"…but when I was young, my babcia used to call me and my girl cousins 'cipcia', but not in that sense. I guess it meant… I mean it was probably… well, she was from the country."
That seems to be a common excuse are here (especially in Warsaw) for anyone who does something that might be perceived as old-fashioned, backwards, or just plain odd. The country folk are stereotypically simple, unsophisticated, and a tidbit hickish. That great-uncle that used to leer at young girls and stand on the balcony in an open bathroom with his dooda out for all to see? It was because "he was from the country."
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2 comments:
I don't know if you've come across the word wieśniak (loosely translated as "hick"), but some 20 years ago it was typical to be using it for anyone crass, old-fashioned, or otherwise different from the city folk. This is not limited to Poland either, as I've been finding out. Chinese, for instance, pick on "peasants" in much the same manner.
I have not, but I will now use it.
I think the stereotypical "bumpkin" is a universal idea held by all people in cities.
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