Why not start your week with enriching your Polish vocabulary with a handful of interesting expressions? I’ve chosen a couple of common idioms containing names of birds, so that at the same time you can learn what some birds are called.

niebieski ptak – a blue bird
A careless, irresponsible bum who idles around instead of getting some useful work done, like all decent people do.

z lotu ptaka – from a bird’s flight
From a bird’s eye view, from above.

pisać / bazgrać jak kura pazurem – to write / scribble like a hen with its claw
A not-so-nice way of commenting on someone’s calligraphy. Because hens aren’t known for their hand- (claw?) writing skills.

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do białego rana – all night long, until dawn (lit. until the white morning)

very often used with the verb bawić się – to have fun, to enjoy oneself, especially at a party

Po ostatnim egzaminie studenci bawili się do białego rana.

After the last exam, the students had fun until dawn.

w biały dzień – in broad daylight (lit. in the white day)

rozbój w biały dzień – daylight robbery

Morderstwa dokonano w biały dzień.

The murder was commited in broad daylight.

Te ostatnie podwyżki cen to rozbój w biały dzień!

These recent price rises are daylight robbery!

białe szaleństwo – snow fun; winter sports, especially skiing, done for fun (lit. white madness)

Miłośnicy białego szaleństwa są zachwyceni pogodą w Tatrach.

Snow fun fans are delighted with the weather in the Tatra mountains.

biały kruk – a rare book (lit. white raven)

Pierwsze wydanie tego słownika to prawdziwy biały kruk.

The first edition of this dictionary is a real rarity.

białe małżeństwo – a marriage without sexual relationship (lit. white marriage)

Byli niezwykle pobożni, więc zdecydowali się na białe małżeństwo.

They were extremely pious, so they decided on a sexless marriage.

biała plama - a blank spot, an unknown, unexplored area (lit. white spot)

Ten ubogi region to biała plama na turystycznej mapie Polski.

This poor region is a blank spot on the tourist map of Poland.

Trygonometria była białą plamą w wiedzy studenta.

Trigonometry was a blank spot in the student’s knowledge.

widzieć białe myszki – to see pink elefants (lit. to see white mice)

Stefan zaczął widzieć białe myszki. Postanowił przestać pić.

Stefan started seeing pink elefants. He decided to give up drinking.

The Polish language is, I think, extremely rich in different kinds of idioms and set phrases. Understanding the colloquial language is pretty much impossible if you’re not familiar with at least some figurative uses of common words. Just like in other languages, color terms are very often used in a figurative meanings. Let’s look at the word for ‘black’ – czarny. Many idioms with this word have a negative connotation; apparently, black isn’t associated with optimism!

czarny character – villain, (lit. black character)
Voldemort to czarny charakter w książkach o Harrym Potterze.
Voldemort is the villain in Harry Potter books.

czarno na białym - in black and white, (lit. black on white)
Jest napisane czarno na białym, że nie wysyłamy towaru za granicę.
It’s written in black and white that we don’t ship goods abroad.
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