They’re called false friends when you’re learning a language. You see a word that looks like it has an easy, direct translation from one language into another: it actually means something completely different, and you’ve been misled. Polish-English is an unusual pairing that has some rather fun ones: a Pole might be more grateful to live with four brats when a brat is a brother; a Pole who puts on a dres would come out in a tracksuit. Do wish him fart: that’s “good luck.” Smak is taste, which makes it harder to smack the taste out of a Pole’s mouth if they swear in front of babcia; and even if you went looking for a pole to attempt this, you’d be directed to a field, bland and empty.
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