04 November 2009

Lunch in English, Dinner in Polish


So, tell me something about this sign is a diner window in Glendale, Queens? Why is the Hot Lunch advertised in English, but the Hot Dinner ("Gorace Obiaby") advertised in Polish? ("Na Wynos," by the way, apparently means "take away.")

5 comments:

  1. Because in Eastern Europe, lunch is dinner, and dinner is supper.

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  2. Actually, obiady does mean "lunches" in Polish. It's not a problem...

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  3. Hm. Never thought of that. Interesting. I looked up the definition of "obiady" in a dictionary and it said "dinner." Didn't occur to me that that meant "lunch." But how do you explain the differing illustrations? One sign clearly depicts lunch (soup) and one dinner (a leg of meat).

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  4. I'm going to rely on my Eastern European upbringing here. Obeid ( dinner in Russian), or lunch usually takes place anytime between 12 and 3 PM and is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day. It usually starts with a soup course, followed by the main course, which is usually some sort of a meat or a main veg, a smaller veg and a carb (like kasha, rice or pasta).

    Uzhin, or supper is lighter, but is still a meal and takes place roughly 5-6 hours after lunch and is a lighter variation of the second lunch course.

    As for the meal roughly equivalent the English/American concept of lunch, the closest relative is "Poldnik". The word literally means Half-day-meal.

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  5. Also, they specifically advertise their lunch as takeout, FYI

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