this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2026
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Asking non-native English speakers.

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[–] Jajcus@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

"Kombinować" very Polish word for a very Polish a activity/philosophy. To make things work / get something done / take care of something in way that work for us, but are not the expected way to do things (though, 'kombinowanie' is often actually expected). It might be doing a job using the tools that are available and not thise that should be used, it might be a genuine invention, It might be using your contacts for favour (like getting a doctor appointment), it might be plain cheating.

A little bit like 'hacking' and also can be a good thing or a bad thing.

"Wykombinuję coś" = "don't worry I will take care of that" "Co za kombinator" = "what a cheaty bastard"

[–] kurcatovium@piefed.social 1 points 2 hours ago

Czech edition of the world is: zbastlit and the resulting product is bastl.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 14 hours ago
[–] ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Dude, the word you're looking for in English is to hustle.

Source: am Polish.

[–] Michal@programming.dev 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

There's also scheming, but i don't think either one is a 1 to 1 equivalent.

[–] ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 1 points 16 hours ago

Scheming nie działa, bo kombinowanie to dużo więcej niż samo knucie planów :)

But I am also not so sure that kombinować is a good example because the other meanings are because it's a homonym.

I am having trouble providing what actually OP asked for.

A few years ago I'd say Maori "mana", but the kids now call it "aura" and it's a direct concept translation.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In Spanish that would be "picaresca" and Spanish people also think it's something that doesn't really exist in other cultures.