Cała para poszła w gwizdek
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What it means
Literally “all the steam went into the whistle.” Means all the effort or energy was wasted on something trivial — a lot of noise and fuss with nothing to show for it.
Vocabulary
- para — steam
- gwizdek — whistle
Grammar note
'Poszła' is perfective past feminine (agreeing with 'para'). 'W gwizdek' uses the accusative after 'w' indicating direction/destination.
Cultural context
A steam-engine metaphor — all the pressure that could have driven the pistons was wasted on the decorative whistle.
Intermediate
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