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  What it means

  Literally “to lie down like Rejtan.” Means to make a dramatic, desperate last stand — to throw yourself in the way of something you oppose, even if it’s futile. A uniquely Polish cultural reference.

  Vocabulary

  • kłaść się — to lie down
  • Rejtan — Tadeusz Rejtan (Polish nobleman, 1746–1780)

  Grammar note

  'Rejtanem' uses the instrumental — expressing the manner or role in which one acts.

  Cultural context

  Tadeusz Rejtan famously threw himself across a doorway in 1773 to block Polish deputies from signing away Poland's sovereignty. Jan Matejko's famous painting immortalised the gesture.

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