I recently learnt that when you ask a Polish person how old they are they will tell you the age that they will turn this year, rather than their age based on their birthday. For me that's pretty strange, as it means every Pole gets a year older on the 1st of Jan every year and the day and month they were born doesn't factor.
I'm still clinging on to the fact that I am 25 for a few more months, but every Pole with my birthday is already 26. We translate the Polish 'ile masz lat?' to 'how old are you?', but I guess the literal 'how many years do you have?' is actually more appropriate. Weird how we do such things differently!
Ruth, it's amazing how perceptive you are! That's really truth, we usually tell the age that we will return this year :) Dominika
ReplyDeleteYeah it's odd and I never realised it until Polish friends had convinced me I was 26 when in fact at the time I was 25.
ReplyDeleteI felt like I had lost a whole year...
I mean, I know I drink a lot but to forget a year...jeez!
I don't remember anything like this... Though I had never lived in Torun. I come from Lodz - might be too distant for a cultural interference ;)
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