Szymon Hołownia made a groundbreaking breakthrough: he combined the language of Aunt Kloca’s name day with the language of the so-called gymnasts

There is nothing worse than bon mots who only entertain their author. There are chuckles from the Sejm hall as Marshal Szymon Hołownia regales the parliamentarians with his golden thoughts, but it is clearly a courtesy not to make him feel uncomfortable. The problem is whether it concerns bonmots or crackers in the times of the Polish People’s Republic which were called “golden thoughts made of Bakelite”. The language of Szymon Hołownia consists largely of what can be called wisdom from conversations with his aunt on her name day.

At family events there is usually an uncle (less often an aunt) who knows everything and cannot resist his didactic passion, namely making participants aware of how to think or interpret facts. At the same time, such an uncle plays the role of an equal, i.e. he treats his guests to gifts, the vast majority of which are golden thoughts made of Bakelite. Such an uncle has an uncontrollable need to talk, because he not only likes to talk, but also enjoys his own voice and deeply believes that his listeners enjoy it too.

The content is completely unimportant, what is important is the speech act itself, which in linguistics is called the phatic function of language. The point is to keep the conversation going, but the transmission of any information, messages or observations is of secondary importance. Of course, of course, they appear, because it is impossible to have a conversation with just “uh-huh”, “aha”, “I see”, “oops”, “oh dear”. Some content appears, but it is secondary to the speaker’s fluency and self-enthusiasm. The longer he talks, the drunker he gets. Therefore, an analogy with people on high would be appropriate. Here the stimulant is speech and its sound.

People who are intoxicated by their own speech are difficult to control, because they usually decide (they have the right power) how long they can get drunk, and usually it lasts far too long. The problem with drunkenness is that you lose control over time. It is no coincidence that the so-called Szymon Hołownia’s (live) lajfs after the 2020 presidential elections seemed endless, even if they were separated for hours without speaking to the (mostly online) audience. It was one big stream of words.

It is a revolution that another person in the country, in a place like the Sejm, speaks a language from another reality, but I don’t think the point is that it is the language of Aunt Kloca’s name day. Of course, the official jargon and news language that we have been listening to in parliament for decades is also dysfunctional, tiresome and artificial, but even if it is terrible, the intention or purpose is to maintain a certain seriousness. Szymon Hołownia decided to wage war against the authority and is already successful.

Everything would be fine if the new chairman of the Sejm was skilled in the use of irony. It is a very useful and advanced tool, but it should work without announcements or gestures like: “Attention, irony!” and forcing the room to respond by waiting for applause and enthusiasm before a response occurs.

Another invention of Szymon Hołownia is that he combines the language of Aunt Kloca’s name day with the speech of the so-called gymnasts (gimbas), usually teenagers. The company at a name day party is not an environment that mobilizes and rejuvenates you, although you do want to shine in it, because it is extremely gossipy and provides appropriate popularity and recognition. But the gymnasium has a future. Also literally – as future voters. Therefore, flirting with a gimba, which also uses elements of her language, is completely appropriate.

The admiration for Szymon Hołownia and his style, with which he began his term as chairman of the Sejm, stems from a combination of the language of Aunt Kloca’s name day with the speech of a high school student. The first is socially dominant, the second indicates that we are up to date, focused on young people and the future. When it comes to young people, Szymon Hołownia’s speech is too long-winded and contains too much (young people like short words and the shortest possible messages, including photos), but at least he pays some attention to the young people.

The language of Aunt Kloca’s name day is actually at odds with the language of the high school student, but Szymon Hołownia plays the role of a “real man” who does not connect them on purpose, but only tries very hard to build bridges. And it’s actually hard to decide if he’s just acting or if he’s a naturalist. In any case, he wants to be a naturalist, which only brings him followers who believe that he does it spontaneously and with good will. And this, without irony, is the merit and advantage of the new chairman of the Sejm, that he is successfully playing the role of naturalist.

Does Szymon Hołownia’s invention change anything in Polish politics and the functioning of the Sejm? Not much, but it points to being different. It is a language that society knows from soap operas, informal conversations, family parties and the way young people communicate via social media. They are dominated by banality and triviality, but the same applies in everyday life. The political class tries to distance itself from this, because it believes that its social position does not allow it to remain solely at the level of banality and trivialism.

Szymon Hołownia sanctified the level of banality and trivialism and elevated it to the “staff of the marshal”. And he doesn’t seem to care that he falls into infantilism. Since many people accept it, it is a way to build a career and gain reach. And Hołownia makes the best of it. In that sense he is a real people’s marshal. And the obscurity of his bon mots becomes a strength, not a shame – at least as long as it guarantees him popularity.