UK, Ireland / Anti-Polish sentiment of England [253]


Don't forget that even tough we live in the XXI century we still have some animal instinct’s in our self’s. One of them is the territory thing. People tend to treat some parts of the land as their own and any new settler will always be regarded as a intruder, no matter of his skin color or even very similar background, there will always be a tension rising there. Personally I understand this Britons that feel intimidated by the new comers, but what I really find irritating is that some of them instead of saying "Hey, you lot are invading my life space and I don't feel particularly bloody jolly about it!" they are coming up with some ridicules lies about Poles, in order to make them look bad, and justify their hate towards them. :)

And just in cae people wouldn't overlook a very wise and significan't thought in this thread, I will quote it:

History / What does it mean to be Polish? [46]

What does it mean to be Polish?
Hmm.. It means that you don't have to feel guilty after drinking some vodka before 12 am! :)

But seriously there isn't just one definition of being Polish. After the end of WWII people that stayed in the borders of the new Poland were basically the "ethnic Poles", thus the perception of being Polish focused generally on the "blood" aspect. But it didn't always used to be like this.

In the times of the Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów (Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth) a Pole was a synonym for a noble man. After Poland and Lithuania joined the Union together the Lithuanian nobles interested to acquire the same rights as the polish noble class slowly started to “polonaise”(is there such a word in English? :( :) ) themselves, and in the end became in fact real Poles. The same situation happened with the rest of nobles from the incorporated new lands like today's Belarus, Ukraine, etc... They spoke polish, took polish customs, beliefs, etc and of course added something new from themselves to the whole picture. This people took and also contributed to the polish culture, so regardless of their roots they felt and in fact they were real Poles.

And what about the German settlers that eventually perfectly assimilated with Poles? I already wrote something about it somewhere in this forum, but I think it's worth repeating. If you would check the names of freedom fighters that fought with the Germans during the Wielkopolska Uprising yop would notice that there were many German sounding names.

Of course I agree that in order to understand the Poles of today you would have to have some sort of a contact with the country. But then again, who is more of a real Pole: a person that lives in Poland but actually knows more about cowboys and ninjas than about the history of their country or a person that lives abroad but still is genuinely interested in Poland and it's heritage?

History / What has Poland contributed to the Western civilisation? [69]

Hey, I remember this thread. I made my first post here... After that I decided to start participating in this forum. Ahh, the memories. :)

News / What are your 10 fave things about Poland? And 10 least favourite? [130]

Very well then lef. Here's my less favorite things:

1. Bureaucracy,

2. Wages could be better,

3. ZUS,

The rest are just small things like not free public toilets(1,5 zł isn't that much though), condition of many roads, the "końcówka" thing in stores, etc...but all this “problems” aren’t big nor extremely troublesome for me.


I totally agree with Guest-Vic in the post #54.

Travel / Why is Poland so Un-Sexy? [84]


That post was born after my short conversation with my much, much younger cousin. I got really frustrated because he appeared to know more about the history of USA rather than his own country. He doesn't have many hobbies or any passions and all his knowledge is usually taken from the movies. Thus my thought that he would get more interested in our country if it was more present in Hollywood productions, but not as a scenery but rather as a "main hero". I was just frustrated and exaggerated a little, but the guy is really “slow motion”. :) :)

I know that there wouldn't be any problems with shooting a film in Poland. Funny that you mentioned "Hostel" because there is a plan to shoot the third part of it in Poland. Of course they still haven't made the second part so everything might happen and it may change.

Genealogy / Luranc/Lorans surname [17]


Opalenica, Wielkopolska, about 40 km from Poznań.

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

Glad you enjoyed it VladG2... It came out a little bit to melodramatic… I didn't want to make it sound that way, but "alea iacta est"..

Travel / Why is Poland so Un-Sexy? [84]


I surely hope so. :)

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

I know... I'm not even trying to read this post again as my eyes water :) , and boys shouldn't cry! :)

Travel / Why is Poland so Un-Sexy? [84]

hehehehehe..... I had a felling that it wasn't the best idea to show my softer, more feminine side on this forum. :)

News / but where do they all come from...? [17]

Ha, the world is so small. :) I was buying food at the Sainsburys, alcohol from those Pakistani twins and were living at Princess Avenue. :) I miss this place. :(

Travel / Why is Poland so Un-Sexy? [84]


I have to admit that we are extremely rubbish at self-promotion. Sometimes I think that an average Pole knows more about the US of A than about their fatherland. It would be different if Hollywood would produce some movies about our country, but the probability that it will happen is fewer than none. :)


Why do I have a strange feeling that while writing this sentence, you were thinking about me Wroclaw? :)
Well, since I don't have the power to influence how Eastern Europeans are perceived, I will surprise you, and don't leave any comments on this subject. :)

Alright, alright, you got me....!!!!!!! :)

I’M NOT A GLOOMY NOR DWONRIGHT BOORISH PERSON!!!! :)

There… I’ve said it…

Ufff... Feels so much better now.... :)

Life / Worrying observation about Polish attitudes to lying and cheating [62]

We generally are rather mistrusting towards strangers.

Still I like your morals BubbaWoo. I also was thought that ones word is saint.


But cheating on exams actually doesn’t hurt anyone, maybe aside from the person that cheats. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that cheating on exams is something considered good by the teachers, parents and students themselves. It’s just that people generally treat it as a "small evil". Just like you said about the white lies.


I’m sure you wouldn’t even compare this kind of a lie to cheating on ones partner for example. Both are lies, but one of them isn’t as bad as the other. I know that’s just using double standards but that’s the result of our history. Oh, and one more thing, just because Poland is a catholic country doesn’t mean that there are only John Paul’s and Mother Teresa’s living in it. We are not that different form protestants you know. :)

PS: And just because cheating on exams is considered as a "small evil" doesn’t mean that all pupils cheat, and that those who actually cheat do it al the time. :)

Love / Rules for dating Polish girls [189]


I know that I am. :) But isn’t life about trying to fight your weaknesses. I always were up for a challenge. :)

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]


My mother couldn’t afford not to work when I was little, because it would be very difficult for us to get along. I never had any "Lego", "G I Joe's", "Transformers" and other stuff like that, but I also never run hungry nor never had any problems with lack of clothes, etc....

My mother is a working woman but at the same time a typical "matka polka". She didn't had the opportunity to have a higher education, nor never had time to develop her own hobby. She contributed her whole life to the family. She would skip buying anything for herself just that her children could go with the class for some kind of a trip, etc...

I must confess that I'm a very lazy person when it comes to doing some house work, but when I saw that woman coming back from work and immediately starting cleaning the house, washing the dishes, etc it really made my heart bleed. These days TV is promoting more self-centered life style, where number one priority is "I" rather than "you". My "matka Polka" showed me that giving more to your family and friends can also be very satisfying.

Some say that people search partners that have very similar traits to their parents. Actually I never thought about it until recently when I found out that my girlfriend aside that she is very intelligent, independent, and beautiful woman also has the best "matka Polska" characteristics. Those two women really motivate me to be a better person, and I wouldn’t want the “matka Polka” stereotype to vanish entirely. There is a side of it worth keeping.

PS: And I agree with iwona that they still exist here, predominantly among the poorer and less educated part of our society.

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]


This custom generally stop being proceed some time ago. It's only present among elderly people now. Very rarely by people in their 40's and 50's.


Never saw anything strange in it until I went shopping in the UK. For a moment I even thought to offer the cashier "końcówka" but I'm glad I didn't. I can only see the surprised look on his face with the eyes of my imagination. :)

Yeah, it can really be annoying.

News / What are your 10 fave things about Poland? And 10 least favourite? [130]

Syrena_04, Iwona and lef, thanks for the encouraging words. Always love to receive a compliment. :)


Than your love for Poland must be as big as the country itself. :)

Genealogy / Luranc/Lorans surname [17]

I like the history, very romantic. As for the surname, in my small town we had a priest called Lorenc. Sounds pretty similar to yours Lorans.

Genealogy / Luranc/Lorans surname [17]

Just because your surname doesn't sound Polish doesn't mean that your ancestors weren’t. There were a lot of German settlers that eventually assimilated perfectly into the Polish society, and took our culture and customs as theirs. Even my surname probably has some German connotations, but I certainly feel 100% Polish. If you had the chance to check out the surnames of the participants of The Wielkopolska Uprising against the Germans, you would notice that a lot of them had German sounding ones. :)

News / but where do they all come from...? [17]

London, Muswell Hill. Very nice neighborhood. They even have a Pub in a ex-Church building! Felt definitely strange at the beginning, but after few pints everything came back to normal! :) :)

Life / Worrying observation about Polish attitudes to lying and cheating [62]

Again, It's all because of our difficult history . (there he goes with the damn history again :) ).

We just have a very long tradition of fighting with the system and some rules that this system tries to enforce, starting with 123 years of living under the rule of Prussia(Germany), Austria and Russia, and then in the 20th century over 40 years of “communism”. In both situations school was just another form of the oppression used by our enemies and it just stayed in our genes that there's nothing wrong with cheating the system. Totally different rules are used towards people. If you lie a person or cheat on her/him it shatters your good opinion, and nobody wants that. For me this division is pretty obvious and really never had any problems to cheat on a test. Besides we don't use the word cheat but the word "ściągać"(anyone knows how to translate this into English :( ). I guess we use double standards when it comes to cheat on the test, but that doesn't mean that it's acceptable in our society to cheat and lie other people in real life. I hope that you will understand us better now.


And this is worth repeating, as it is very true.

Love / what the opposite sex looks for [38]


I try to follow my intuition, and I must say that I am not doing that bad. :)

Love / what the opposite sex looks for [38]


Also romantic, funny, spontaneous, generous, must have a passion of some sort, great in bed, sociable but also homebody, tough but also sweet, a bad boy and a good guy in one persone and what's most important, has to read her mind. :)

Of course this kind of specimens are impossible to find in nature, so it will be enough if there will be a sparkle between the woman and the man and the good qualities of his character outweigh the bad ones. :)

Work / Finding work in Poland as an Englishman [11]

Sure. Thanks for the advice and kind words. Starting to look for that radio right now! :)

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]


Me too. I mean I also didn't receive a warm beer in the UK, not that I'm English. :)


LO in Opalenica. Great times. No pressure at all. All were good people. Well almost all. :)

News / but where do they all come from...? [17]


From my observation generally Eastern Poland. While I was in the UK I met a lot of people from Rzeszów and it's surroundings. But these are only my observations not backed with any data.

Work / Finding work in Poland as an Englishman [11]

From my little observation there is a big demand for native English teachers in private schools. One of the reasons why I choose to learn at my present school was the fact that I can get a “magister” title after graduating and that there are English natives among the staff. Still haven't had a single lesson lead by one. :)

News / What are your 10 fave things about Poland? And 10 least favourite? [130]

OK, here is my list:

1. The quality of food: There’s no division into organic and “normal” food as everything here is organic. The veggies and fruits don’t always have the perfect size and shape, but that’s the way nature wanted it to be. Their taste is incomparably better to the taste of their pumped with chemicals perfectly shaped counterparts. Poland is probably one of the few places in Europe where tomatoes taste really like tomatoes. It’s a huge plus.

2. Polish cuisine! Still to be discovered by the westerners, something that will leave you with a lot of good memories. There’s a tendency now for the cooks to discover regional dishes which is very good news. Also when I’m saying polish cuisine I don’t think only about the dishes but also abot the unique polish products such as: smoked hames, large variety of sausages, kasznka, buczanka, wątrubki, salcesony, lots of polish cheeses, maślanki, kefiry, polish bread, deserts, pickled cucumbers (“po warszawsku”, “kiszone”, “po żydowsku”, itp), pickled mushrooms, surówki, polish quality beverages ( beer, vodka, nalewka and mead), etc… Some of this products you can find also outside of Poland, but never with the same taste.

3. Very interesting and tragic history which you can almost smell in the air walking the streets of Kraków, Gdańsk, £ódź, Wrocław, Szczecin, Kazimierz, Zamość, Przemyśl, etc… Beautiful castles in Książ (ment to be Hitler’s headquarters in Poland, with underground tunels, etc), Moszna, Bolkowo, £ańcut, Malbork, Kwidzyń, and the so called “orle gniazda” (Eagles nests) which basically means ruins of castles like Ogrodzieniec (my favourite place in Poland :) ), fortresses Boyen, or fortress in Kłodzko, The Międzyrzecz Fortification Region (Built in 1934-1938, it was the most technologically advanced fortification system of Nazi Germany and remains one of the largest and the most interesting systems of this type in the world), etc…. Many great characters like: Mieszko I, Bolesław Chrobry, Władysław Jagiełło, Stefan Batory, Jan III Sobieski, Koścuszko, Kazimierz Wielki, hetman Żółkiweski, Chodkiewicz, Zamoyski, Czarniecki, etc…To many to even to name.

4. Sarmatian culture of polish nobles, with all the unique customs, clothes, dances(like polonais, which was later very popular in Western Europe) and their residences called “dworki” spread all over the country.

5. Folklore of the common people! That includes clothes, dances( if someone will have the chance to see the “Mazowsze” or “Śląsk” group perform, don’t hesitate and go for it!), beliefs, customs, hospitality (“Guest in the house means God in the house”:) and demonology. Vampires, werewolves, strzygi, devils, etc… Very fascinating!

6. Very strong family ties and the whole atmosphere of holidays spend “the Polish way”! Absolutely love it!

7. Literature! Sienkiewicz, Lem, Sapkowski, Szymborska, Tetmajer, Bursa, Mickiewicz, etc…

8. Countryside! Don’t have to have the biggest mountains and the deepest lakes to enjoy a countryside. Baltic looses with “Mediterranean Sea” but still walking on the “Molo” during a storm is a great experience for me. :)

9. Weather! Beautiful sun in the summer, snow in the winter, melancholic autumn and my favorite season, spring, where everything comes back to life! What else could one possibly need? Ok, maybe the winter could end in January, but you can’t have it all, right? :)

10. Great audience! Poles react very lively during rock, hip hop, reggae, etc concerts! Just thinking about last U2 concert gives me goose bumps.

There’s so many beautiful and stunning things about Poland that I wanted to share with the members of this forum, but instead I was wasting my time arguing about polish immigrants, commie block’s and Polish miserable faces. It’s really frustrating and I really fell tired. Sure Poland isn’t perfect, but it also isn’t all bad. It has it’s brighter side about some people seem to forget. It’s sad really.

Arrrggghhhh, you lied at the beginning of this thread when you said that you are still trying to figure out if “the glass is half full or half empty”. We all know that the answer for you is half empty. For me it’s half full. You also said that by heavy critic you are trying to help polish people open their eyes and do something constructive to improve their life. I don’t think that by taking some polish disadvantages and blowing them out of proportion you will achieve yur goal. You would help as more if you would go back from where you came from. I think that it would be better both, for us, and for you. And remember, “Co złego, to nie my!”.

Pozdrawiam. :)

UK, Ireland / Poles in GB: Why did you go - for money or something else? [53]

You beat me to it Wroclaw. :) Couldn't agree more with your opinion.

It's popular now in Poland to hate the Kaczyński brothers. It seems that it would be impossible to find a single person on the street that would acknowledge voting for PIS party. Never before, in the history of III Rzeczpospolita did a party had so bad press from the day one of their "rule". My opinion of our present government and the Kaczyński brothers is very critical, but I wouldn't call them dangerous ultra-catholic nationalists. The word incompetent springs to my mind, but that’s a topic for a different discussion.

Life / Are Polish People Racist? [1037]


Throwing stones at houses isn't cool. :)