The Polish grubas ‘fatty’ in the light of survey data

Abstract

The article discusses the results of a survey among 171 adults between the ages of 19–81, both men and women, from different regions of Poland and with variable social status. The respondents were asked the following question: What does it mean to be a real fatty? The answers were analyzed according to the methodology of the Lublin School of Ethnolinguistics. 235 quotations were extracted from the responses, and assigned to 21 descriptors. The most numerous descriptor “weigh too much” included 71 quotations, i.e. 30.21%, while the second most numerous descriptor, “neglect the principles of healthy eating and healthy living”, included 21 quotations (8.94%). The survey shows that in the meaning of grubas the most important aspect is the physical one, with its central notion of excessive body weight (one that explanatory dictionaries provide as its main feature). Within the physical aspect, in order to clarify the semantic structure of grubas, five sub-aspects were separated: “appearance”, “clothes”, “body parts”, “health/disease”, and “physical fitness”, of which the first is the most widely represented, with 84 quotations (54.19% of all quotations). The least numerous (ten examples, i.e., 6.45%) are those citations that illustrate the “clothes” sub-aspect. Within the “appearance” sub-aspect, three components were identified: body weight, looking different from others, and unsightly appearance, of which the first is the most numerous (71 citations, 84.52% of the total).
The analysis shows that Polish people perceive the people the call grubas primarily through the physical aspect. Within it, the most important element is the appearance, and within it body weight. Thus, the survey confirms the systemic data. Other aspects, such as health, aesthetics, and acceptance of appearance do not play an important role in the meaning of grubas: they are perceived by respondents as subordinate, peripheral elements.