Life / Polish men in shorts with sandals and socks.. [63]

Sock and sandals are a good way to show your disdain for hippy lifestyles!

Genealogy / Last name Badarak I'm looking for ancestors! [2]

No such name as Badarak in today's Poland. The only names even close are:
Badaruk
Badarewicz
Badarowska
Badarska
Badarycz
Badarzewski
Badera
Baderka
Baderko
Possible derivation: baderka (form German Bader) female bath attendant or the verb badurzyć/bajdurzyć (to talk nonsense, spin yards, tell tall tales)

In a folow-up to my previous post, Badar is an Arabic first name. In Polish territory Badarak might have emerged as a patronymic nickname to indicate Badar’s son.

Language / My Polish keyboard setting doesn't include all characters [9]

The keyboard you show is Polish Typist's No. 214. You get the missing letters when you shift. There must also be dead keys to get the accent marks for the upper-case letters: Ą Ę Ś Ć Ó Ń - and Ż.

This keybaord is far superior to the heavily pushed (for commercial reasons) Polish Programmer's because, you do not have to type two keys (ALT + somethign else) to get a single letter. If you want a ż, ł or ś you simply hit the appropriately enrgaved keytop.

Genealogy / Goralczyk and meaning of czyk [14]

THe city could have been Katowice, the captial of the industrial region of Śląsk (Silesia) to the west of Kraków.

Language / CARBON-COPY POLISH SPREADING? [30]

Popcommer (commercialised media-driven popculture) which made its debut in the mid-1950s along with the rise of TV and rock-n-roll, was all about gradual downdumbing and popularising the rude, crude and vulgar. A rich superpower formed from the dregs of Old World society (famine vicitms, landless peasants, horsethieves and the sweepings of European prisons --read the Statue of Liberty plaque) was the ideal vehicle to spread this popculture ideology world-wide.

Language / CARBON-COPY POLISH SPREADING? [30]

Would you asgree with this thesis? Whereas in the Middle Ages Latin was the elitist language of scholarship and liturgy, German was a pragmatic import (things had to be called something and the Germans had coined the municipal-technical words first) and French was once the language of diploamy and upscale snobbery, Americanese is the snob jargon of those into today's down-dumbed popculture slob chic.

Genealogy / looking for the bucka family [2]

If it was Bucka then it was the feminine form of the adjectival surname Bucki (because adjetcives must agree with the words they modify).
But it could have been a noun-based name such as Bućka, Bućko, maybe even Buciek, Buczek, Buczka or Buczko.
You would have to determine the real spelling as shown in Old World (not American) documents.

Life / Gift Idea For a Recently Discovered Relative In Poland [4]

As in any country, age, education, occupation, interests, place of residence, etc. can all influence the kind of gift someone might enjoy. Back in the bad ol' commie times, a Pewex gift box (tinned meat, chocolates, coffee beans, etc.) was a welcome gift for everyone, but nowadays....

History / UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE AGAINST POLES DOWNPLAYED [57]

It is easy for fat, flabby decadent Old Europe to worry only about their latest flat renovation, new car and planned holiday on Ibiza and accuse Poles of living in the past, because they have had time to come to terms with their history. Poles have not due to 6 years of Nazi-Soviet occuaption and 45 years of quasi-subjugation by Moscow. The past tow decades has encountered roadblocks iof various kinds (post-commies, Putin, Ukrainian nationalists, etc.). To people who have lost their loved ones in various massacres -- Katyń, Wołń, Naliboki or whatever -- these amtters have yet to be cleared up. A Pole accused of living in the past once replied by saying: History has long been our only true homeland. BTW my grandfather's family was burnt alive in their cottage in the Wołyń massacre -- anyone trying to flee the blazing building got bludgeoned or stabbed to death by blood-thirsty Rezuny.

USA, Canada / CAN ONE FUNCTION IN TORONTO INDEFINITELY KNOWING ONLY POLISH? [4]

Is Canadian citrizenship required to live and work in Canada? It isn't in the USA.

Genealogy / Goralczyk and meaning of czyk [14]

-czak is an almsot 100% patronymic ending (son of...); -czok is a dialectic version common to Śląsk; -czyk is also usually a patronymic ending, but -czek may be only a diminutive, although it too can be used to indicate paternity. Polish is very rich and variant-prone, rife with regional and local alternatives.

Language / CARBON-COPY POLISH SPREADING? [30]

Of courses all languages evolve, but what is happening in commerspeak is not evolution but revolution. All lanmguaegs have their own spirit, and the Polish one is being ridden roughshod over trampled to death. I wonder what native speakers of Polish think about this?

BTW Poland has created something like a language police, but it is really moribund. Under the law, all foreign language notices and shop signs should be translated into Polish, excepting trade-names, but I have yet to see a Polish equivalent of peep show (widowisko podglądackie???).

Life / Choosing a Polish Name for Your Newborn [15]

KamilaK, many dzięks. Interesting stuff! Three questions:
1/ Many formerly old-fashion names -- Stefan, Stanisław, Kazimierz, Karol (obviously JPII), Jakub, Wojciech, etc. -- have made a comeback but why not Józef? Also Wanda and Jadwiga? Any reason for this?

2/ Why has Kacper, the dialectic peasant version of Kasper, become so popular? Since most people try to be upscale you'd think they wouldn't want to sound like "wiocha"!?

3/ Whereas Stanisław, Władysław and Mieczysław seem to be more frequent now than 10-20 years ago, why have their feminine versions - Stanisława, Władysława and Mieczysława - not followed usuit.

Language / Declination of feminine nouns ending in -ia [4]

The general rule of thuimb is: wrods of Latin origin get the -ii, whilst inidgenously Polish words get -i. Hence historii, armii and geografii but bani, stajni and Kasi.

Food / PUDLISZKI BOTTLED GOŁĄBKI? [17]

Anyone know whether the Bretons eat anything similar to fasolka po bretońsku.
How do they differ from the traditonal English baked beans?

Genealogy / Looking for Kustowski [5]

Kostowski probably originated as a toponymic nickname describing an inhabitant of Кустово. There are several localities by that name in Russia, some may have been within the territory of the sprawling pre-partition Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Life / FUNERALS IN TODAY'S POLAND [7]

Well, friends and relatives trickle in all day, sometimes two days. Some drive in from a considerable distance. They all come to pay their last respects and bid farewell to their loved and not just view a closed coffin lid.

Genealogy / Tracing my parents roots (Pawlusiak and Plonka) [14]

Pawlusiak = Paulieson (patronymic nickname derived from hypocoristic form of Paweł -- Pawluś).
Płonka = wild fruit tree (usually self-seeded pear or apple growing in field or forest).

History / THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN TO WISE OLD PIŁSUDSKI!!!! [67]

Chronology is important here. The Polish-German non-aggression pact was signed in 1934, a year after Hitler had come to power. Seeing that the French and Brits could not be counted on for a joint coampaing, Piłsudski had no other choice. What he had in mind for Germany if Hitler could be toppled is unknown (at least to me). Probably he would have taken back long-lost Polish territories and had what was left consigned to protectorate status or at least eternal demilitarisation, with Poland, France and Britain as guarantors of Germany's its security against potnetial third-party aggressors. But this is all highly speculative. If the tripartite federation had come into existence in the east, the resultant Pax Polonica could have guaranteed peace and security to Europe for the next century. Through his brother, Piłsudski had good ties with Japan. The Japs could have been guarantors of stability on the eastern flank of a post-Soviet Russia.

Here is one link that may be of interest: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-German_non-aggression_pact

History / THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN TO WISE OLD PIŁSUDSKI!!!! [67]

Brits and Frogs have long been known for their shopkeeper's mentality. To hell with ideals when there's a franc or pound to be made!!!

Life / FUNERALS IN TODAY'S POLAND [7]

But only briefly. In America it is open all day at the funeral home or even two days as family and friends come to pay their last respects and sign a memorial book. Used to be 3 days.

History / THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN TO WISE OLD PIŁSUDSKI!!!! [67]

In 1933 Germany was still quite weak militarily. TheHuns didn't march into the Rhineland until a few years alter. By then it would have been too late. Piłsudski reportedly was ready to go it alone if only France and Britain provided moral and material support without actually contributing troops, but again they said 'no'.