Genealogy / MIECZYSŁAW IS MIECISLAUS IN ENGLISH, NOT MITCHELL [4]

I presume it would have to be Ceslava, although I can't recall ever seeing that form in print. Now I seem the recall there was a Bł. Czesława, so it must be Blessed Ceslava.

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]

What about words such as piekarnia, ciastkarnia, suszarnia... is the gen. pl. piekarń or piekarni?

Life / PATRIOTISM -- POLISH OR OTHERWISE? [23]

I've heard it said of the Welsh that they pray on their knees on Sunday and on their neighbours the rest of the week!

Language / What do you find difficult about learning Polish? [98]

Re vocabulary building, when you've got a sprare mo, take out a piece of paper and write such headings as: family members, emotions, sport, buildings, fruits vegetables, domesticated animals, wild animals, irds, motor vehicles, occupaitons, bodies of water, nationalities, countries, capitals of countries, etc., etc, -- the sky is the limit.

Then under each heading write as many Polish words as you know. This will show you where you are the strongest and where you need the most work.

BTW, this can also be an itneresting "parlour game" when in a group of people learning Polish (in class or informal social setting). You can have participants write 5 or 10 or moo words in each category (the no. of categories need not include all he above). The firt to finish wins (a Polish prize).

Life / PATRIOTISM -- POLISH OR OTHERWISE? [23]

Speaking at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on the 90th annviersary of Poland's re-emergence in 1918, President Lech Kaczynski said: "Nationalism and, even more so, chauvisim, derives from hatred. Patriotism derives from love, from a sense of identification with a community, from a community of culture and history. Such patriotism was needed then (90 yrs ago), and it is equally needed today."

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

Aren't Polish city codes 2-digit numbers, so 607 would be wrong?
Warsaw is 48 22, Kraków 48 12, Gdańsk 48 58 for example.

News / Walesa excluded from Polish national gala [38]

If invited, would Wałesa have shown up at the presidential gala? Or would the media have had another field day speculating on the whys and wherefores of him not attending. Wałęsa has been known to solitarily commemorate successive Solidarity August anniversaries a day earlier just to avoid bumping into Kaczyński. The whole scene is obscene! ONLY IN POLAND!?

Genealogy / Need help with new surname, DOLENGEWICZ [4]

Dolengewicz looks to be a respelling or misspelling of Dołęgiewicz. Statistical proof for that hypothesis is provided by the fact that there are 161 people in Poland named Dołęgiewicz, only 7 who spell it Dołengewicz and 25 who use the Dołengiewicz version. Białystok and environs are the name's major stronghold.

Genealogy / Need info on my Russianized/Ukrainianized last name. [25]

It might have originally meant something like Paulville or Paulboro.

Language / British/American slangy words used in Poland [6]

wow, yes-yes-yes, sorry (also polonised diminutive: sorki), f*ck

Language / Been living in Poland for a few years, but only know the basic Polish [4]

Totasl immersion! Arrange breaks to get away from, it all for several days, a week, month, whatever, where nary an English wrod can ge heard. During such breaks plunge into the hinterlands and stay clear of Anglophone tourist traps.

Food / Question on Polish sausage recipe [6]

It must be an individual take-off not rooted in Polish culinary tradition. In America some people fill pierogi with that ultra-mega-unPoilish cheddar cheese. Does that make them traditonally Polish?!

Genealogy / I need help with the surname "Wandke" (West Pomerania) [13]

Wandke may be a German name in that it is used by Germans but probably not etymologically.

Genealogy / My grandmothers: Zbysheski and Simpsi. [7]

Zbyszewski is common enough and probably originated as a nickname for the son of someone called Zbyszko (Zbigniew) or hailing from Zbyszewo.
The other misspelling is hard to even guess at. Perhaps it was Szymski, in which case it might have meant "son of Szymek" (Simon) or an inhabitant of Szymanów.

Genealogy / I need help with the surname "Wandke" (West Pomerania) [13]

German names ending in -ke originated as adapatations of Slavonic-Pomeranian and/or Polish words in -ka. Often the proof of that is that in German a name such as Lipke has no meaning whilst the original lipka meant little linden tree.

The same hiolds tru efor -au ending German place-names. Zittau is meaningless but Żytawa (from which it was derived) could be translated as Ryeville, Ryeshire, Ryeton, etc.

Even Pomerania reinforces that lingusitic process. German Pommern is a mere translation which has no innate meaning, but Pomorze (the Polish original) means the region "along the sea".

Getting back to Wandke, that name exists in Poland. Other versions include Wandka, Wądka, Wendka, Wędka et al.
Incidentally, a name's lingusitic origin is not the same as the nationality of its current bearers. There are many people in Poland named Szulc and Schultz who would be insulted if you called them German, although the name originally meant village mayor (Polish: sołtys). And there are numerous Kowalskis and Nowaks in German who do not feel Polish in the least.

Life / COFFIN PHOTOS FROM POLAND? [11]

How are things in other countries? The Irish are similar to Poles in many ways. I wonder whether such funeral photos are common in Ireland, or were at one time?

Language / Polish Leter Confusion [13]

Waclaw Wolynski
County Kowalski
Post Office Kaszewice
Lumber Czeremacha
Rucinski Antoni

Why the two names? That is not typical. Is this the return address of Wacław Wołyński or Antoni Ruciński? If they shared the same postal address, their names would be on the top line as: Wacław Wołyński i Antoni Ruciński or

Wacław Wołyński, Antoni Ruciński

It originally probably was:
Powiat Kowal
Poczta Kaszewice
wieś Czeremacha

This indicates that the village of Czeremacha is a hamlet without its own PO, so post arrives via the PO in nearby Kaszewice. A powiat is a district which some briticise into county, but in Polish a county is a hrbastwo (from hrabia = count).

Life / HUMOROUS POLISH TOASTS [19]

Also: Za tych, co na morzu! (To those at sea).
Or (untraslatable): Żeby nam się dobrze działo, a że działo to armata, aby nam się armaciało!

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]

Slovakia was allegedly protected from the crisis because it is about to adopt the euro. What about Britian? it has remained outside the euro zone. Is it in that much worse shape than France ofr Germany?

Genealogy / Need info on my Russianized/Ukrainianized last name. [25]

For what it's worth, Paszkowski might have emerged as a patronymic nickname indicating Paulie's kid. Paszko is an old Polish hypocoristic form for eitehr Paweł or Pakosław. But it could have also been a toponymic nickname from such places as Paszków, Paszkowice, Paszkówka and others. Paczkowski is a possible variant spelling. There are also localities in Poland such as Paczkowo and Paczków, so Paczkowski could have origianted to indicate the bloke from Paczków.

News / Polish car designers [11]

Those car designs are impressive indeed. Too bad a Polish national motor industry ceased to exist with the demise of the Polonez. Today's car factories are all foreign owned, produce foreing-designed vehicles and siphon most of their profits back to their home countries.

This is also the case in Britain, once a major automomotive stronghold, where the Japanese, Americans and Germans hold sway.

Genealogy / Wilk coat of arms [16]

There is no Polish coat of arms with Wilk as its crest-name, however there were nobles amongst bearers of the Wilk surname entitled to use the Radwan coat of arms.

Life / HUMOROUS POLISH TOASTS [19]

These rhyme in Polish or involve some word-play, whilst in English they are meaningless otr fall flat. But here goes anyway:
--Splash it out in your silly snout.
-- Let's drink up or we'll all doze off.
-- To the health of the beautiful ladies and my wife...
-- Johann Sebastian BACH (bach means boom, bang or in this context "down the hatch")
-- To the four corners (of the room) and the stove as No. 5 (when the imbibers have run out of things to drink to)