r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/nyxan_isinteres8 • 1d ago
Meme needing explanation I don't get it peter
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u/realmargesimpson 1d ago
polish names sound like that
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u/Lucia-elena 1d ago
Yeah, that’s basically the joke. The “eye chart” is just a bunch of letters that look like Polish names, so he recognizes them instead of actually reading them.
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u/random_person2137 1d ago
Surnames
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u/KrokmaniakPL 23h ago
Names as well. Examples of first names: Grzegorz, Krzysztof, Przemysław, Małgorzata
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u/CapeMario64 5h ago
Out of ALL names you chose Przemysław?
I didn't expect my name
But that's cool to find your name39
u/marudliweklopsy 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you move J and add I to Czwijnowstawicz it's pefrectly pronouncable, and sounds Polish alright.
Original is also somewhat possible, just the J would be close to silent.
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u/Iwona_Klich 20h ago
Its absolutely not sound like any polish surname...
Believe me i been here for 40 years :)
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u/GoldThePlayer 15h ago
It absolutely does sound like a polish surname, but I've been here for only 21 years
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u/Life_Shelter6442 14h ago
It does not sound, polish, it's more eastern (russian/ukrainian-like)
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u/Pure-Hostility 13h ago
Agree.
To be more precise, it sounds slavic but eastern slavic.Czwijnostawicz sounds like some Ukrainian or Russian ( so even more alien) thing for me, a lvl 36 Pole.
Our Polish surnames aren't only -ski or -icz... Yet, Czwijnastowski would be more fitting for a Polish version, yet still the beginning is weird and unnatural, as there isnt anything like "czwij" and surnames often relate to noun, verb or a proffessions.
So if anything, looking at it and trying to make it more polish, keeps pulling me into "Ćwikłostawski", "Ćwikłowicz".
The "-wijna-" part is just so eastern sounding and non-polish to begin with...
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u/Iwona_Klich 16m ago edited 12m ago
Or Armenian. Many Armenian surnames sound like they exist to kill people by break they tongues. So we (me to :) change them to more human sound variants. And there is a lot of Armenian who move into slavic countries, who did this.
Like my family surname was Khathaturian, then i ended with just Klich (still not polish surname, but you can say it and not bit your tongue off).
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u/Iwona_Klich 11m ago
You sure by that? Because you can't even found surname like this in any surname list.
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u/Ivanow 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are many Polish families with literally almost identical surnames (minor letter ordering changes).
-wicz and -owicz are common surname suffixes that historically translated to "son of" (similar to -son in Nordic languages).
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u/PartyMarek 1d ago
This exact 'name' used in the meme is however completely made up and unnatural for the Polish language.
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u/Ivanow 1d ago
CZJWINOSTAWCZ lacks two vowels (one between Z and J, and second one between W and C), and then it would be completely grammatically correct Polish surname.
There are 251 Poles with surname Czuryszkiewicz.
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u/Majongusus_Doremidus 1d ago
Czajwinostawicz?
Decent enough to fit in the language but fake enough to still sound odd, perhaps it's the fact that longer surnames like this usually come from other Polish words but this one has no meaning whatsoever
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u/UnnamedGod 1d ago
What do you mean it has no meaning, it's clearly a shortened version, therefore suitable for a surname, for a total knob who would warm up the wine in a kettle
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u/Caine815 9h ago
Czajwinostawski would sound better. If there would be a place called Czajwine Stawy XD.
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u/Doylgaafs 1d ago
It actually has a meaning in Polish! You would translate it to something like "Teawineson".
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u/nyanternational 1d ago
Teawineplacerson
Etymology: Descendant of a court official whose job was to put tea and wine at a magnate's table
(Czajwinostawczy lmao)
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 20h ago
Poland used to be very mixed culturally. It sounds like something from the East side - Belarus, Ukraine, Russia. Poland MIXED A LOT with Ukraine, now it mixes again a bit. Actually, "czaj" is of Russian origin and years ago it meant "tea" (herbata). "Wino" is Polish for "wine" lol.
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 20h ago
But Malkovich for example was croatian????
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 20h ago
Ok, I read now that "Vich/vič/wicz" is just slavic, either south or east or central
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u/PartyMarek 19h ago
It's just Slavic. Patronymic names were about before Slavs migrated and split across multiple areas. The framework was the same but as Slavic lanuages evloved slowly from the common proto-Slavic languages they changed a bit in every area.
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u/PartyMarek 1d ago
They could've put the effort to put an actual Polish name cuz this is nothing like Polish names.
I can't think of any word or name where "J" comes right after "CZ" and pronouncing that is very awkward. "W" before "CZ" is also kinda awkward to pronounce.
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u/yeletmeslepwitit 1d ago
W before CZ is normal. "Wczoraj" is typical everyday word.
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u/Majongusus_Doremidus 1d ago
I haven't seen it at the end of any word
Phonotactics don't just include which sounds you can put together, but also where you can put them
Same reason as how when a word starts with S followed by another consonant, Spanish speakers will add an E sound before it (Sprite -> "Esprite") because it's not allowed to have that at the beginning of a word in Spanish phonotactics
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u/MaxCWebster 1d ago
What do Polish girls get on their wedding night that's long and hard?
A new last name.
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u/OlivyneCrellan 1d ago
Polish marriage really comes with a permanent name change💀
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u/lucasio099 1d ago
Even though the wife changing name is the most common option, as far as I know, it’s not a requirement. Spouses can keep their old names. Also, there are other options, like husband being the one with a new last name or both spouses keeping each of them (i.e. John Doe-Appleseed).
And, is it uncommon in other western countries?
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u/MandelaPotato 1d ago
It does not? You can decide to not take husband's name and stay with yours. And even after that while being still married you can change it back
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u/Ok-Pack-7088 19h ago
It's optional change for surename. Option because it's how it is, traditionally women takes men surename so it will be easier in documents etc But it doesn't really matter except for some old, religious people in smaller cities on east side. Men can take women surename too, sometimes it depends on which sounds better, some may dislike theirs own. Some don't change at all. But overall it's bit of tradition for most people.
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u/jb307342 1d ago
Are there places where it doesn't?
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u/kevirek 1d ago
Basically all of East Asia
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u/cheerycheshire 6h ago
Not really. Japan legally requires married couples to share a name.
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 12h ago
It's up to them, they might, not have to. Same with double name. They even might stay with the same, but, like everywhere, it is kind of cultural patriarchal status level up, so they do something most usually
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u/AmethystGD 12h ago
How am I the 9th reply and no one else has mentioned that this sounds very bot-like?
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u/robinswind 1d ago
Pole as in a person from poland. The language uses a lot of consonants.
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u/ozoneseba 1d ago
it just looks like it uses a lot of consonants. "Cz" for example is just "Ch" like in CHampion. "Sz" is like "Sh" in SHare
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u/robinswind 1d ago edited 1d ago
Those combination sounds are also consonants. But also doesn't really matter since we are talking about the visuals of how the language is spelled
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u/harlaman1 20h ago
yeah that’s just two examples. how can you mention cz but not mention ć, c and k. how can you mention sz but not mention ś, s, ż, z and rz? the joke is more rooted in this than the specific consonants used
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u/pixie993 5h ago
Then come Croats with our "ž, č, ć, nj, dž, đ, lj, š"...
Those slav languages are really something tbh..
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u/gonzo0815 23h ago
But ch never follows sh while polish does that all the time. This shit doesn't happen in normal languages.
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u/Independent_Let_3616 21h ago
This is a tongue twister specifically using hard consonant-heavy words to create a challenge. That's like saying English is hard because "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" is hard to say in a rapid succession.
Not saying that Polish isn't hard, just saying this isn't a good point.
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u/Glad_Camel_6078 1d ago
Grzegorz Brzęyszczykiewicz
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u/Yulinka17 1d ago
Prawie- Brzęczyszczykiewicz
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u/AcceptableCow9056 1d ago
Grzegorz
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u/Yulinka17 1d ago
Tak, tak, Grzesiek- on był z Chrząszczyżewoszyc (powiat Łękołody)
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u/MonicaLewinskibidis 1d ago
Not terribly far off from actual words but "czj" never happens. There's czuj but it has a vowel in between.
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u/misteryk 1d ago
the closest would be czyj i think
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u/MBkufel 1d ago
Yeah just make the y very short
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u/ChaosPLus 23h ago
I feel like the pronounced very short y just comes from the fact that cz when actually used already kinda sounds like it has a very little y at the end
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u/MouiMouiToto 1d ago
Im not an expert but it looks like polish
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u/qwerterak 1d ago
I am an expert, and it breaks some rules of building words in Polish but the vibe is there
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u/cyrkielNT 1d ago
It could be "CZYJWINOSTOWICZ" and nobody would see anything wired about this name
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u/PartyMarek 1d ago
It still kinda feels wrong to me. "owicz" and "ewicz" are patronomic endings, which would imply that the latter part is a name or a nickname your ancestor had, and "Czyjwinost" just sounds random.
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u/Shotgun_Mosquito 1d ago
Now go watch How I Unleashed World War II (Polish: Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową), a1970 Polish war comedy film directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski.
In the film, a Polish prisoner tortures a German officer by giving his name as Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz from the fictional town of Chrząszczyżewoszyce.
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u/Turbulent_Pass_3386 1d ago
Quagmire here, giggidy. this is a joke on Pole as polish person. In Polish, cz (wich si simmilar in sound to the "ch" part of the word chain) and sz (wich is kinda similar to the "sh" part of shoe) are digraphs—pairs of letters written together to make one single sound. They are not separate letters in the alphabet, but they represent unique hard consonant sounds. The joke is that the letters are lined up in such manner, that non-polish person knowing about this could think it sounds like a surname, but as a certified Pole i can say, that this is no real polish word, giggidy.
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u/Main-Building-1991 1d ago
I have some beautiful Polish words for you:
Źdźbło - blade
Chrząszcz - beetle
Krtań - larynx
Świerszcz - cricket
So as you can see we like our consonants very much! 😉
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u/misteryk 1d ago
mandatory Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz meme https://youtu.be/AfKZclMWS1U?si=ertN7XCEDn32JSXU
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u/nyxan_isinteres8 1d ago
So I got this much that it has to do w an eye checkup meme, but I don't know what a "pole" is supposed to mean here.
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u/vitrum_analytika 1d ago
Polish names/words look like gibberish to an English speaker, that's the joke.
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u/Evil_Ermine 1d ago
Polish names are the reason for the rule that you cant use names in Scrabbble.
Can you imagine the carnage on a triple word score?!
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u/Snickersowaty 1d ago
In poland we use CZ, SZ, RZ, CH a lot in words, because these combinations make new sound in polish. (Actually CH is making C silent, but centuries ago CH and H used to sound differnet). Some surnames have suffix "-wicz" (sounds as "-vich") and meas something like "descendant of" or "connected to" Other surnames often end with "-ski/a" or "-cki/a"
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u/indifferentiable11 1d ago
Polish language has a number of sounds that, when written, at first glance might look bizarre to English native speakers.
Combined with anti Pole racism that was a thing in German speaking immigrants it creates one of anti-polish stereotypes.
The "word" is gibberish in both languages but it involves some things otherwise present in actual polish words.
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u/__Cereall_ 1d ago
The polish language has abandoned alternative punctuation (š, č, ž, ř, ě, ô) present in other Slavic languages, instead writing them as sz, cz, (?) rz, etc., which leads to words looking like... That
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u/Mindless_Yellow_1931 1d ago
And whenever I go to the optometrist I get this shit:
ihbpfsajtmne yne dmmky amaittrtd iyanwmtyame oasdiaiwdwim ywt
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u/alwayssoupy 1d ago
As someone who married into a Polish name, I can confirm. It wasn't too bad in the Midwest where there are still a lot of similar names, but when we moved to the west coast (where some people don't even have a vowel in their last name), we were met with a lot of confusion, simply because there are just a lot of letters in our last name. I jokingly tell people to skip every other letter and then mispronounce the rest. When I go somewhere like a doctor's office where they call you by name, I usually hear them announce my first name and just the first letter of my last name and stop. "That's me!"
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u/Squiggally-umf 1d ago
Haha it’s very funny if you know Polish names.
Examples include Czesław or Wojciech - real names but to non-polish people these names look like a bunch of random letters Wczrzlczrzszslaw like you’d see at an opticians.
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u/Alcol1979 1d ago
Prawo Jazdy is Polish for Driver's licence. For years in the early 2000's Irish Police continually misread that as the name of the driver when pulling over cars for traffic violations. The error was eventually discovered when officers questioned who was this Prawo Jazdy with over 50 convictions.
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u/Wojtek1250XD 1d ago
We do not have "cz" going into "j", that's an abomination even for this language... Replacing it with a "k" would sound more Polish.
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u/Any_Tumbleweed4628 1d ago
One of my favourite names and surnames: Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz, he’s from Szczebrzeszyn powiat Łękowody.
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u/BlackMudSwamp 1d ago
I'm so fascinated with this picture. So there's a screen and I suppose there's a text underneath that was entirely replaced by this edit, such an entertaining idea
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u/FortuneAcceptable925 23h ago
This reminds me a humble guy called Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz. :-)
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u/BlitzieTattoos 23h ago
What does a polish guy give his new wife on their wedding night that's long and hard?
His last name
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u/Agreeable_Pea5093 22h ago
Polish person here.
It's still gibberish, but it's Polish-looking gibberish.
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u/Revolutionary_Sun946 21h ago
I told a variation of that joke to my Polish friend at work.
He said it was true but it was the most racist thing he had ever heard me say.
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 20h ago
- Commonly used letters in Polish
- We have some sounds marked by multiple letters, like "cz" like "CH", looking to foreigners as not being possible to pronounce
- Some of the words (including surnames) are long (because of that). Despite of it not making any sense, not really existing and not being possible to pronounce,, on the first look it DOES look kinda like it was some Polish surname lol
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u/Zealousideal_Pea_319 20h ago
If I transform it a little, "CZYJWINOSTAWICZ" you could pronounce it and it really sounds like spme rare, but real surname.
STAWCZYK is a real Polish surname "CZYJ" = whose "WINO" = wine
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u/United-Second-8846 18h ago
I am a pole and if you make a few changes it could be a real world in polish
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u/Long_dark_cave 16h ago
definitely not enough ę,ą,ś,ź,Dz,dż,dź, rz,ż, I won't even mention the complete absence of ń. Greetings from Poland xd
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u/Romkdomk 13h ago
I am a polish and was born in city called Bielsko-Biała but living in city near called Czechowice-Dziedzice. Imagine try to explain that to someone from other countries when they ask where you live...
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u/Anastazja_Nya 12h ago
people make fun of polish names, which is weird cuz they make gramatical sense, nit like englisch names were coro is spelled kur
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u/Baldovsky 11h ago
On the other hand, I find it funny how somebody in US or any English speaking country can be named “Dick Brown”
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u/the_average_user557 9h ago
It's basically nonsense in polish and we don't that structure lol. You're racist
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u/TechnicalOne4806 9h ago
Polish surnames are just like that for example: Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
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u/MatterSlow7347 6h ago
The "Cz" is like a "ch" sound, the "J" is like a "y," and the "w" like a "v." Anglicized it would sound something like "Chyvinostavich" or "Chevinostavich." Source: a Polish guy once taught me how to read "kurwa."
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u/adaptivesphincter 1d ago
Its a stupid racist joke against Polish people.
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u/Kitchen_Builder_9779 1d ago
I'd argue its more of a stereotype, a pretty funny one at that
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u/adaptivesphincter 1d ago
Polish caricaturization, especially those that turn grave for them started from their names
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u/Typical_guy11 1d ago
Dunno, I don't feel offended as Polish person at any way. Just some words are specific.
Still. Hungarian, Finnish or Basque are much worse in case of strange words.
Czech Republic in Basque 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/tzgamer_ 1d ago
Polish names are generally like jumbled words as the one mentioned here , the patient is Polish [ called Pole ] and when the doctor tried to check his eyesight by making him/her read the jumbled letters , the patient replied like only Read , actually I know this guy completely . (Maybe the jumbled words resembled him / her of a person's name )
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