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Examples

  • Furshlugginer (Yiddish for "beaten up") and Coznowski (coined by Ernie Kovacs) were special Mad words that appeared in every issue, along with "potrzebie," which Gaines never bothered to define.

    Humor In A Jugular Vein 2008

  • Heck, or as the French say, potrzebie, he couldn't define his job.

    Humor In A Jugular Vein 2008

  • But what about words like furshlugginer, poiuyt, potrzebie, veeblefeltzer and axolotol?

    Latest Articles 2009

  • Tim O’Reilly w cyklu postów o potrzebie powstania ksi?? ki adresowej 2.0.

    OpenSocial and Address Book 2.0: Putting People into the Protocol | FactoryCity 2007

  • It’s been discovered by researchers that if you are cornered by a boring person at a function you can get rid of him/her by intoning the word “potrzebie” a number of times or asking in a bright voice “Do you know that its crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide?”

    What’s Happening? « Whatever 2007

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  • Potrzebie is a Polish word popularized by its non sequitur use as a running gag in the early issues of Mad not long after the comic book began in 1952. The word is pronounced ?p?t???b?e in Polish and is a declined form of the noun "potrzeba" (which means "need"), but in English it was purportedly pronounced /?p?t?z?bi/ or /?p?tr?zi?bi/. Its Eastern European feel was a perfect fit for the New York Jewish style of the magazine.

    (from Wikipedia)

    April 19, 2009