ciumćwok

A person who knows nothing, is stupid; a slow-witted, inept person.

In English slang, the equivalent term is “buttsnack” (< butt – ‘rear, buttocks’, snack – ‘snack’), which has two meanings: 1. ‘a person who knows nothing or is stupid’, 2. ‘someone who is out of place, behaving inappropriately, uncouth, arrogant’ (see https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Buttsnack 07/08/2023).

The word is a compound derivative, probably formed from similar-sounding and meaning words ciumok/ciumak (or ciuma) and ćwok. The formative process here involves truncating part of the first word and merging both stems into one through a zero-suffix -ø- (see Wróbel 2001: 178-179).

In the PWN Dictionary of Colloquial Polish by M. Czeszewski, ćwok is defined as a person who is slow-witted, sluggish, stupid, disliked, unsociable (2006: 65). A synonym for this word is ćmok. A slightly different definition of the word, with a different qualifier, is provided by the online PWN Polish Dictionary: ćwok – contemptuously, about a person who is not very intelligent, uncultured (https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/ćwok.html; accessed: 07/08/2023).

In dialects, the word ciumak, ciumok means ‘a person who is slow at work, a clumsy person’. This word comes from ciuma – ‘an inept, clumsy person, someone lacking cunning’ (Mączyński 2019: 120). The online Polish Dictionary states that ciuma regionally means ‘a sluggish, energy-deprived woman’ (https://sjp.pl/cium; accessed: 07/08/2023). In this dictionary, under the entry ćmok (a synonym for ćwok), there are interesting comments from users who not only provide the dictionary meanings of the words ćmok and ćwok but also share information about the etymology of these words and which synonyms are used in their region. It can be assumed that this word is an internal borrowing – it “migrated” from regional Polish to youth sociolects.

As a curiosity, “ciumćwok” is one of the nicknames of Elijah Pepperjack – a side character from the series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, a boy who is not very popular at school, considered by other students as a clumsy and inept person (see https://talesofarcadia.fandom.com/pl/wiki/Eli%C5%9B_Pepperjack; accessed: 07/08/2023). In English, the character’s nickname (one of the nicknames) is “Buttsnack” (see . https://talesofarcadia.fandom.com/wiki/Eli_Pepperjack accessed: 07/09/2023).

In colloquial Polish, there are also words that are synonymous with ciumćwok (and phonetically similar to it) such as ciućmok, ciućma. From Czeszewski’s dictionary, we learn that ciućma is a derogatory term used for a slow-witted, inept, sluggish person; a clumsy person (2006: 57). The word ciućmok also appears in the Silesian dialect. It means ‘someone who is inept, slow; a clumsy person’ (see https://bonclok.pl/slowniczek-wyrazow-slaskich/ciucmok.html accessed: 07/09/2023), a loser, a person who is inept but sympathetic’ (https://glosbe.com/pl/pl/ciućmok; accessed: 07/09/2023).

Examples of use:

“What a ciumćwok” https://www.o2.pl/artykul/student-z-usa-zjadl-5-dniowy-makaron-zmarl-nastepnego-dnia-6343392422955137a;

“THE ANSWER IS GOOD, IT’S ALL GOOD CIUMĆWOKI!” https://brainly.pl/zadanie/15359451;