Goły jak święty turecki
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What it means
Literally “naked as a Turkish saint.” Means completely broke, penniless, or destitute — without a penny to one’s name. A colourful way of saying someone has absolutely nothing.
Vocabulary
- goły — naked, bare, penniless
- święty — saint
- turecki — Turkish
Grammar note
'Jak' introduces the comparison. The phrase is fixed — 'święty turecki' does not refer to any real saint.
Cultural context
The origin is obscure — 'Turkish saint' is a deliberately absurd image, since Islam has no saints in the Catholic sense. The strangeness of the phrase is part of its charm.
Intermediate
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