"Jagshemash" is a phonetic transcription of a Polish greeting "Jak sie masz" which means: "hello, how are you".
The word started to be popular after a movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" by Sasha Baron Cohen.
The word can be misinterpreted as a Czech greeting which sounds very similar to the Polish one and means the same thing. That happens because Czech and Polish are both quite similar Slavic languages.
However,the expression used by Borat comes from Polish because minority of people in Kazakhstan speaks Polish, and Borat was trying to represent them as well as people speaking Russian in the country, who are in majority.
The word started to be popular after a movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" by Sasha Baron Cohen.
The word can be misinterpreted as a Czech greeting which sounds very similar to the Polish one and means the same thing. That happens because Czech and Polish are both quite similar Slavic languages.
However,the expression used by Borat comes from Polish because minority of people in Kazakhstan speaks Polish, and Borat was trying to represent them as well as people speaking Russian in the country, who are in majority.
Polish expression "jak sie masz" is pronounced like "jag she mash", therefore English speaking people wrote the words down in the form of "jagshemash".
by bWena December 9, 2006
A greeting that Sascha Baron Cohen's hilarious character "Borat Sagdiyev" uses in his shows. He actually says "Jak sie masz?" which means "How are you doing?" in Polish. He also uses other polish phrases such as "Dziekuje" which means "Thank you".
Jak sie masz? ("Jagshemash")! In US and A very rich people like to drink wine. It is like Khazaki wine, but not made from fermented horse's urine. ... Dziekuje!
by OllieKickFlip March 23, 2007
by mlms November 27, 2004
Greeting, made famous by Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G, in character as Borat. Closest interpration is "hello."
by ben December 22, 2004
A greeting made famous by Borat, a Kazakhi played by comedian Sascha Cohen. It is derived from the Hebrew "chhag sameachh", meaning "happy holiday", the traditional Jewish holiday greeting. Cohen is Jewish, and often parodies the unselfconscious stupidity of Borat's antisemitism, ironically adopting a Jewish greeting as Borat's generic greeting.
by DocUnderwood November 10, 2006
Both jagshemash (jak se mas? = how are you?) and dekuji (=thank you) are czech words. Prague (Czech capital) recently became very popular among Britons, mainly because the bars don't close and beer is cheap. It's not uncommon for the british (who actually didnt know that Prague is NOT a German city before they got out of the airport) who've learned some czech words to use them. So did the famous Borat. Well we should punish him for misusing our language, right?
by Ackoz November 23, 2006
greeting introduced to as Khazakstani expression by Ali G.
Interestingly it sounds like an American guy trying to repeat Polish "jak sie masz?" which means "how are you?".
Obviously Poland must be somewhere in Khazakstan...
Interestingly it sounds like an American guy trying to repeat Polish "jak sie masz?" which means "how are you?".
Obviously Poland must be somewhere in Khazakstan...
by gizia September 13, 2006