Naturalne czy farbowane? Krótki żart po polsku

What does “farbowane” mean in Polish?

Farbowane means “dyed,” and in Poland it’s almost always about hair. It comes from farba, a word that covers both the paint on your walls and the dye on your head, so farbować włosy is “to dye your hair” and the question in the clip — twoje naturalne? farbowane? — is a compliment in disguise: “is that your natural colour, or dyed?” The answer niefarbowane (“un-dyed”) is one word in Polish.

The word has a sly idiom attached: a farbowany lis, “a dyed fox,” is a pretender or turncoat — someone who has changed their colours. Salon Polish worth having alongside it: fryzjer (“hairdresser”), obciąć (“to cut”), rozjaśnić (“to lighten”), odrosty (“roots,” literally “regrowths”). The joke’s loop — the same question asked over and over — is a good ear-trainer for the -ane ending of Polish past participles.