When I was a little kid, my dad taught me a few Polish words. He'd say something that sounded like "zuh" instead of "What?" (I'm not sure if that is right, actually) and referred to his babcia ("bousha") and dziadzio ("zsa-zsa"), or grandma and grandpa.

The other thing he said was "Idź do domu i połóż się spać," ("Eech doe doo moe spach"), which means "go home and go to bed." I never really thought about this, until I realized that "Go home and go to bed!" is like the one thing all other Polish-American great-grandkids know. Not "I love you" or "Hello," "Go home and go to bed." I've met at least five other kids who are not related to me who can only say that in Polish. None of us know why.

It's such a random, specific phrase, and I now need to know why it's so common. Is that a saying in Poland? I imagine one of the following scenarios: A guy yelling to his drunk friend at a bar to "Go home and go do bed!" Or, an old lady out on the front lawn yelling at some rowdy kids on a summer night, "Go home and go to bed!" According to my Facebook friend Carol, "Heartwarming but useless Chicago memory: when Pope John Paul visited in 1978, he was welcomed by a huge crowd. He told them to go home and go to bed!"

Another theory is "Go home and go to bed!" is a euphemism, like "Get outta here!". But then it doesn't make sense if the Pope was yelling that to all of Chicago. (Plus, another Facebook friend who lives in Poland assures me that the saying is literal.)

So please branch out to your Polish sources and tell me why I know how to say this? Thank you in advance.