• agavaa@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Cause they can’t!1!

    But for real, for those who are curious: the border between Germany and Poland is effectively the border between western and eastern Europe. So to Slav people Germans lived right over there, and yet spoke something incomprehensible; so we called them “mute” (in Poland at least). If I can’t understand you you are mute to me, basically. And the word for “Germans” is the same as for “Germany”, so we call the country itself mutes 😅

    • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      For fun with words:

      • Niemcy - polish for Germans
      • Niemcy - polish for Germany
      • Niemy - polish for mute
      • Jadę do Niemiec - “I am riding to Germany”
      • Jadę z niemcami - “I am riding with germans”
      • Jadę z niemcem - “I am riding with a german”
      • Jadę z Niemczech - “I am riding from Germany”
      • Jadę z niemym - “I am riding with a mute”

      I wonder how confusing these are for people not speaking polish xD