Jak by nie było, to gdzie nie spojrzeć, tak się mówi i pisze

Abstract

This article is an attempt to make a prescriptive evaluation of phraseological units such as jak było, co by nie zrobić, kto by nie przyszedł, gdzie by nie spojrzeć, gdzie nie spojrzę, gdzie się nie ruszysz, etc. They have been present in the Polish language for at least 150 years, but are still evaluated negatively, as unnecessary Russicisms and illogical constructs. The discussions carried out in this text, supported by numerous examples from various types of Polish texts, lead to the conclusion that we are dealing with a phraseological model containing the components by nie as a construcyional axis or nie, in sentences that are formally negated yet in fact containing the reinforcement of a judgment. The phraseologised units have demonstrated their functional usefulness and should be accepted in the usage norm of Polish.