Probably one of my all-time vegetables to eat in Romania is varza, known in English by its less mellifluous name of “cabbage”.

That being said, the word “varza” has a variety of slang usages, to wit:

A (se) face (sau a ajunge, a fi etc.) varză = a (se) distruge, a (se) degrada, a (se) zdrențui

Parsing this out it means something like “worn out” or “exhausted” or “destroyed”.

For example: dupa munca, eu sunt varza – after work, I am “worn out” or exhausted.

pantofii mei sunt varza – my shoes are worn out, destroyed, falling apart.

There’s also a secondary meaning:

a ajunge varză expr. 2. (tox.) a ajunge dependent de droguri 3. (tox.) a avea o stare euforică provocată de consumul de droguri

Which, roughly speaking, is equivalent to the English word “high” as in “high on drugs”.

Note: because this is a noun treated as an adverb in the slang usage , there is no “conjugation” or declension in the word. The word “varza” is used the same whether it’s referring to something (or someone) female, male, singular or plural all the same. Nice, eh?

NOW YOU KNOW!