Indyk myślał o niedzieli, a w sobotę łeb mu ścięto
Listen
What it means
Someone was making plans for the future while being completely unaware of the danger right in front of them. Plans are pointless if you ignore present threats.
English equivalent
Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Vocabulary
- indyk — turkey
- niedziela — Sunday
- łeb — head (colloquial)
- ściąć — to cut off, to behead
Grammar note
'Mu' is the dative of 'on' (him). 'Ścięto' is an impersonal past passive form.
Cultural context
Sunday was traditionally a feast day — the turkey was dreaming of Sunday while being slaughtered on Saturday. A darkly humorous proverb.
Intermediate
Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!
More Polish proverbs
- "A stepmother, even if made of sugar, is always bitter." No matter how kind a stepmother tries to …
- "For a wise head, two words are enough." A clever person needs only a brief hint to understand; …
- "A Pole is wise after the damage is done." Poles (or people in general) tend to learn from mistakes …
- "The wise will accept advice; the fool will scorn it." Intelligent people are open to counsel, while …