USA, Canada / Rationing food in some US-based stores [32]


That's what may be on the news today in the US. Here in Canada they are pounding India's food crisis, where wheat is the staple food. Last week they were doing Mexico (corn). Food riots in Haiti pop in the news every now and then.

As for rice, they may not use the actual rice for biofuels but I guess there may be some domino effect.

Also, the organizations supplying food to the poor worldwide will try to supply whatever they can. If they can't get corn or whet cuz it's used to propel cars then they will try to get rice and cause its shortage this way. This will cause the price of rice to go up and so on.


I missed that.
Still, Poland abounds in cement. Always has. My guess is it would be silly to ship it from North America. Kinda like send flowers from Chicago to Wólka Wielka. Ain't gonna happen. Someone will cut a bunch of roses in a hothouse that is much closer to Wólka Wielka than Chicago.


He can't decide whether he is a web master, or a censor.

USA, Canada / Rationing food in some US-based stores [32]


I doubt the cement was actually shipped form the US. Instead commies sold it via one of the scams such as Pewex, i.e. it was available, but only for hard currency.

USA, Canada / Rationing food in some US-based stores [32]

Not really commie situation. Quite the opposite.

This is the result of the idiotic and irresponsible move towards biofuels. We are now subsidizing the SUV gas hogs. According to Time Magazine, the amount of grain needed to produce biofuel to fill a tank in a SUV is the same as is needed to feed one person for 365 days.

Life / What do Polish people think of burning the national flags? [58]


Sure it is much more complex than burning a piece of fabric but it often brings results.
Now, can you give us some examples where an instance of flag burning caused a positive change in some legislation, or human condition? (please note that inhaling fumes of burning fabric is not a positive change in human condition)

Feedback / Translation Threads - where did most of them go? [23]


Woohoo! That is not a problem then! They can restore the data from the backup.

Admin, you do regular backups, don't you?

Feedback / Translation Threads - where did most of them go? [23]


I'm sure he does. But I'm not always sure he understands the consequences ;)

Love / BLACK GUYS POLISH WOMEN [809]


The reasons are simple when you look carefully at the list you proposed. Let's see:

skin color - adaptation to climate, less sunny climates require white skin so that sufficient amount of vitamin D is produced (white skin allows for better penetration of sun rays).

culture - this doesn't appear to have anything to do with IQ. Similar myths, similar legends. So what that Africans believe that having sex with a virgin cures HIV. Many whites believe gays are the reason of HIV.

religious beliefs - same difference. Religious beliefs are regarded by some as dumb, whether the believer is white or black. After all, to an atheist there is no difference between the belief in Santa Claus, Jesus, or a thousand year old witch living in an old baobab tree

physical make up - again, adaptation to the external conditions. Cold climate - bulky body to keep the heat in, hot climate - slim body to help get rid of the heat. A fools trancend climates. So do smart people.

Intelligence is also a skill, to some extend. Regardless where you go, various ethnicities survive in the conditions in which they have to live - from the Arctic to the hottest places in Africa and elsewhere. Some manage to survive even in their burbs with the oil prices hitting all time highs, and withe driving restrictions imposed by their parents. They'd probably be leading fools in the streets of Soweto, of the wilderness if Nigeria. If they survived more than 24 hours, that is.

News / Wojtek Cejrowski gives up his Polish citizenship! [19]

Nope, he won't. People kidnapped by Ecuadorian thugs do not have the capabilities to apply for pretty much anything.

Ecuador... that's a good one :)))

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]


The heater element is inside the machine. Sneaky, huh?

But hey, you got those in the US too, and you call them front loaders - touted as the latest and greatest in washing machines. They've been available in Poland for some 30 years now. You will appreciate them when you compare the result of washing whites in such machines as compared to those American pieces of junk requiring bleach and two million gallons of water per cycle.

It's like magic, man!


Building codes. Different than in the US but nevertheless codes. Doors open outwards can hit people walking on the sidewalk. But then, Americans don;t walk all that much, so you may not understand.


They do. It's you.


But,unlike in North America, after an average storm a house is still where it was before it. And it's even in one piece.

Life / What do Polish people think of burning the national flags? [58]


Mali, you keep on mixing up the terms. A state is not always the same as the government.


Not really. People's rights for instance do not say what you cannot do but rather what you have the right to do. Go through labor laws in Canada for instance. You may also look at the Canadian Constitution. Other such documents will be similar. Plenty of "you have the right to" in those.


You may argue otherwise on some philosophical level, but by law they don't, and governments have been successfully sued if they caused a loss of life.


Wouldn't burning of the images of the government officials be more appropriate? What you are suggesting is that we should actually give national symbols away to a bunch of thugs, allow them to own those symbols, and then burn them?

It's almost like locking up a car thief in your car and then pushing the car to the lake to punish the thief. Plain silly. May as well save the car, eh?

Food / I can't handle it anymore...I'm cooking curry... [34]


That sounds yummy!

I've seeded a few varieties of chili for my garden this year. I am trying to get Habanero chili going too.

Life / What do Polish people think of burning the national flags? [58]


You are freely mixing concepts. Is it the State, the government, or the nation?

Let's look at Poland. The flag has been basically the same for over 200 years, while the governments and even the status of the Polish statehood changed during that time. Who did the flag represent if there was no Polish government, or Poland as a State?


Weak argument.
Most nations also have laws what you can do with other people - murder, prostitution, child abuse, adoption laws etc, are all regulated. Does that mean people's lives belong to the state?

And what about flags of nations who do not have an independent State, or government? Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and a host of others were in that situation. Who do or did those flag represent when there was no state or government?

Our perceptions may differ because of a generation that sets us apart, and perhaps the culture, even though we are both Polish.

I don't want to sound too dramatic, but for me as a person born and raised in Poland, whose history has been so difficult in the last couple of centuries, it is not acceptable to burn the Polish flag. Thousands gave their lives for the right to display it. IMO this is similar to desecrating graves.

USA, Canada / Zubrowka vodka in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver? Mazowiecka Zytnia? [15]


That's Żołądkowa gorzka. Lousy name, great vodka.

Life / What do Polish people think of burning the national flags? [58]

Think again then.

Look at this symbol containing Polish flag:



Guess what. That flag did not represent the Polish government. It was used against it. It represented Poland and Polish patriots who were fed up with Poland's government.

Real Estate / Don't buy a house in Poland if you are British!!! Corruption!!! [67]


It depends.

It reminds me of a joke a Jewish friend of mine told me:

Itzhak accepted a bet of $100 that he'll pay Moshe if he eats a pile of crap. The bet went through, the crap was eaten the $100 changed hands. Now, the Itzhak who lost the $100 felt a little poorer so they made a bet again, but this time the Moshe was to pay up if the Itzhak ate crap too. Again, the bet worked and $100 went back to its original owner.

Struck by a moment of reflection, Itzhak remarked, "you know Moshe, we both ate a pile of crap each and in the end we are where we were without eating it."

"I know", replied Moshe. "But at least we kept the economy going".

Love / Polish mail order brides? [89]

That's a possibility but there may be shipping and handling fees, and the merchandise has to be returned unused and in more expensive packaging.

Make sure you have the proof of sale.

Life / What do Polish people think of burning the national flags? [58]


It's OK to criticize the government but does the flag really represent the government? Perhaps in feudal times it did.

IMO the flag represents the members of a nation, including those who burn the flag, and patriotism isn't necessarily the same as supporting one's government.

Real Estate / Why are homes in Poland more expensive than in the USA? [27]


I worked in Great Neck, NY long time ago. School tax alone was $10K a year in late 1980's. Although admittedly, it was a kinda ritzy area.

Love / Advice for an Irish girl meeting mother of Polish boyfriend [21]


In your profile it says "Speak Polish?: trocheczka"

It's so damn cute. I'm sure the meeting will go well.

Food / Packet soups recommended or not [32]

I use adamba.com "white borsch". Probably the only prepackaged Polish soup that tastes just like mom used to make it.

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


All I can say it good luck with your teaching career. You'll need it.

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


Parts of it. Apparently you haven't been to Manhattan. Some areas can be a pain in the butt to find :)


We have 10 pronouns in Polish. Some of them use the same verbal forms in some tenses.


Nobody wants to hide rules, but knowing all the possible forms of the word "to be" in Polish is still useless to the beginner.

After all, if you're so insist then just for 1st person, plural we should mention:

my jestesmy
my są
my som
my (no verb)

One might also expand the rules and "help" the learner by digging deeper into the historic forms of Polish, learning Russian and Old Church Slavonic. These are all helpful, aren't they?

Heck, why stop there. Proto Indo European might be useful too. And then, after 16 months of study we will be ready to learn 6 forms of the word "być" in one tense and fully understand where they come from. Except that why would a foreigner care if he is not a student of linguistics.


Polish-Canadian :)


I do. You're talking about teaching languages without any experience to back it :)

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


But that knowledge, unless you live in places like Manhattan, still won't help you get to the destination.

Polish is difficult without the help of your teaching techniques You are trying to make the learning of languages more difficult than it needs to be.

Oh, and btw. I am not English.

Language / (part 2) Polish Language Pronunciation - Sample Words and Phrases [311]


You're not.
"ę" sounds like e, en, em depending on the context.

There was a thread about Polish nasals here.

edit: found it:

https://polishforums.com/archives/2005-2009/language/abecadlo-alphabet-15142/

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


No. It's plainly silly.

History / Is Poland a Southern or Northern European country? [30]

Greenland is south of North Pole.

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


It seems that according to NieMota, the lesson on Polish "być" should start with a few in depth words on the Centum-Satem division :)

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


You certainly have a right to have an opinion but, as you stated, you are "not a language oriented person or teaching oriented", and it shows.


It's like asking for directions in a strange city. You ask how to get to a certain streeet and they tell you that you need to meander through a few dozens of others streets, the names of which are as strange to you as the destination.

Love / 5 ways to intimidate/ turn off a Polish or non-Polish men;) [93]

Now, that's a turnoff.
How can you treat a laptop like that??? ;)

Life / Do Polish people respect other cultures? [96]


But then it wouldn't be Poland.