Damus
Bujać! profile picture
Bujać!
@Bujać!
For all the English speakers asking what does „Bujać!” mean.


tle;dr: I’ve stolen it from Julian Tuwim - poet who wrote „Do prostego człowieka” back in 1929 (sic!).

Translated by: Marcel Weyland:

„To the simple man”

When every wall is hid by many
new posters freshly pasted up,
when ‘to the people’, ‘to the Army’,
in black print stare appeals alarming,
and any dolt, and any pup
will take for gospel each old lie
that one should go and shoot off guns
and murder, poison, rob, at once;
start drumming into all our noggins
the ‘Fatherland’; the mob incite,
bamboozle with bright-coloured slogans,
egg on with ‘Our historic right’,
‘every inch’, ‘glory’, ‘sacred borders’,
with ‘our forebears’, ‘pay the price’,
with ‘heroes’, ‘flag’ and ‘sacrifice’;
when bishop, pastor, rabbi come
to say a blessing on each gun,
for God has told them, that His will
is that for Country – you should kill;
when gutter tabloid screams and rages
in letters huge on its front pages,
and herds of females lose their voice
throwing bouquets at ‘our brave boys’,
– O, my untutored simple friend,
mate from this land, or other land!
Know that the bells for these alarums
kings strike, with girls with ample charms,
Know it’s all hogwash, lies perverted,
And when these call out: ‘Shoulder arms!’
That somewhere from the ground oil spurted,
With dollars soiling the bright colours;
That in their banks there’s something rotten,
They smelled some moneybags, it looks,
Or cooked some scheme, the oily crooks,
For higher import tax for cotton.
Drum on the pavement with your gun!
Ours the blood, the oil is theirs!
And through each capital and town
Scream out, to guard your cash blood-won:
‘Tell us another, noble sirs!’. 

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In that version "bujać" has been translated to "Tell us another" but I also like @MadMunky2140 translation: "bounce out!"
74❤️5❤️1💜1🤙1
Gracjan Pietras · 1w
It’s a powerful poem. The Polish original is a linguistic masterpiece, as is most of Tuwim’s work. Do prostego człowieka JULIAN TUWIM Gdy znów do murów klajstrem świeżym Przylepiać zaczną obwieszczenia, Gdy "do ludności", "do żołnierzy" Na alarm czarny druk uderzy I byle drab, i byle...
JesterHodl · 1w
Bujać has at least two meanings: "GTFO" and "telling made up stories" I think nostr:npub186k25a5rymtae6q0dmsh4ksen04706eurfst8xc5uzjchwkxdljqe59hv0 is right here with "bounce out". "Tell us another" suggests the translator took it as "made up stories", which to me is not what the author meant.
Gracjan Pietras · 1w
I didn't really like this translation so I worked a bit with Claude to produce a better one. Here it is along with some notes on the hardest translation challenges. Fun Fact: Clause claims that the closing line, "Bujać — to my, panowie szlachta!" — is the single hardest line in the poem ...