I’m actually glad I’m teaching Klara some Russian words. Now I can avoid embarrassing her and myself with the local variant “bumbum” and instead say, “We are big girls now, so we don’t show our popa to strangers. We change our swimsuits indoors. It’s only OK to show your popa to mommy, daddy, and the doctor.” Which, of course, led to an uncomfortable discussion of “Mommy, do you show your popa to grandpa? Because he’s your daddy?”
Still, it’s better than having the same discussion while using the ridiculous bumbum. I’m so not good with the baby talk. N had to spell bumbum for me before I understood it.
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But isn’t popa kind of baby talk? The Polish cognate (if it means buttocks) is very far from being a serious adult kind of word…
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No, it’s a good adult word. The only alternatives are either obscene or medical, which nobody uses in normal speech.
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What is the adult polish word?
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The Polish word pupa once meant something like ‘baby bottom’ but is now used informally for adults too (mostly about women).
I have the idea this is American influence – Poland isn’t a butt culture and the other words tend to sound more anatomical (pośladki) or a little crude (zadek, tyłek, kuper).
And I totally get begin uncomfortable with baby talk, my few attempts at it were very unsuccessful (I was told I sounded like I was talking to a dog… hey I like dogs, what’s wrong with that?)
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