THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE BOOK
The Polish false friends quiz: 5
The words below all look like normal words in Polish (and probably in some other languages), but they also look like perfectly normal words in English!
The problem is that these words have completely different meanings.
Match the 10 correct words to the correct English definitions (listed below).
ale bark cud facet lot
as chart dane loch romans
​
1. A lake found in Scotland, with one lake particularly famous for a monster
​
2. The sound that a dog makes, the tough material that covers the outside of a tree
3. Many citizens of Ancient Rome or its empire
4. A citizen of Denmark
​
5. A single part or aspect of something; the flat surface cut onto the outside of a precious stone or diamond
​
6. A large amount
​
7. A kind of strong beer
​
8. Partially digested food from the first stomach of cows to the mouth for a second chewing
​
9. A diagram, picture, or graph which is intended to make information easier to understand
​
10. A conjunction to show that something happens at the same time
​
(For non-Polish speakers: if you are unsure what these words actually mean in Polish, these can also be found in the key to answers, which you can read below if you scroll down the page a bit...)
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
And here are the answers to the false friends quiz (5):
ale: As well as other good beers, they serve this particularly strong ale at my local bar.
as: I may not be as tall as you, but I'm just as intelligent.
bark: If one dog starts barking, then all the other dogs will bark too, and it gets very noisy with all that woof woof woof! The bark of many trees can be used to make all kinds of things such as cloth and ropes.
chart: And as you can see from this chart, sales of VHS video recorders have been exceptionally poor this year.
cud: I watched a cow for some time chewing on its cud. How can any animal eat its own sick straight from its stomach?
dane: I am a Dane, a citizen of Denmark.
facet: Not many people like Picasso, but there are many facets to his work if you look hard: the biggest diamonds have several facets.
loch: Loch is Scots Gaelic for lake, and the deepest loch of them all may contain the Loch Ness monster.
lot: What a lot of noise! Can you all please be quiet!
romans: The Romans that lived during the height of the empire had a high mortality rate - most died before they were thirty years old.
And what are these same words in Polish?
ale: but
as: ace (as in playing card)
bark: shoulder (of the arm)
chart: a greyhound dog
cud: A miracle, prodigy, wonder, marvel
dane: date (information, evidence)
facet: guy, fellow, chap - colloquialism for a male friend
loch: dungeon (a kind of underground prison cell)
lot: a flight, usually a plane
romans: romance, love story, affair
​