Episode 89: Peace!

Spoko!

English Phonemes: “SPOH-koh”

Literal Translation: Peace!

English Equivalents: Cool. Calm down. Take it easy.

Spoko” is awesome and full of nuance and history. It’s one of my favorite words. Here’s a quick breakdown of what it is and how to use it.

Firstly, it’s slang, shortened from the words in the definition section below. Caveat — I have not been in Poland, and I certainly don’t know what the cool kids are doing with the language these days, but Google Translate defined this word as “cool”, which is accurate but not comprehensive. I want to add depth so you fully appreciate how awesome this word really is :-)

Second, this word is never used like “peace” is as a hippie greeting. You can only use it…

  1. as a button to a conversation where you and your friends agree on something, or

  2. to try to calm someone down when they appear agitated.


Spoko = cool, calm, peaceful [slang noun, shortened version of “spokojnie”]
Spokój = calm, peace [noun, s.]
Pokój = peace (also “room” - yay homonyms!) [s. noun]
Spokojnie = calmly [adv.]

Email us! mailbag@howyousay.fm
Visit the website! www.howyousay.fm
Tweet us! @HowYouSayFM
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
Rate the show!

Julia Tutko-Balena