Words

I grew up in Western New York. I was raised speaking English. In school I studied French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Japanese. Although I am of Polish descent, I do not speak Polish. I bemoaned this fact when I found myself working with a friend who was from Poland. Oh the fun we could have had if we could have spoken Polish together...with no one else able to understand. Still, I know a few words and phrases as well as a prayer. What is interesting is that there are some words that I say in Polish and have difficulty with the English. Today I was at Tops grocery store and I saw they had ready made golabki. The sign, however, was turned and I couldn't see the price. I knew the food probably wasn't labeled golabki-but I couldn't think of the English. SO I asked the kid behind the counter how much the golabki cost. "The what?" I pointed it out and apologized for not knowing the English. The kid was nice and inquisitive about the term I used. I got my golabki (a cabbage roll stuffed with ground meat and rice in a tomato based sauce) and left. There are other words too. I also call a durszlak a durszlak, not a colander. I think it's kind of interesting. Oh, the golabki was OK-not near as good as my babcia's though.