Life / Dogs in Poland - why do we keep them? [28]

Amongst some people, it's to give some cowards a sense of strength, something they can't find within themselves. Let's intimidate some people with a Rottweiler or Dobermann, see how manly we are as potato/egg-headed losers without a cause.

How disrespectful to animals!!

Life / How often do you think Poles smile :) [58]

Smiling is a big deal, PP. Intimidated if a woman doesn't smile, co ty pieprzysz? It takes more energy to frown than to smile. You can debate that one with me if you choose to do so. It's all about timing, not having a perpetual stoned grin on ya.

PP, why are icebreakers/warmers so important in teaching? Why do you think I and many other teachers choose not to skip them? It sets the tone for the lesson. Smiling makes for a good, light-hearted lesson. Not knowing the person is even more reason to smile, to alleviate any tension and get things off on a positive footing.

We are not talking about insincere American false/fake staff in customer service here. I'm talking about real people with real humanity.

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

How about scrambled eggs on bacon or with butter, served with a fatty bread roll? Super tasty for sure but calorific.

Life / How often do you think Poles smile :) [58]

Where is the concept of humanity, though, especially with reacting to foreigners? You want to signal your intentions that you mean no harm and have no problems. For example, a really nice middle-aged man opened the door for me with a smile. My head was in the clouds and I wasn't particularly happy. At that moment, I immediately woke up and returned the smile. It's energising and is the basis of interaction, it drops the barriers.

Life / How often do you think Poles smile :) [58]

I think there is confusion as to the application of the word, hospitality. When I use the word, I'm thinking of serving at home. I've been to Zakopane and the hospitality in restaurants is good but you have to ask yourself why.

Life / How often do you think Poles smile :) [58]

I think it is generally the case that Poles don't serve with a smile, bardziej na odpierd*l się. Torny is just using his eyes, not bitc*ing. He is answering the thread.

Life / How often do you think Poles smile :) [58]

Dochodzę, dochodzę, then comes the smile :)

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

Posrać is the perfective form and osrać imperfective

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

Japan has some bad things like beef and tenpura. Sukiyaki/teriyaki and generally yakitori are high fat. Even noodles can be fried, like yakisoba.

Poland has many healthy options but they are universal and not Polish.

Anyway, sleep is healthy so I'm off. Gnite y'all

News / Exploitation of Poles working abroad [30]

I've seen needles being used to stab but not kill. Rage is a terrible thing and people should intervene before that kind of thing happens. Otherwise, it just goes on and on and I've seen that too. It's hard when you know the person, a HUGE dilemma then.

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

They eat in small doses and go to the gym a fair bit. Their metabolism must be better.

News / Exploitation of Poles working abroad [30]

Hmm...a motley crew :( It's tragic when it comes to that but that's life. I've seen all manner of things in my life but nothing quite as extreme as that.

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

That's McD's you're thinking of ;) I was estimating. WAAAAY above what I need. I barely get near 1000kcals per day. 800 is more than enough. I eat tuna and salads, sardines recently too. That keeps it at 800 tops.

News / Exploitation of Poles working abroad [30]

Good point. Sometimes it's worth sacrificing cash for enjoying your work. I worked for 3.71 pounds back in 1996. I loved cutting grass, tho. My stomach was as toned as it has ever been. Too much of the good life has turned that around :(

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

Pierogi can be unhealthy. In a popular milk bar here, you get 7 pierogów and they are dripping with fat. 250kcal per pierogi. Also, in Gazdówka, they are fried and there is about 350kcal in each, you get 6 pierogów.

Bigos is hardly low carb either.

News / Exploitation of Poles working abroad [30]

230PLN, what? 2300 you mean? How could this happen? I thought truck drivers got reasonable wages here.

Work / Working in Poland as foreigner [6]

Maybe start a welcome gippo campaign :)

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

One of the funniest pair of names I've seen lately was in Tallinn. They have 2 national beers, Saku and Le Coq. Saku Le Coq sounds like how a Frenchman would say it ;) ;)

Love / Are all Polish women the same..... [81]

I see very little variety tbh. Different faces, same opinions on so many things. How's the cloning going, SeanBM? ;)

News / Exploitation of Poles working abroad [30]

You have to keep regular tabs on your income, otherwise unannounced deductions can creep in. Life is expensive enough without some jacker swindling you.

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

It sounds like 'about sh*t' but it isn't. It means to sh*t on sb or not care. Zesrałem się is shat myself, LOL

Food / Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? [119]

Some of the food typifies some of the spirit here, bland and listless. However, I think that Poles eat a lot of veggies. I usually have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and loads of other veggies. I often see Poles snapping up some good deals at veggie stalls.

There is a fair amount of salt and fried stuff here, tho. Bigos has a lot of salt and it can be fried up. There is too much meat around.

I think that the Poles will take top spot from the Scots for the highest incidence of coronary heart disease. We imposed the smoking ban in pubs 3.5 years ago and that's where many formerly smoked. Look for changes.

News / POLAND'S POPULATION IS SHRINKING... [62]

Don't believe all stats that you read. The rate of births of Poles in the UK was pretty high. There is no cause for alarm, unlike in Japan where many men are losing contact with their emotions and pursuing virtual options.

Food / Who drinks fruit juices in Poland? Best Polish juice makers? [25]

Good choice. My fiancee bought some tonight. Not a patch on Ribena but good nonetheless.

News / Western rationalism vs Polish (slavic) comfort [17]

Relaxed, in what way? This conflicts with what an advert says, that Poles are more and more stressed with work and other commitments. Some are more relaxed and some are more stressed. Some are just great pretenders.

Life / Scammed in Poland again [49]

I don't want to be too harsh as I know that to errr (sic) is human :) Still, a deep breath and a final once over wouldn't have gone amiss. For his sake too, he could've got some vindictive cnut that could have taken him to court. Still, he's doing it again for free as we pointed out the correction. Translation is tough at times.

Life / Scammed in Poland again [49]

How else would you propose to authenticate a document, delphi? Stamps and signature seem to be standard practice. In Japan, they have a honko which is a personal seal. They are workable in practice and function just like a stamp does.

Travel / zloty or Euro [33]

Bring back Bubba!! The man was a barrel of laughs, a straight talker. We are edging ever closer to the Euro here but I hope there's more resistance.

The House of Commons in Whitehall was forever debating it. The fudging of the convergence criteria was all we ever heard for a while.

The Poles are not ready for the Euro. It will benefit the rich here but shaft the poor.

Life / Scammed in Poland again [49]

Exactly. Besides, paper, like information, becomes invalid and obsolete very quickly these days, depending on what field you are in. As Mick Jagger once sang, 'who wants yesterday's papers?' (Yesterday's Papers, an early Stones number)

Life / Scammed in Poland again [49]

Interesting topic. I have been cheated by schools but I made damn sure to sort it out, pronto. Others didn't and they ended up with nothing, having to quit rather than take court action.

Bloody slack feckers! I've just this very moment seen a classic. If I were a pig, I'd take the translator to court. He's fuc*ed up my paper. All he had to do was write 00.05 as the time of birth and check it before giving it back to my fiancee. Not 05.00.

It's all about 'oh, I have this qualification, this very high level of education, blar dee blar'. WB is so right, they need to pull the finger out with this elitist crap. I've checked 10-15 pages of full text and maybe made one mistake in proof-reading activities. He had one page with only a few details to translate and botched it up.

I'm gonna take him to task and see how good he really is. I'm gonna get some really hard Polish to translate, words I know that are tough. It'll be worth paying for to see how he does, see if he even understands articles etc etc.