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  What it means

  For a fat calf people will come to your home, but a skinny one they won’t buy even at the market. Quality attracts buyers without effort; poor goods go unsold even when actively offered.

  English equivalent

  Good wine needs no bush.

  Vocabulary

  • tłuste — fat, plump
  • cielę — calf
  • trafić — to find one's way, to arrive
  • chudy — thin, lean, scrawny
  • targ — market, fair

  Grammar note

  'Po tłuste cielę' uses the accusative after 'po' in the sense of 'to fetch/get'. 'Chudego' is the genitive singular of 'chudy' after negation.

  Cultural context

  Rooted in rural trading culture where livestock quality determined whether buyers sought you out or passed you by.

  Intermediate

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