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  What it means

  Literally “everyone scrapes their own turnip.” Means everyone looks out for themselves, minds their own business — “every man for himself,” “everyone tends their own garden.”

  Vocabulary

  • rzepka — small turnip (diminutive of rzepa)
  • skrobać — to scrape, to peel

  Grammar note

  'Sobie' is the reflexive dative — 'for oneself'. 'Rzepkę' is accusative of 'rzepka' — direct object of 'skrobie'.

  Cultural context

  Scraping a turnip is the most basic, solitary act of self-sufficiency — a vivid image of individualism from Polish peasant life.

  Intermediate

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