My education may be inferior, but I can't just sit idly when people suggest the same about my favourite writer. Anyway, it seems I'm not alone in disagreeing with what Mrs Tad wrote. I've just checked a random title by one of Poland's best writers - Stanisław Lem - and he used "czemu" copiously both in dialogues and narration. I'm pretty sure many other popular and well-educated authors don't shy away from using it either. "Czemu" is often used in colloquial language, because it's shorter. But it's apparently less popular than the neutral "dlaczego" and an established authority on Polish - prof. Bańko - considers "czemu" slightly more sophisticated, because it appears more often in literature than in speech and requires more linguistic competence to use safely: https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/czemu-czy-dlaczego;3473.html https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/Czemu;13550.html The bottom line: "czemu" and "dlaczego" mean the same and can usually be used interchangeably, but it's safer to use "dlaczego" because of some subtle stylistical issues with "czemu" in certain contexts. By the way, the linked website belongs to a major Polish dictionary and encyclopedia publisher. Those of you who can already read Polish, can find very informative comments by competent scholars on a lot of tricky Polish words and linguistic topics in "poradnia językowa" section there.

Czemu' is a parasite-word of speaking Polish language. You are right, it means 'dlaczego'- 'why'. It is used very often in simple conversations. It used in informal talk by the people with lower level of education.

'Czemu' is a parasite-word of speaking Polish language. You are right, it means 'dlaczego'- 'why'. It is used very often in simple conversations. It used in informal talk by the people with lower level of education.