Czy rak trzyma w szczypcach strzęp szczawiu?

Meaning: Four different Polish sibilant clusters — trz, szcz, strz, szcz — in a single short question.

Literally: Does the crayfish hold a shred of sorrel in its pincers?

Origin: A Polish classic used to demonstrate just how many distinct hushing sounds the language separates.

More Polish tongue twisters

Ząb, zupa zębowa; dąb, zupa dębowa. Drills the nasal vowels ą and ę, which only differ from plain a and e by the nasal hum.
W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie. The opening of a poem by Julian Tuwim, now Poland's most-quoted tongue twister — the cons…
Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami. Six words, almost no vowels — a single noun phrase that non-Polish speakers find impossib…
Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego. Every word starts with k, and król/Karol/korale/koloru keep re-ordering the same handful…

Colorful expressions from dozens of languages, with their word-for-word translations.

robić dobrą minę do złej gry To grin and bear it; to pretend a bad situation is acceptable.
zmieszać z błotem To harshly criticize or verbally attack someone; to tear them apart.
rozłożyć ręce To give up; to throw up one's hands in admission of defeat or inability to act.

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