• Listen

  What it means

  “He who won’t listen to his father and mother, let him listen to the dog’s hide.” A threat: if you ignore your parents’ words, you’ll learn obedience through physical punishment (a strap made of dog hide).

  English equivalent

  Spare the rod, spoil the child.

  Vocabulary

  • słuchać — to listen to, to obey
  • niech — let (him/her)
  • psi — dog's (adjective)
  • skóra — skin, hide, leather strap

  Grammar note

  'Niech słucha' is an imperative construction using 'niech' + third-person verb. 'Psiej skóry' is the genitive of 'psia skóra'.

  Cultural context

  Refers to a leather strap used for corporal punishment. A harsher variant of the same warning as the 'bata' proverb.

  Intermediate

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