Love / Polish wedding customs/traditions? Aussie marrying Polish. [21]

I just like the song thus I used your mention of it to tag it on ... didn't mean to say yours was wrong (or that you forgot stuff). Sry if it came out that way ^_^

History / What was Polands greatest historical moment? [24]

personally I think it was whenever we got the husarze going ^_^

Life / Where to get a cup of coffee in Warsaw? [40]

speaking from a student pulled to countless starbucks outings...
their coffee sux
$5 USD for a cup of watered down stuff that is only saved by making it a frapp (which is more a milkshake than a coffee)

Life / Where to get a cup of coffee in Warsaw? [40]


YAY! I was starting to worry about what would happen when I went there.


I have some kind of allergy to cigarette smoke... I can barely breath and usually start coughing if I'm so much as walking behind someone who's lighting up and the wind changes >_< Thankfully most people on campus here are not into it.


They usually do have smoking sections... at least they did a few years back when I took one to zakopane... they had their own wagons and that was cool.

Problem with restaurants and bars is that the smoke doesn't read very well, and thus saunters over to the non-smoking section. And you know the whole poor air circulations/ joined ac sys doesn't help matters.


You're forgetting one thing, smoking is a choice (addictive or not, still a choice). If you can't sit for the length of a meal / coffee without lighting one up you should rethink your state of being.

As second hand smoke isn't healthy (say what you will, it's true) people shouldn't be subjected to it if they don't want to. What about all the waitresses forced to work in a smoke filled room for hours on end?

smoker cafe n' stuff are allowed (at least in the states) but employers have to get all their staff to accept it if I'm not mistaken.

Oh, and in such nice, stationary places there's always that cool thing known as outside that you can go and light one up before going back in and enjoying food.

Love / Polish wedding customs/traditions? Aussie marrying Polish. [21]

from what i've learned by attending my aunt's wedding;
~bottle of vodka on every table (even if its an open bar); have plenty of spares if there'll be a sizable polish showing
~pork served at midnight (in Chicago it was from a spicket, in PL there was a cart with all sorts of pork products on there (pic 1 @ bottom)

~parents waiting for you and hubby before reception with bread and salt (pic 2)
~don't take your veil off till midnight
~reception lasts till morning
~2nd day reception for close family (less formal, good chance to make use of the leftovers)
~if there are enough polish ppl there, you'll get the wedding drinking song (far superior to the tapping glass to see you kiss thing we do here ^_^ )


lol, that's the other version... at the one i attended they full out sang the song that that comes from... several verses... I specifically love the 'uczono nas w szkole że całuje się na stole' bit, mostly cuz my aunt actually did ^_^

first verse:
gorzka wódka, gorzka wódka
niebędziemy pili
tszeba aby para młoda
wódke osłodzili
trans:
bitter vodka (2x)
we won't drink it
we need the newlyweds
tho make it sweeter

Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]

if i had more time i'd try to figure out if the orb talking a mile a min might be spinning polish as well...

Language / Plural forms 2-4 and =>5 [30]


Ooops... guess when I reordered my post my explanation turned confusing >_<

All those are my examples of indirect quantity specifier (non-numerical counting)... aka if you don't use one of these or use 2-4 you use palce

and if you use a higher number (5+) or such an indirect quantity specifier you use palców

Life / HUMOROUS POLISH TOASTS [19]

I like the wedding toast thing
"gorzka wódka, gorzka wódka
niebendziemy pili
tzeba aby para mloda
wódke oslodzili"
and the subsequent verses...
makes the 'tap the glass to see them kiss' thing look utterly dull... specially since at the wedding the bride DID go up on the table when that verse came about ^_^

otherone = the leaving drinks .... where you salute as you get up, as you walk out, at the door, at the gate and so on till 'stszeminenne' (stirrup... i know i butchered that spelling *shrug*) from back when you had to get on the horse. My uncle always says 'stszemienne' and drinks to say 'this is the last one, i don't wanna, but I gotta go' ^_^

Language / Plural forms 2-4 and =>5 [30]

palce is used for a low # (2-4) or when there is no quantity specifier like
for many ____ a few _____ or other indirect #
(pare___ wiele___ niewiele___ kilka _____ etc)
Otherwise you use palców for any quantity other than 1-4

"Uwarzaj na palce" (like when someone's closing a car door) vs "Ile palców widzisz?" (like when checking eyesight)

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (Part II -- Much more detail than other topic) [109]

apparently I need more cabbage... I wish my hair curled like that -__-;

Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]

^_^ This is too funny ^_^

Life / What is the best Polish book ever written. [23]

Wiedzmin saga?

Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]

lol
£ukasz Wałkerski
Anek too?

Language / Affectionate endings to Polish girls' names.... [30]


Werka, Wera, Weronia, Werunia
i've also heard Nisia Niśka or just Nika for names ending in '-nika' (mine's one of them)

Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]

i think that's pushing it a bit...
lol

Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]


i always associated him more with a dung pile... but yeah, phnetically jabba is close to żaba
<<< never noticed that. Now I wonder if the first film with Han talking to the guy trying to kill him might have PL in it too... he did work for Jabba...

Language / Rok vs. Lat [30]


yes it does... just antiquated and thus not normally/fully used.
I know my grandma will use roki when speaking of non-consecutive years
and I do believe I have still heard people use rokami on odd occasion...
"licze to rokami" I distinctly remember, though saying 'licze to latami' is just as correct (and I assume more widely used)

Language / Plural forms 2-4 and =>5 [30]


I do believe it would still be
8 odcietych palcow....

for a non-indicated # you might use palce... 'odciente palce' but if you mention many (or a pile of) you'd still switch to palcow 'kupa odcietych palcow'

Language / Plural forms 2-4 and =>5 [30]

1 palec
2-4 palce
5+ palców

Language / Rok vs. Lat [30]


od 4 lat

Law / Linux, Unix, and Open Source in Poland [119]

you'll love us for it ^_^
though just so you know, i have wine installed, but got used to openoffice to the point that i deleted the MSoffice I had installed

that vid is old, too... pre vista launch if I recall right (when vista was going through beta, like win 7 is now)

Also I use Amarok to deal with my ipod (full intergration) without having to use Itunes

Food / What's a good Polish meal for 4 people [15]

golombki = always a crowd pleaser.
In tomato sauce over mashed potatoes and you're done. ^_^

Law / Linux, Unix, and Open Source in Poland [119]


out of the box, maybe... as a majority of linux distributions caters first and foremost to people who want speed vs effects. However, with a few tweeks you can have amazing graphics. Go online to find themes that the OS asks if you want to install as soon as you DL them (wow, just like windows... except that it asks, first) and the options are limitless



first half is vista... thereafter it's ubuntu with an add-on (now I hear you don't even have to install it, just go to preferences ans switch these on... in what amounts to the ubuntu version of control panel, in a pulldown menu)

I started using ubuntu just as hardy came out... I installed it on a laptop and still the only thing I had to hunt down was a driver for my built-in camera. I'll admit that part was a pain... but yeah.

Seriously though, the multiple desktops alone (an out-of-the-box feature) make it far easier to work on than windows where you need to hunt for programs through window upon window

install WINE and poof... even office works on linux

Travel / What Things Are There To Do in Poland For Teens [8]

the nice thing about being a teen is going to school where you're surrounded by a near-constant group of people with whom you are assumed to make friends... a reality that you learn was quite handy when college comes around and you have to work harder to turn classmate into friend. I hear leaving college and working makes making friends even less hassle-free. Thus the need for grownups to look for places to have fun on forums such as these.

Usually 'what to do' if figured out in a group by people your age, thus the lack of pointers on such forums. Also, more often than not, doing something at someone's house proves more fun than engaging in organized entertainment.

Are you asking because you are moving to PL or are you already there and just find yourself bored?

Food / PIERÓG LUBELSKI = BUCKWHEAT PIE? [10]

not when my granny makes them
the bacon bits go outside with the onion... skwarki...
no ham though

Food / PIERÓG LUBELSKI = BUCKWHEAT PIE? [10]

I've had pierogi lubelskie... no loaf though, just the regular pierogi dough. Personally, I skip the mint... otherwise, yummy ^_^

News / Peculiar opinions about Poland [33]


Kentucky = state. These are entire countries we're talking about, and we SHOULD know... at least the continent. No one's asking you to know provinces or tribe locations in the unstable parts of the world.


That's cuz geography is concentrated on the US and world geo is more or less shimmied in as part of world history (yay, a whole year devoted to elsewhere... the rest of your education devoted to your state and country -__-;). Mine was stuck into social studies first year of HS, and consisted entirely of a coloring book we had to complete by certain deadlines. Yes, that taught us a LOT... -___-;


Our education system sucks... sorry... and I've suffered as a product of it. The parents have decided that educators are supposed to educate their children in everything from manners to academics. That has lead to kids having piss poor manners and an acutely weakened sense of family, but not a poor education.

The whole system is based on the idea that the pace should be set at such a level that everyone will learn... like the whole 'no child left behind' bull. Kids that should repeat a grade are passed along as not to congest the classes and lower a school's success rate. All this does is lower the educational standards till anyone who's half-conscious in class will be sure to pass with flying colors... anyone who actually pays attention is given an A 9/10 times. Even the whole 'honors class' thing doesn't make up for that, as by the time kids are separated they've already missed years of information other systems (like Poland) cram into their students and/or have learned that you don't need to study all that hard to get ahead and thus keep the pace only slightly faster.

Have you ever taken the SAT? My god... this is supposed to be the test colleges look at to determine your readiness and is supposed to reflect completion of most of your high school curriculum. This is a test that stresses subjects covered and forgotten by the time most entered junior high (6th grade). It's a total and utter joke.

Here kids practically don't know chemistry exists till junior or senior year of HS. How well can we possibly understand this stuff after one academic year of study, where they introduce a new symbolic language, new rules and concepts that have never even been hinted at before? At least physics is somewhat intuitive (to the point where i never more than half-listened to my teacher that year, after he spent over two hours explaining the amazing concept that magnets attract... honors physics, mind you).

From what my Polish friends tell me, a good deal of my first year of undergrad was all stuff they had long since covered (sometimes in more detail) in Liceum.

Life / What do you do for fun in poland? [15]

^ horseback riding is something I'm looking forward to picking up again after I move...

Life / Styles in Poland: What do people wear? [65]

-__-;
something tells me I'll be in for a major depression upon moving there. My cousins can all pass for models and beyond the height difference (5'4") I'm on the hefty side >_<

USA, Canada / WHY SO FEW POLISH RESTAURANTS IN AMERICA? [44]


I think that's part of granny's job description, and yeah, they're awesome for always making stuff ^_^