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  What it means

  Literally “if you want to hit a dog, you’ll find a stick.” Means that if someone wants to find fault or cause harm, they’ll always find a pretext — a determined person always finds a way.

  Vocabulary

  • uderzyć — to hit / to strike (perfective)
  • pies — dog
  • kij — stick
  • znaleźć się — to be found / to turn up

  Grammar note

  'Jak się chce' — impersonal construction with 'się'. 'Kij się znajdzie' — reflexive passive, the stick will find itself.

  Cultural context

  Used to expose motivated reasoning — when someone has already decided to attack, they'll manufacture justification.

  Intermediate

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