Żart: co niby można zjeść, a jednak nie

What does “zjeść konia z kopytami” mean in Polish?

When a Pole says zjadłbym konia z kopytami — “I could eat a horse with its hooves” — they mean they are starving. English has “I could eat a horse”; Polish adds the hooves for good measure. The joke in the clip runs on taking it literally: what can you supposedly eat but never actually would? Konia z kopytami. The horse, hooves included.

The set-up word is niby, a small word worth knowing: “supposedly,” “as if,” “in theory.” Co niby można zjeść? is “what can you supposedly eat?” You’ll hear niby everywhere in casual speech — niby tak (“sort of yes”), niby dlaczego? (“and why would that be?”). The grammar of the idiom is the accusative of an animate noun: koń becomes konia because you’re eating a living thing — the same shift as widzę psa, “I see a dog.”