Polish Sayings: Group 4

Since I did koty last time, I had to do PSY, dogs, today.

Here are the proverbs:

Małe pieski najwięcej szczekają.
Little doggies bark the most.
Notes: Compare the English saying, "The smallest dog barks the loudest." The Polish uses the diminutive pieski here, so I said "doggies" in the translation.

Im pies mniej szczeka, tym bardziej gryzie.
The less a dog barks, the more it bites.
Notes: Polish coordinates the less/more comparison with im and tym, literally "by how much less... by that much more." Compare the English saying, "A barking dog never bites."

Strzeż się psa milczącego i spokojnej wody.
Beware of a silent dog and still water.
Notes: This saying goes along with the previous one about the danger of silent dogs, and pairs it with the famous proverbial notion of waters that are dangerous in their depths, despite being calm on the surface. (Compare the English saying, "Still waters run deep.")

Nie drażnij psa, to cię nie ukąsi.
Don't tease the dog, and he won't bite you.
Notes: Polish to is being used to coordinate the clauses, but we don't have a word that works quite like that in English, so I just said "and." Compare the English saying, "Don't pull the dog's ears." This is good advice for dogs, but also metaphorically good for any situation where you should avoid stirring up trouble.

Pies psu ogona nie odgryzie.
One dog doesn't bite another dog's tail.
Notes: Note the use of the dative for body parts: psu ogona, instead of the possessive genitive as in English.

Dobra psu i mucha, kiedy głodny.
Even a fly is good for a dog when he's hungry.
Notes: Note the use of i here, not as a conjunction, but as an adverb: i mucha, even a fly.

Dobra psu mucha, a chłopowi rzepa.
A fly is good for a dog, and turnip for a peasant.
Notes: Hunger is implied here, as in stated explicitly in the previous saying: Dobra psu mucha (kiedy głodny), a chłopowi rzepa (kiedy głodny).

Kto chce psa uderzyć, zawsze kij znajdzie.
Who wants to hit a dog will always find a stick.
Notes: Compare the English saying, "It's easy to find a stick to beat a dog." Of course, this replies to any kind of punitive act, not just beating the poor dog.

Nie dla psa kiełbasa, nie dla kota sadło.
Sausage is not for the dog, nor fat for the cat.
Notes: The point of the proverb, of course, is that the dog wants the sausage; he's just not allowed to have it, and so too with the cat and the fat (lard, bacon).

Nie dla psa kiełbasa, nie dla prosiąt miód.
Sausage is not for the dog, nor honey for the piglets.
Notes: I thought this was a fun variation on the previous saying, with the little piglets not getting the honey! I imagine piglets probably want to eat anything and everything, but honey seems like a special delicacy that would be wasted on the pigs.

And here is today's audio (I'm not a native speaker, so this is TTS-generated):



Plus a LOLcat: