Language / What is the most annoying thing about NATIVE Polish speakers? [12]


I had the idea of learning all the difficult answers before learning to ask the simple questions.
Was that a simple answer?

Polonia / Polish people in Belgium [10]

... and a tiny little corner of northeast France. I'm not sure the Walloons are a particularly small minority - 31% is quite a major minority, meaning that the Flemings must be a minor majority. Possibly. There's a little German-speaking corner of Belgium too (the people, not the actual land itself).

Who could possibly ignore Baarle Nassau / Baarle Hertog?

History / Drang nach Osten. [79]


Kind of. It wasn't, then it was, then it wasn't. When (if ever) did people stop being tribes?


It's a shame really because I quite like the smiley-face umlaut ü. My computer never turns it into one of those hideous yellow "emoticons".

Is Londyn the same place as Llundain?

Love / Teenage Relationship - girls from Poland walking next to you? [40]


Is it normal?

Love / Why english men like polish women ? [126]


That may very well be true. The first country to allow the same voting rights for both men and women was Finland, not long after they had escaped from the Russian Empire. There were no suffragettes in Finland. Some of the countries that had the strongest feminist movement in the early 20th century were actually some of the slowest to change.

Just thought I'd throw that into the mix.

Anyway, on the subject of this thread, I'm English, and I like Polish women because they laugh at my attempts to say things in Polish.

Love / Why english men like polish women ? [126]


Because you hadn't asked me to.

Love / Why english men like polish women ? [126]


The tendency for male names to become female is strong (such as Lindsay, Ashley, and especially pet forms such as Jo, Charlie, Ebeneezer... forget about that last one). I've never met a boy named Sue. Where's Johnny Cash when you need him?

There are enough men in the world for women to not need to act like men. The vast majority of those who do will probably suffer the consequences - trying to be something you're not won't make you happy or contented. However, different people have different perceptions of what gender-roles are. If someone wants a woman to stay at home and bring up children, how can that always be possible? My mother had to work when I was a child, albeit at night so she could still look after my brother and I when we weren't at school. That's not exactly the recipe for a happy life - it's a recipe for insomnia.

Feminism is the opposite to the preceding social order, not a balance between the two essential sides of humanity. Balance is not an easy thing to achieve. Humankind is a dynamic rather than a static force.


Some do. It has bad connotations, even amongst women. Read what I wrote about balance.

Love / Teenage Relationship - girls from Poland walking next to you? [40]

No, it's the time to make your mistakes and learn by them.

Love / Teenage Relationship - girls from Poland walking next to you? [40]


Get started by then, but I wouldn't say get everything all done and dusted and in a bag complete with complementary "been there and done that" tee-shirt. As someone had already said...


Just not too little at first. Not too much, not too little.


Don't chicken out just because she's not on her own. Get her on her own. Beckon her to you!

IT IS NORMAL!

Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]


I have problems with hearing all of the letters, but I usually get the number of syllables right. That is until I've heard it a few times. Lipreading helps. Maybe I'm going deaf, or maybe so much of what you hear being spoken is either anticipated by the brain or filled in by the brain rather than clearly heard.

It's not always easy to differenciate between voiced and unvoiced sounds, affricates and fricatives and so on. I don't think it's just a problem with learning a different language that does have different sounds. I have the same problem with unfamiliar names of plants and their associated pests and diseases. If someone says Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda to you for the first time, you might need them to repeat it a couple of times before you get it.

Language / HOW DID BAKTERIA BECOME FEMININE? [23]


and now would be a good time to use a word coined from a feminine noun not ending with -a along with an accompanying adjective which does end with -a. Dobranoc!

Or is the night still young?
Next question!

Life / Where can I find Italian sausage in Kraków? [9]


I feel sick.


Surely a contradiction in terms, unless anyone does weird stuff with elderberries without going all the way to 40% by volume minimum, by which stage it's technically a spirit.

Life / UNSHAVEN BUM LOOK - STILL POPULAR in POLAND? [15]

Who shaves their bum?

Love / Polish interracial dating [333]



Short of being able to read people's minds, I would say that this is not entirely true. Cliche alert... I have black friends! Cliche maybe, but true. I also have Polish friends. If someone wants to give me a beer, invite me round for a barbeque and hate me all at the same time, that is a quality bit of multitasking!

This is from a man who said yesterday that, re: Polish women in the UK dating Asian men:

British people all say it.

If he thinks he can speak for everyone else, that's his concern, but he is not adequately portraying the reality. There are people of various different colours with various different kinds of chips on their shoulders.

Brit: It's fine for you to explain your point of view, but to try to tell me what ALL of any given group of people think: it just takes any creedence your arguments may have had away from them.

Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]

You can be pretty sure about the pronunciation is your read it, but if you hear it there could be a few different ways of spelling. Some of this spelling becomes apparent when you hear different grammatical forms.


I thought that Americans have a year of 31ish months, each consisting of about 12 days.

Language / HOW DID BAKTERIA BECOME FEMININE? [23]


No it's not. A retarded question would be something like "Why doesn't the sky fall down?" or "Why does fish go mouldy if I leave it out of the fridge for three weeks?"

Life / Pro-business and post-commie lawmakers reject Epiphany public holiday [4]


Should still be hungover and poor after Christmas and New Year.


Try being a little more optimistic - it might not be that bad. I do, however, know the feeling of not being able to afford a holiday.

UK, Ireland / All That Manners Business [I'm Polish, moved to UK as an au pair.] [87]


Where did I say that?

UK, Ireland / All That Manners Business [I'm Polish, moved to UK as an au pair.] [87]


I said I don't like to judge, not that I wouldn't evaluate the situation. I may be wrong, but I am not afraid to form my own opinion based on what I know. This opinion has almost no effect on anything other than to reassure Wyspianska that she doesn't come across as a rude, impolite or dislikeable person. She has more reason to want to get on with her boyfriend's mother than someone she just knows through an internet forum.


Yes I can. Is she going to come after me for what I've said? Any one of you can judge me. Many of you have. How much do you know or need to know in order to be able to form an opinion?


This is something that is not going to happen. There are many people in the world none of us will ever meet or get to know, but we will still make up our minds about them. Just because I have stated my point of view, doesn't mean it is unmoveable, but it may be based on more than what most posters on this thread know.


It looks a little more tactful than that. It may not be the best way to assess the situation, of course. But Wyspianska asked a bunch of people, some of whom may be able to give very helpful answers, about whether she may have been the one who has been going about something the wrong way.


Judging a whole nation?

Love / Why do Polish women love to disrespect their fathers and their brothers? [78]

Brit, tell me how many people you have argued with here are Polish.

Love / Why do Polish women love to disrespect their fathers and their brothers? [78]


Okay then, seeing as you asked. You are a racist. Hey, I spelt it correctly too.

Where does this idea that Polish men own Polish women come from?

Love / Why do Polish women love to disrespect their fathers and their brothers? [78]


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Life / Why are Polish people cheap? [126]


Pick on a poor defenseless animal, why don't you!

Love / Why do Polish women love to disrespect their fathers and their brothers? [78]


British people all eat very thin cucumber sandwiches made with white bread with the crusts cut off.
British people all play with frisbees made out of cheese on Sunday afternoons.
British people all secretly use saucepans and cutlery as makeshift percussion instruments.
British people all smuggle unicycles across the Ecuador-Peruvian border.

Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]


Make your mind up whether your birthday is the first of November or the eleventh of January.

Language / Plural endings [20]

There was just a little crackle on the line, that's all!

Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]


You look so much younger! I think I was 30 by the time I started learning. I too must be just getting started!

Language / Plural endings [20]

Dzień dobry. Słucham. Co ***** chcesz?

Life / Paying bribes in Poland - necessity or a luxury? [41]


One of my Polish colleagues drove a lorry across Russia a few times. He had to pay quite a lot of bribes. Allegedly.

This is the same bloke as the one who recently gave me beer. There's another bottle arriving on Monday (his wife is importing it especially for me from Poland), so I decided to disbribify (I just invented that word) and give them a bottle of wine in return for their troubles.

Language / Plural endings [20]

I knew that it's a question of politeness rather than grammar. I'm usually polite, especially on the phone.