The authors try to answer two questions: 1. How the Polish philology students understand the concept of linguistic norm? and 2. When, according to those students, people should follow it? The article presents the results of the survey conducted among 200 respondents. It turns out that the students understand the concept of norm well, usually as a set of rulles, which are established by linguists or/and accepted by society. They also think that the respect of rules takes effect in varying degrees in different communication situations.