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  What it means

  Literally “finish, sir, spare yourself the shame.” A famous line from Henryk Sienkiewicz’s ‘Potop’ — said when someone is losing a duel and should stop before humiliating themselves further. Used today to tell someone to stop digging themselves deeper into embarrassment.

  Vocabulary

  • kończ — finish, stop (imperative)
  • waść — sir, you (archaic honorific)
  • wstydu — shame (genitive)
  • oszczędź — spare (imperative of oszczędzić)

  Grammar note

  'Wstydu oszczędź' — 'oszczędź' + genitive: spare yourself of shame. 'Waść' is an archaic second-person honorific.

  Cultural context

  From Sienkiewicz's 'Potop' (The Deluge, 1886) — one of the most quoted lines in Polish literature. Every educated Pole knows it.

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