Genealogy / Kintop surname [8]

The original German name was probably spelt Köntopf (ö is often spelt oe when the letter ö is not available). Meaning obscure.

Language / TELEPHONE GENDER WOES? [11]

How can one neutrally say:
Czy może Pan/Pani mi powiedzieć...
Czy Pana/Pani aparat ma tarczę czy klawisze?
Kto w Pańskiej/Pani (Waszej might be an option here?!) firmie zajmuje się tym lub tamtym?

News / IS NOBLE WINNER SZOSTAK POLISH? [68]

Oct 14, 09, 23:01 - Thread attached on merging:
SZOSTAK REACTIVATION: POLISH ROOTS ASCERTAINED!

Althouhg the original thread has been closed down by our moderator, I have since obtained info re Szostak's Polish roots. An acquaintance of mine has contacted him and Szostak said his grandfather had come from Poland but he himself has little knowledge about his Polish heritage.

Language / TELEPHONE GENDER WOES? [11]

Caps lock + laziness. When I got nearr the end and looked up and found only caps, I was too lazy to re-type the whole thing the normal way. Sorry about that. This was not intentional.

Language / Slang words like man, dude [29]

There is a very fine line between slang and colloquial speech. Slang either comes and goes or becomes colloquial. Such words as dude, bloke, chap, guy are probably classifiable as colloquial but not long were very slangy.

In Polish, jegomość once was slang for bloke but now is on the archaic side, but gość is still used.
Fajny has had quite a long lifespan but still is slang. So is cool in English.
But klawy and swell are not heard all that often anymore.

Language / TELEPHONE GENDER WOES? [11]

Indeed, some questions can be rendered neutral and impersonal, but not all:
Could I ask for YOUR cellphone number?
Where does YOUR brother work? Do YOU personally know anyone in the the accounting dept? Could I leave the parcel for Mr Kwiatkowski with YOU?

Language / Slang words like man, dude [29]

What about facet as in "Słuchaj facet!"

Life / Polish funerals-no coffins inside a church ?? [5]

Totally untrue! Every Catholic burial incldues a mass during which the coffin on a carafalque stands in front of the main altar. This may be at the parish church of the deceased or a cemtery chapel, as the family prefers.

Food / AMERICANO COFFEE IN POLAND? [14]

Po turecku is a misnomer, because the real Turkish coffee is made in a special long-handled pot and the ground cofee and water (often suagr added) comes to a boil. What Poles call po turecku is simply steeped coffee that is never cooked.

USA, Canada / Can you order Oscypek in the US? [25]

Any names or addresses?

Merged: US POLISH CHEESE IMPORTER?

Anyone know of an importer in the US who imports Polish sheep's milk cheese oscypek to America? According to some reports I have heard, oscypek does not conform to US health specifications. Any truth to that?

USA, Canada / Can you order Oscypek in the US? [25]

Merged: OSCYPEK (POLISH CHEESE) IN AMERICA?

Anyone know where oscypek (Polish sheep's-milk cheese) can be obtained in the USA: importer, distributor, wholesaler, retail outlets?

Genealogy / Fathers name Szulc [6]

SZULC - The German word Schultheiß (hamlet chief or village mayor) was the source of the Polish adaptation sołtys (same meaning). However, in dialectic German the term was Schulze and that form evolved into a surname spelt Schulze, Schultz and Schulz.

Its Polonised version Szulc is quite popular in Poland, in fact around 25,000 Poels use that surname. The biggest concentrations are in northern Poland's Gdańsk adn Bydgoszcz areas. Without knowign the area of Poland if not the exact locality your ancestor hailed from, it may be well nigh impossible even for a professional geenalogist to track down your roots. But good luck anyway!

Life / Communion, why do only half of church-goers in Poland take it? [41]

Communion services take place in different Chrisitian churches. The difference is that it is viewed as simply a symbolic memento of the Last Supper. Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believe in transubstantiation, ie that bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ. It is therefore sacrilegous to ingest the Eucharist into a sin-stained body that is not in the state of sancrifying grace.

Genealogy / Agencje detektywistyczne - Tracking down people in Poland [10]

Gazeta Wyborcza is your best bet. It has local editions across Poland.

History / Polish Christian survivors of WWII oppression tell their stories [4]

This site deals with the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust: holocaustforgotten.com

History / The Battle of Vienna - Poland helped save Europe [57]

With the benefit of hindsight most every failure can be explained as a blunder. The point is when things are happening about one and quick decisions need to be taken, it is usually difficult to accurately predict how things will turn out.

The cowardly Czechs played ball with the Nazis and Reds and their country was not destroyed. I wonder if the London-based Polish Govt in Exile somehow knew that Poland would be betrayed by its allies at Yalta and Potsdam and was in for 45 years of Soviet enslavement, would they have called for the Uprising nonetheless.

History / The Battle of Vienna - Poland helped save Europe [57]

Poland saved Europe from invading godless hordes on several occasions:
- in the 13th century at the Battle of Legnica - the Polish leader Bolesław was killed in battle, but the thrust of the Tatar invasion of Europe was broken.

- The Battle of Vienna is obvious
- the 1920 Mriacle of the Vistula routed the Bolshevik hordes trying to sppread their communist poison throuhgout Europe
- although not a one-off encounter, Polish Poznań in 1956, 1968 student disturbances, worker riots in 1970 and 1976 and the Solidarność revolution all set the stage for the overthrow of the iron curtain after 1989.

Language / POLISH ETHNIC PEJORATIVES [23]

I think szkop came about to poke fun at the large and deep German army helmets whose shape reminded Poles of a cow-milking bucket (skop, szkop, szkopek, szkopik). They were nonetheless far safer than the skimpy, shallow British helmets which left the neck exposed.

English nicks include: Kraut (from sauerkraut), Jerry (a play on German), Hun (invading hordes), square head (typical of German Nordics) and Dutchman (through confusion with Deutsch)

Language / Osram - Misnomer that means, "to poop" in Polish? [17]

No es verdad! It was the Chevy Nova that didn't go over in Latin america. 'No va' means it doesn't run.

Life / Getting married in Polska - some advice required about mixing traditions [27]

There are countless Polish wedding traditons, some regional, but the basic ones are the following:

PARENTAL BLESSING: if all four parents are not present, deceased, etc., an uncle, aunt, godparents or other older rellive can fill in. At the bride's home the couple kneel as the parents bestow their blessing and sprinkle them with holy water.

NUPTIAL AT CHURCH: the officiating clergyman will know what to do.

BREAD & SALT WELCOME: at the entrance to the wedding-party venue the bride and groom are greeted with bread, salt and vodka/wine on a tray.

MONEY DANCE: male guests pay for a chance to dance with the bride; in today's feminist era, female guests get to dance with the groom. The collected cash is cradle money for the future offpsirng.

BECAPPING/UNVEILING: the bride's veil is ritually removed and a traditonal matron's cap is plaed on her head amid the singing of traditonal songs, signifying her passage from maidenhood (virignity?) to wifehood.

There are many games of recent vintage whcih the band or wedding oragnisers can conduct.

Life / Doda - Nie daj sie [11]

How about: Hang in there!

Life / The Elderly and their Psyche in Poland. [20]

Like all traditons, respect for ther dead in whatever form is a matter of prevailing convention. Someone who does not provide his loved one with what is generally regarded in a given community as a suitable tomb enclosure may be ostracised by his peers as disprespective or even downright mean. Many if not most people are concerned about what others think of them. That applies to most everything. How many younger folk pretend to like sushi, techno, certain clothes and pastimes because of peer pressure. It's not accpeted in many circles not to like something regarded as trendy and cutting egde.

Food / Gloria Jeans Coffee's Warsaw [13]

American-style coffee popular in Turkey? Almost like taking coals to NewCastle or selling snow to Eskimos!!!

Genealogy / GLAZOWSKI RELATIVES,ORIGIN,WRZOSY,TORUN [4]

Sep 19, 09, 21:30 - Thread attached on merging:
CZOBOT G£AZOWSKI ŻYDACZEWSKI SZEJNOWSKI FIWEK SZUBA

CZOBOT - padded-top boot

G£AZOWSKI - toponymic nick from Głazów (Rockville)

ŻYDACZEWSKI - toponymic nick from Żydaczew or Żydaczewo (Jewtown)

SZEJNOWSKI - possibly patronymic nick from 'szejne-morejne' (humorous saying for a Jew who had achieved Polish noble status)

FIWEK - possibly a variant of fifak (clever guy, sharpie), adapted fromt he German adj. pfiffig (clever)

SZUBSKI - possibly from szuba (old-style fur-lined cloak)

Food / Recipe for Polish potato noodle stew/soup/meatball [11]

Don't śląskie have to include potato starch, whilst pyzy do not? But probably there is no hard and fast rule, as Polish cooks like to experiment and have long been known to make do and improvise.