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Posts by osiol  

Joined: 25 Jul 2007 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 10 Oct 2009
Threads: Total: 55 / In This Archive: 49
Posts: Total: 3921 / In This Archive: 3065
Interests: Not being on this website when I'm asleep

Displayed posts: 3114 / page 24 of 104
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osiol   
4 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / Stopoff point on the way to Slough [20]

I should mention that although the above video is supposed to be about the aspects of skinhead culture of Jamaican origin, along with Jamaican ska music, the picture above, and possibly many other pictures in that video are of fascists. Skrewdriver (see the graffito behind that friendly-looking chap) were a bunch of neo-nazis. I like Jamaican ska/bluebeat music and British ska-revival. The Specials covered this song, and they were a fine example of a band consisting of black and white people who came together naturally to create great music. Neo-nazi thugs tried their best to disrupt their shows and shows by other similar bands, having already hijacked the Jamaican skinhead image.

Back to the thread: my former flatmate still hasn't got his bags back. Trust those dodgy Polish 'removal companies' (bloke with van).
osiol   
4 Nov 2008
History / Sarmatia Europe - Could it be political reality? [183]

Weird Al Yankovic for Minister of Culture! Why? Because his father was Serbian and he's a Yank(ovic) and because of his deep understanding of modern culture (Smells Like Nirvana).

Does that count as thread hijacking?
osiol   
2 Nov 2008
History / Sarmatia Europe - Could it be political reality? [183]

It is sane to go step by step

I agree. I'd say though, that the step you wish to take is beyond reach in the sense that it leaves many people out of the equation who also would like to see some kind of unity across Europe. I'm not specifically talking about the EU here either.

can't remember the song by artist but I know the one

It's pretty awful. Brotherhood of Man?
osiol   
2 Nov 2008
History / Sarmatia Europe - Could it be political reality? [183]

It is not really an idea that is in many people's minds. Building bridges should go further than just with those who speak a similar language who also happen to have some historical similarities. Why not reach out further? For example, I'd like to teach the world to sing... in perfect harmo-nee.
osiol   
2 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / British celebs that are bigger in Poland than in Britain [49]

Marillion's album covers were awful. Then Fish went solo, released a single (a version of Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air") with a large plastic sleeve embossed with a penguin, as if to make up for years of Marillion sleeve hell.
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
Love / Dating a Polish guy for the first time ever in my life [22]

love wont pay the bills

But love can make you happy, happiness can make your outlook on life positive, positivity can expand your horizons, expanded horizons can lead to better job prospects, a better job sometimes pays more money. Anyway, I don't think it's just Polish people who find it difficult talking about money, particularly when they feel they aren't cutting the mustard in the wallet department.

You must have guessed what kind of responses you'd get.
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
Love / Dating a Polish guy for the first time ever in my life [22]

I am so going to get flamed in a min by everyone

I'll save my matches for another time. I will be slightly negative though.

For some people it's easier to get someone than to keep them. Mention of marriage after a week! Here we have one side of a story, but from the way it appears, it's not going anywhere. They say start as you mean to go on, but if the "as you go on" phase starts with not calling and generally seeming at least slightly indifferent then perhaps it is not to be.

Some differences can be overcome because you both want to and nothing else matters. If there are niggling doubts now, then you can only expect more to come.

By the way, I'm no expert.
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / Stopoff point on the way to Slough [20]

Still feeling the effects, even now. I might even hit the pub later if this lingering alcohol-induced fuzziness doesn't go away. Always willing to do my bit for world peace, even at the expense of my own delicate internal organs. Oh me liver!
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / Stopoff point on the way to Slough [20]

Slowly slowly. I learnt a couple of words in the last week or so, but I'm still having trouble with grammar. The people I talk to don't bother correcting me because they understand what I mean. I'm still flapping about at random as far as word endings are concerned.

What I really need now are ways of saying everything, everyone, all of - all different forms of wszystko and related words. This week I seemed to get the hang of bałwan, zostawiłem and z tyłu (the opposite of z pszodu? - I don't think I've quite got that one yet).
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / Stopoff point on the way to Slough [20]

your ability to type this when pi$$

You would not believe how many mistakes I had to correct before hitting the post button. Mmmmm vodka. Aaaarrrghhh!
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
UK, Ireland / Stopoff point on the way to Slough [20]

This is basically another bit of pro-Polish propaganda, so if you read the Daily Mail, vote BNP or post comments about how British people hate Polish people, then you can **** off now.

Jurek has been working here for a few years now. His wife and daughter have visited a few times, but this time the family decided to stop off at my house on the way from the airport.

I welcomed them to my tiny messy little flat. I apologised for the mess and somehow managed to find chairs for everyone. Out came a bottle of vodka and a couple of big chunks of ham. "Na zdrowie" apparently means "drain that vodka to the bottom of that glass in one go so I can fill it up again". A combination of their bad English and my bad Polish made sure that we all at least half understood eachother. "Do dna?" I asked.

"Tak!" the liquid level in the glass was somehow restored to its former level!

Most of a bottle of vodka later, Jurek passed the car keys to his wife. She tried to give them back. He didn't want them, so she passed them to me, so I passed them to his daughter who immediately passed them back to her mother who passed them back to me. "Okay, jeszcze jedna?" I asked, pointing at the bottle, hoping that alcohol may resolve the problem.

They eventually left, with Jurek's wife (sober) driving. It wqas as though these peopel had entered my flat, beaten me up with a very friendly brick, then made their escape whilst leaving the deadly time-bomb of a reasonable measure of vodka, but with a reasonable chunk of ham to help it down.

Not every Pole working in the UK finds someone as interested in their language and culture as myself, but open eyes and an open mind certainly help. Plenty of us are warm, welcoming, friendly people who are always willing to share a drink and a laugh. There's no Daily Mail in my flat to move out of the way to accomodate vistors.

Na zdrowie, Jurek i rodziny.
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
Life / Biedronka - retail chain in Poland [48]

For anyone who works in Biedronka, I say this: "come and work with me on a nursery in England". I say this because most shop workers are female and we've only had one Polish lady work with us in the last 5 years, and also because we have lots of hedges. If you need the toilet, you just pop into the bushes - no nappies required. A lot of people stick to the same job for years and years because of a combination of thoughts that they can't do anythingh else, that job security is better, and that hey at least the nappies are free! Ladies are not expected to go "do krzaki" and there are perectly good facilities provided.

By the way, I am drunk right now. I'm hoping to sober up soon, but this seems unlikely. My guests have left what's left of the vodka on my table, and there's only a little bit of Polish ham that they left to soak up the alcohol.

LIDL

They also have a weird and wonderful blend of "other things" they sell. You never know when some good cheap power-tools or bicycle lights might mysteriously appear there. I've had some very nice cake from Lidl in the past, the same cake as they were selling in the very expensive deli I go to sometimes.
osiol   
1 Nov 2008
News / World's Next Great Cities - Forbes. Warsaw 8. [22]

World's Nicest Villages to Reside In

I think it would be easier to say whether a village is nice or not. Easier than for a city, mostly due to scale. The only problem is one of another kind of scale. There may be a few too many to choose from. A village should certainly have: more than one drinking establishment, a village green, some horses, at least one shop preferaby including one random one - "a hardware shop in a tiny village like this?" A really good village is easy to escape from as well.

Warsaw is not a village, so I'm posting in the wrong place really. Are there any horses in Warsaw? (Suprisingly serious question.)
osiol   
31 Oct 2008
News / Polish architects [9]

Well, I might just be being controversial.
osiol   
31 Oct 2008
News / Polish-Hungarian friendship - reality till today or just a phantasmagoria [144]

I have worked with Hungarians and Poles in the same place at the same time on the same job... simultaneously, together and concurrently. There was no fighting and all was good!

The 'point' is that calling Hungarians Slavs is rather much like calling Turks Arabs since they live in the same general neck of the woods

Not really. There was a relatively small number of Huns, Avars and Magyars (a tribal confederation from various parts of the steppes) who moved into an area with a Slavic population.

Hungarians are not Slavs, but as far as non-Slavs go, they are more Slavic than most. Some Slavs, particularly Russians may be just as Slavic, if not less sop than Hungarians, but their language is Slavic. Slavs, however, were never an entirely homogeneous group - their ancestry had always overlapped with neighbouring peoples anyway.
osiol   
29 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

the ancient cobbles in Krakow's Maly Rynek were being destroyed by oil dripping from kebabs eaten by British tourists

The kebab oil actually helps preserve the ancient cobbles from the damage that can be caused to them by the urine of dogs leaking on drunken holidaymakers. Does anyone actually use the word "holidaymakers" any more? It's just that I don't like being called a tourist, mainly because it ends with -ist, and I don't believe in being racist or sexist, or anything else that ends with -ist. Except maybe pist.

Pass me the kebab - that beer's given me a hunger for greasy food.
osiol   
29 Oct 2008
Language / Tak i taki [8]

That was the kind of answer I was looking for. Thanks, Darius.
osiol   
28 Oct 2008
Life / HUMOROUS POLISH TOASTS [19]

untraslatable

You use this word one more time and I will scream... halloweenishly.

Nothing is untranslatable. There is just a variety in complexity and explanation required.
Now, someone translate my last (untranslateable) sentence into Polish please.
osiol   
28 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

propaganda

When stories like this emerge, what you need to do is take a proper gander.
That looks more like something to do with geese rather than elephants.
osiol   
28 Oct 2008
News / I support creation of Great Poland [134]

Great Polish Wall

China has the great wall of China. India has (or had) the great hedge of India. What could that leave for Poland? The great parterre of Poland? The great picket fence of Poland?

Welcome back, Crow. I see you're still in defence-mode. Remember that many of your fellow Slavs don't see eye-to-eye with you - many because their countries have not been under attack in the same way as your own in recent times, but also because there is naturally a wide variety of opinions on these grand-scale political ideas. There is also, as you well know, a lot of nationalism that doesn't fit so well with your pan-Slavic ideas.

Keep throwing them into the mix, and I'm sure Slavs and non-Slavs alike will have lots of fun reading them.
osiol   
28 Oct 2008
Language / ANGLO-MANGLING or "Does your DUMB COW SKI"? [6]

Most people who mispronounce foreign names know that they're getting it wrong. For many people, there's not much they are going to be able to do about it.