Episode 158: How To Him He Did Dump Into Hat!

How You Say?

Ale mu nawalił w czapkę!

English Phonemes: “AH-leh moo nah-WAH-leew v [CZ]AHP-keh”

Literal Translation: How to him he did dump into hat.

Elegant Translation: How he dumped into his hat!

English Equivalent: To stun someone into silence.

This phrase is one of my childhood favorites. It’s a bit naughty without being outright vulgar. And yet, it paints a pretty clear and vivid picture of what’s going on.

This phrase is a funny way to say that someone has done something so unexpected to someone else, that that other person has a face that looks as if the person took a poop into their hat. The closest English equivalent here is too broad and doesn’t really cover the exact facial expression this phrase connotes.

You may be wondering about whether or not the theoretical hat-owner deserved it. Usage-wise, it can be either scenario. It can be said about a good person who had the perfect comeback to a long-time bully, and it can apply to a frequent trouble-maker who really pulled a nasty move on someone undeserving. It’s mostly about the expression on the receiving person’s face.

The last thing I’ll say about this phrase is: don’t mess it up! Nawalić and walić and przywalić and powalić all stem from the same word but depending on their context, take on different meanings. Today’s phrasing intimates one action, but if you change too much around, you’ll distort the meaning completely.

Lastly, speaking of changes, here are a couple alternatives in case you are dealing with different genders:

If the person who is doing the dumping is female, you need to change the verb ending to “nawaliła” which is the “she” option of the he/she/it construction.

If the person who is holding the hat is female, you need to change the “mu” to a “jej” which is the pronoun “her”.

Ale = how, what, but [interjection word]
Mu = short for ‘jemu’ = to/for him [pronoun, s. obj. form]
Nawalił = he did dump [verb, 3rd p. masc. s.past tense]
W = in/into [preposition]
Czapkę = hat [noun, s. obj. form]

Jej = to/for him [pronoun, s. obj. form]
Nawaliła = she did dump [verb, 3rd p. fem. s.past tense]

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