.

"How do I make this copy machine work?"
"Not my circus. Not my monkey."

Posted by Gurldoggie

on October 24, 2012 at 4:19 PM

That tops, "not my pig, not my farm."

Posted by biffp on October 24, 2012 at 4:24 PM

And, "not my pole, not my sister."

Posted by biffp on October 24, 2012 at 4:25 PM

absofukinlutely perfect.

Posted by Bean on October 24, 2012 at 4:28 PM

Say "née moy seark, née moya molpee". Pretty close phonetically.

Posted by Pol Pot

on October 24, 2012 at 4:29 PM

Zwierciadlo Miasta presents "Nie moj cyrk,nie moje malpy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDS5Qilqe…

Posted by melville on October 24, 2012 at 4:30 PM

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZ7V_ota…

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on October 24, 2012 at 4:38 PM

There must be a story behind it. I wish I knew...

Posted by hb on October 24, 2012 at 4:44 PM

@13 awesome find. Decent flow, too.

Posted by Pol Pot

on October 24, 2012 at 4:55 PM

Reminds me of something I stumbled across on Wikipedia the other day: There's an article on equivalents to the phrase "when pigs fly" in other languages. The Russian version translates as "when the crawfish whistles on the mountain".

Posted by long-time reader on October 24, 2012 at 5:18 PM

@17 - That is great as well, certainly more exotic than ours—but I can't help but wonder if Russian readers stumbling on the equivalent American phrase aren't awestruck by how wonderfully simple ours is. Unless of course the words for mountain and crawfish just have a better ring to them in Russian.

Posted by Dougsf on October 24, 2012 at 5:25 PM

"just *might* have a better ring to them in Russian", that should read, as I honestly wouldn't know.

Posted by Dougsf on October 24, 2012 at 5:26 PM

This was one of Kieślowski's "Decalogue" themes, wasn't it?

Posted by emma's bee on October 24, 2012 at 6:04 PM

@12: Oczywiście, nie mówisz polskiego.

nyeh moy tsirk, nye moy-eh mow-pih.

Roll your "R", put the stress on the first syllable, and you'll be fine.

Posted by facet on October 24, 2012 at 6:31 PM

Technically speaking, "malpy" (ortographically 'małpy', but some browsers may have problems with crossed 'l') is the plural of "malpa". The translation should be "Not my circus, not my monkeys".

Posted by JerryBear on October 24, 2012 at 7:10 PM

@21, 22: If pasted into Google Translate and the "speak" icon clicked, the rendering seems pretty good--but in 21's phrase, the modified/accented characters have to be replaced with English equivalents or the voice skips the whole word (maybe a character-encoding problem).

Posted by rob!

on October 24, 2012 at 7:36 PM

I don't have a shrimp on that platter.

I don't have a band in that festival.

I don't have a shirt in that catalog.

I don't have a topping on that pizza.

I don't have a dick in that porno.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on October 24, 2012 at 9:22 PM