Expressiveness of the language is one of the most characteristic features of Polish everyday language. It is often uses to express inner states of the message sender. It also names mental activities as well as external features of man, such as age or sex.
Sobriquets and epithets are closely linked to the transfer of emotions of the speaker directed to the addressee of those expression. They can ridicule or belittle the advantages of a person or even laugh at it. Chmielewska uses both of them. Their overarching role is to show emotional attitude of the main characters of the novel in relation to the form of episodic characters, who are regarded to be less nice.