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There is a Polish saying I learned from its translation in a student's journal. The original: Życie jest jak papier toaletowy – długie, szare i do dupy. It's almost impossible to translate this without losing the pun. My student wrote it thusly: "Life is like toilet paper: long, gray, and to the ass." But "do dupy," while it literally translates as "to the ass" or "to one's ass" is an idiom, which becomes clear when considering how Google translates this: "Life is like toilet paper – long, gray and sucks." "Do dupy" would more accurately be translated "sucks," "stinks," or "lousy."

Chat GPT had this to say:

The Polish phrase "do dupy" is a colloquial expression that literally means "for the ass/butt" but idiomatically means "crappy," "lousy," "awful," or "it sucks."

Depending on the tone you want, you could also translate it as:

• "Life is like toilet paper—long, gray, and lousy." (milder)
• "Life is like toilet paper—long, gray, and it sucks." (colloquial)
• "Life is like toilet paper—long, gray, and full of shit." (stronger, more creative adaptation)

The first version is probably the closest in spirit to the original joke.

But even that confuses most Americans (and, to be honest, many Poles born in the last twenty years or so). Since when is toilet paper gray? Throughout most of Poland's post-war history.

It's still available, though even today's gray paper is a vast improvement over PRL gray paper.