Language / POLISH OR RUSSIAN -- MORE MODERN? [20]

In linguistics, the concept of a more or less modern language usually refers to its grammatical structures, not so much to the lexical field (word formation). Languages with many cases such as Finnish are regarded as more archaic. The more streamlined and simple -- the more modern.

News / another proof that Poland is a confessional state [18]

Can't agree with ladykangaroo more! It isn't that important if the moral message is phrased religiously "Love your neighbour" or in secular terms -- "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The major problem are the hordes of vicious, spoilt brats from 4 to 94 drowning the world in their selfish slime and taking their cues from Hollywood harlots, MTV mind-benders, slum-dwelling rappers and assorted sleazy celebs of our cheap, tacky and all-pervasive commercial pop culture, eagerly promoted round the clock by the sensation-seeking, scandal-mongering media.

The family, the school, the cultural community, the churches, assorted community leaders and politicans HAVE ALL FAILED to shore up collapsing public ethical standards, because they all have their own, narrow, selfish interests at stake which they claim are more imporatnt. Throw Information Technology into the picture and we are fast becoming (or have already become) a world of technical titans and....moral midgets! And to think there are horse-blinkered souls who, while trudging through all the moral rot and sludge, are wondering whether ethics or relgion classes should be taught by lay teachers or priests, philosophers, sociologists, sexuologists or the school janitor......

But who cares. Let's all lighten up, chill out, light up a joint, ain't it great?!

Food / NO TIME FOR TATERS, RICE OR PASTA -- TRY KŁADZIONE! [8]

All depends on the toppings. If they're swimming in a nice, thick, rich, meat or mushroom gravy or garnished with skwarki (crunchy golden-brown pork fatback nuggets). I mean plain mashed potatoes or plain rice ain't exactly something to write home about either without some enhancement.

Life / Grandmother's day & Grandfather's day in Poland [7]

I'm not 100% sure but I think this was one of the Soviet-inspired occasions just like Dzień Kobiet (dień żenszczyny) on 8th March. Despite that suspect origin, it still is nice to have, esp. in view of the role played by grandparents in all the Slavonic nations.

BTW, did you know Polish males also have their special day? It is the feast day of the Forty Martyrs (Święto Czterdziestu Męczenników), celebrated, I believe, in late December. All married men and some unmarried ones can equate with that occasion.

Food / How to make "KURCZAK ZUPA" [12]

A bay leaf is also nice for flavour.
4 additional rosół tips:
1. scorch both cut-side halves of an onion over direct flame or in dry frying pan until blackish rings appear and chuck into soup pot.
2. adding a whole fresh tomato to the soup will enhance its golden hue. Strain soup and chuck out spices and veggies except carrots if you like a few slices in your soup) before serving.

3. garnish hot soup with some fresh finely chopped dill and/or parsley.
4. serve over batter noodles: vigoroulsy stir with fork 1 egg, 1/2 tspn salt and enough flour to form a smooth, thick paste and enough of the broth to get a pourable consistency. Spoon batter into violently boiling salted water and cook 2 minutes of so. Drain and serve in rosół. (You can cook these noodles in the rosół but it will turn cloudy on you.)

Rosół may also be served over ribbon or otehr pasta,rice, buckwhet groats, barley or diced cooked potatoes.

Life / Saying Grace before eating in Poland's homes [10]

Just so everyone knows what is being talked about, a typical Polish grace before meals goes:

Pobłogosław nas, Boże, i te dary, które mamy spożywać z Twojej szczodrobliwości, przez Jezusa Chrystusa, Pana naszego. Amen.

In devout Polish Catholic famileis grace is said, although some only do so on Sundays and major feast days.

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

Agnieszkę Nowak is accusative
but Jana Nowaka.
-ski ending names are adjectives, so are those ending in -ny (Konieczny, Posłuszny) or just -Y (Gacy) or -i (Malusi)

Life / What is kolęda? [11]

The annual pastoral visit (kolęda) is also an opportunity for the priest to update the parish records. The household's composition may have changed since last year through a birth, death, someone moving in or out, etc., so this also plays the role of a parish census. Above all the priest is prepared to discuss any family problems householders might raise --substance abuse, juvenile deliquency, uneymployment, illness, whatever.

Love / Polish poem for wedding ceremony [2]

I personally do not knoo of any real poetry devoted to the marriage ceremony itself. However in Poland there has long been a tradition of rhymes (not high poetry but rather doggerel) of well-wishing. These have taken the form of toasts usually propsoed by the best man at the wedding feast. Many are humorous, but that is probably not what you meant.

Anyway, here is a sampling. If anyone feels ambitious enough to translate any of them, be my guest!

W uroczystym dniu zaślubin
Życzymy Młodej Parze,
By im życie dało wszystko,
Co może dać w darze:
Szczęście, pogodę w miłości
I uśmiech wiecznej radości!

Language / Touch screen Polish keyboard for mobile devices [6]

Thinking back to typewriter days, some Pol-Ams used to easily Polonise their US-keyboard typerwiters by replacing a mere three rarely used keys (like the fractions which can be made with the diagonal 1/2, the cent sign which could be made with a c and backspaced /, and the @ which was close to useless in the pre-email era).

All you needed to type Polish was £, Ż and a dead key containing the acute accent (')and (˛). You first struck the ' and then the letter to fit under it to get ć, ń, ó, ś and ź, adn teh ˛ and then the a or e to fit above it get ą and ę.

Dunno if this is possible on the keyboard you are referring to, but maybe it's worth a go.

Life / Christmas in Poland - does it really extend into February? [8]

The official end of the Chrsitmas season inb Poland is Candlemas (2nd Feb.). In Polish it is called święto Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej (Feast of Our Lady of the Thunder Candle), because it was ocne believed to protect agaisnt electrical storms. In the universal Church it is called the Feast of the Purificaiton, when according to Jewish traditon a motehr whohad given birth goes to the temple to be purified.

By traditon rather than by connection, Christmas decorations stay up in many places until then. Home Chrsitmas trees usually shed and are chucked before then.

On Candlemas, candles to be lighted at the bedside of the dying and dead are blessed in churches.

Life / nice polish name for a girl [38]

Grażyna, Beata, Halina, Mirosława, Hania, Marzena, Aniela, Wanda, Czesława,
Wiesława, Ewelina, Ewa, Ryszarda, Antonina, Sława, Maryla -- all recognisably Polish!

Food / KLUSKI Z SEREM -- family favourite. Lane kluski too. [10]

Kluski has several meanings in Polish. It can be a kind of small dumplings (similar to German Spätzle), Silesian potato ball dumplings, lane kluski = poured-batter dumplings and, in the kluski z serem (and Xmas Eve kluski w makiem) instance -- egg noodles. Thinner egg noodles used in soup are called makaron.

Twaróg is similar to American dry cottage cheese (without the soupy whey and cream of your average American cottage cheese), also known as curd cheese and farmer cheese.

Language / SAY TELL TALK SPEAK - HARD 4 POLES [22]

Another pitfall for Poles is 'How can you tell?' which they often translate as 'Jak tak możesz mówić?'

History / Targowice and Bar Confederations [34]

Without checking (books or Wikipedia), wasn't the Bar Confederacy accused of attempted regicide, the attempted abduction of the king?

Food / Butcher Shops in Poznan? [7]

Are there that many private butcher shops left in Poland? Haven't the big foreign-owned supermarkets monopolised the scene by now?

Food / What First Polish Dish I Should Make? [30]

Try meatballs in mushroom gravy with buckwheat groats and braised beetroot -- a Polish favourite and quite easy.

Life / Do Poles accept people from the Polish diaspora as Poles? [14]

How do you define 'accept'? Not object to a Polonian (Diaspora Pole) living next door, dating or marrying your daughter, invite one over to dinner or what?

Food / History of the Polish potato (what did Polish people eat before?) [17]

Mainly groats (buckwheat, millet, barley and oats) or mushess (kulesza, lemiesza) made from the meals and flours thereof, all manner of dumplings and noodles and penty of root vegetables: rutabaga, parsnip, beetroot, carrots, etc. not to mention cabbage -- fresh and cured. And of course bread.

Life / POLAND'S QUASI-BROTHELS? [21]

According to the law sutenerstwo (pimping) and kuplerstwo (providing premsies) are illegal. Apparently the law often turns a blind eye to various things.

History / The movie Defiance is a big lie (heroes that saved Poland suppored communism) [102]

Many Polonians are disgruntled over the film. Some see it as a deliberate attempt to distort history and glamourise Jewish anti-Polonism. Haven't seen the film so I'm only relaying some of the remarks that have come my way. Sad to say, there were acts of anti-Semitism and instances of Polish collaboration with the Nazis, because war is hell and survival is the sole aim of most everyone. But there was also widespread anti-Polish Jewish collabroation with the Soivets which led to the jailing, killing and exiling of hundreds of thosduands of Poels. Also direct acts of perfidy such as self-styled Jewish red militias shooting Polish soldiers in the back. That aspect of the war has been conveniently hushed up or glossed over.

Life / NANNY STATE in POLANd vs RABBLE? [25]

Trying hitting the Brit stag-party scene in Kraków pubs some weekend, esp. in the warmer months. This time of year the lads are afraid of freezing their.... Besides, I was referring to subcultrues in general, not Poland or Britain specifically.YOu don't really think subcultrue promoters are dong that to make the life of younger people more varied and interesting, do you? They may try to potray themselves that way as great friends and benefcators of society, but their only concern is fleecing the gullible and raking in maximum profits.

Life / NANNY STATE in POLANd vs RABBLE? [25]

Many dzięks, Seanus. That made me look up lad culture and eudcate myself. Wikipedia ahd this definiton: "The New Man and the New Lad are niches in the market more than anything else, often defined according to an array of lifestyle accessories". The New Lad image domainates the New Man image simply because of its greater success at garnering advertising revenue for men's magazines. The New Man image, that could be perceived as namby-pamby, failed to appeal to a wide readership. The more adolescent Lad culture appeals to the ordinary man more.

I hadn't known the details of New Man and Lad Culture, but the above clearly reinforces my conviciton that all subcultures are mainy buisness rip-offs. Grunge, piercing freaks, Glasgow Rangers fanatics, hip-hoppers, you name it -- are all about talking people into making a so-called fashion statement or ideological declaration or belonging to a "cool" group and then paying through the nose for all the required duds, gadgets and gimmicks that go with them. The tattoo thing is esp. lucrative because the sucker gets hit twice: once when the tattoo is applied and even more when it is finally removed. (And usually the de-tattooed areas remains permanently discoloured or disfigured.)

Life / POLAND'S QUASI-BROTHELS? [21]

No, the roadside nymphettes are called tirówki (from TIR = heavy-duty lorry, as lorry drivers are their main clientele). These are mainly Bulgarian and Ukrainian girls from what I'm told.