Feedback / Today's Polish Name Day - New Feature [41]


This should prevent people from being given silly names like you see in the credits of Hollywood films.
I mean, who calls their son River? (No offence meant by that, of course).

There was never a St. Britney! Kylie for sainthood, anyone? (Mayeb Feb 29th - so it doesn't clash with any pre-existing ones).

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]


I believe that to be the case. The new Mini looks rubbush compared to the old one - a (British) design classic of the 20th century.

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]


There are new Minis being put together in the UK these days (I think).

There are foreign companies building cars here (Nissan, Ford, etc.)
Another point is that although companies may be 'foreign', not all of their investors are.

Why am I talking about this? I can't stand cars. I don't drive, I can't drive. I don't know what any of them are. If someone asks me 'What kind of car is that?' I usually resort to saying 'It was a big blue one.' or 'I don't know but it sort of looked like quite a fast one.'

Tractors? That's another story...

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

I am tempted to copy out a verse or two of Chamber Music to illustrate my point about poetry being a very hard thing to translate, but my lawyers have advised against doing this.

You do find the word 'air' being used a lot. This has a double meaning. Mostly, Joyce uses this to mean 'tune', 'melody', but the other, more common meaning colours this. There is a lot of air in these poems. There are other words that reccur over and over.

What suffers in translation? The double-meanings? The rhyme scheme? Everything, perhaps.
I have read a lot of Dostoevsky and Gogol in translation, with absolutely no hope of ever reading it in its original Russian, but reading more than one translation of the same work, you can see just how much actually changes, and there there is no rhyme for the translator to deal with, although every writer has their own particular rhythm, especially Joyce.

My first introduction to the work of James Joyce was listening to one of the albums by former Pink Floyd genius/madman Syd Barrett who set 'Golden Hair' to music. In his own lyrics, anyone with a familiarity with Joyce will hear the influence in Barrett's work, particularly post-Floyd.


You'll have to visit Paris, Zurich and Trieste too. Oh! The hardship!

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]


I like Chamber Music because, being short poems, you can pick it up and just read one or two. Usually, doing this, you end up reading loads and loads.

It might be nice, knowing some of the original poems, to try reading them in Polish. It would make a nice change from the kind of Polish I hear on a daily basis. It might also help with familiarising myself with the language. The only problems being that poetry often uses words not often used outside of poetry - archaisms and the like.


a) That was before James Joyce was even born, and
b) James Joyce was IRISH.

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]


Just look at post #369 above, or any of the other 4122 posts by the same um... person.

Travel / Suwalki tourism - info please [25]

I've only been to Warsaw and £omża (with half a day in Białystok thrown in). I had been thinking about going to the south next time, but those pictures are tempting me to check out more of the northeast first.

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]


However, this is also to an extent, based on Ireland's transatlantic link, something that the UK used to think of as its own.

UK, Ireland / Polish girls 'too pretty' for British schools [150]


It's in the eye of the beholder. If the beholder is also of school age, then it is possible.

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]


Maybe. This was said, especially before EU membership.
I think Ireland would be affected even more.

UK, Ireland / What's So Great About The UK? [416]

I agree with scary - much of it is about confidence.
As for immigration, people won't come here to work if there's no work.
Like in the 1980s when things weren't so great here, people will move away to find work elsewhere.

UK, Ireland / Many British have inferiority complex [131]


It's difficult when a quarter of yourself wants to emigrate. The other three quarters is split between being determined to stay and not really giving a proverbial flying friar.

Genealogy / Has anyone taken Genealogy DNA tests? [87]

The DNA data show how population movement of a very long time ago. If you're wondering if you're really Polish (or whatever) then researching your family tree will give you much more interesting results, as long as you can get your hands on the information you need. Searching for it looks like the fun bit - it may be a very good excuse to travel.

The only problem with researching genealogy the traditional way is the fact that people can be unfaithful to their spouses. There will be cases where the stated father is not the true father (even if you believe your family to be a morally upstanding one). So I wouldn't want to stop anyone having their DNA looked at, but just the two tests mentioned by caroln a couple of posts back really doesn't give anything away.

EDIT:


I hate to take a leak on caroln's bonfire, but again, according to Wikipedia, about half of all Europeans carry this genetic marker. I know Wikipedia is not the most reliable source of information, but sometimes I trust it more than other times. I can't see any agenda someone might have to lying or misrepresenting this information. So I'd say it is absolutely useless knowing whether you carry this mT DNA or not. I hope this test was either not very expensive or yielded some more precise results.

Genealogy / Has anyone taken Genealogy DNA tests? [87]


I had a quick peek of Wikipedia (source of all knowledge!) and I thought I'd just post the link and recommend that anyone interested takes a look at the accompanying map to this page. It seems R1a is found to varying degrees from Iceland and Ireland, all the way across Asia. How can this genetic information tell you you're Polish?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R1a

UK, Ireland / Many British have inferiority complex [131]


Used to.


You never won anything other than 'Biggest pain in the arse.'
WW2 was won by the allied forces, not by one country, and definately not by some racist tosser who doesn't give a monkey's about anyone else.

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

Has the collection of poems 'Chamber Music' be translated?
Poetry has got to be the most difficult thing to translate, particularly when it is so idiosyncratic.

I have read 'The Dubliners' but never got round to reading 'Ulysses'.

UK, Ireland / Many British have inferiority complex [131]


I'd say you're more likely to find a superiority complex.
I think that's why in a country which still has a strong economy, low unemployment, a language that's widely spoken around the world and an ability to form an orderly queue, you find people claiming the country is going to the dogs (dogs with floppy ears?) or going to hell in a handcart (is that a bit like a Tesco's shopping trolley?)

Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]

I made the mistake of learning too much swearing.


I'd have said that Cockney has a few things missing in the consonant department. It's got the same number of vowels as other accents. They're just a bit more contorted. In fact, sometimes there are more. To illustrate this, I shall use Polish spelling.

Where 'where' in typical British English of the Southeast has a long monopthong (łee), Cockney has a tripthong (łeja). I hope neither of those examples are rare but rude Polish words. Actually, that wouldn't bother me.

Am I right in saying 'Ty chuju' or just 'Chuju' (I could have thought of something less rude) is vocative?

Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]

Are you about to take something with a pinch of salt?


Is it used when swearing at people? If so, I've probably used it (not in a serious way though).
edit: Yes, I have used this case quite a lot but with a limited number of (offensive) words.


Or you could try to learn Cockney or so-called Estuary English.

History / Jewish love towards Poles [389]


It's the middle of the night in Poland.


Blah blah flipping blah. In mediaeval Europe, they were set up in the position where they could deal with money in ways that the Christian majority were forbidden from doing, so it was obvious who would be there to take the blame when something went wrong.

The knowledge that your people have had to leave everything behind and move on so many times must be enough to keep you on your toes and know that in life you have to get off your arse, get educated and make something of your life.

UK, Ireland / Polish kids in UK education system [57]


Dyslexia seems to be an umbrella term to describe more than one condition. My brother's spelling is atrocious, but that's not from a lack of reading, short attention span, hyperactivity, bad short term memory or any of the other things mentioned in the article.

It does look as though money is thrown at the symptoms rather than the causes.

I have also read that there is more dyslexia amongst English-speakers than with speakers of languages with more phonetic alphabets. We know that if you read a Polish word, when you know the rules, you can be pretty sure how it should sound, which is not the case with English.

UK, Ireland / Polish kids in UK education system [57]

My brother was told by most of his teachers that he was stupid. He was put into the bottom set with the other kids who were slow, stupid, lazy, traumatised or dyslexic. One science teacher recognised what his problem was (not a teacher of English).

He now has a phd and spells well only with a lot of hard work and spell-checkers. He sometimes texts me and asks me if we'd like to go out for a bear. I usually say yes because he earns enough to pay more than what is really his fair share of drinks!

Life / Local Poles taking advantage of foreigners living in Poland [235]


A better title.

eeedddiiittt:


I think he's always had a negative attitude towards people - one of the reasons he's no longer living in the UK.
Some people are only happy when they're miserable.

Life / Local Poles taking advantage of foreigners living in Poland [235]


Things like that require cool-headedness on your part, and a certain wit and understanding so you can correct their 'mistakes'. These things happen in all kinds of places.


My advice there is to just join in.

Food / Whats your favourate hot alcoholic drink? [26]


Aye! I just made some coffee too. I'll be awake for the next 5 hours then!


yes yes YES! Supposedly it enters the bloodstream quicker. Drink it through a straw and you're laughing.

Food / Whats your favourate hot alcoholic drink? [26]

That's a dangerous thing for me to read. I have all of the above ingredients other than the whiskey with an e. I have a bottle of Laphroaig. Will that do as a substitute?

I like mulled wine, but it seems like far too long since I've had any.

UK, Ireland / Polish kids in UK education system [57]


You're talking about my trilby here!


IQ is bollox.

I'm not sure if I quoted noeducation properly. It must be my eyesight. I can't get close enough to its posts for the smell of sh!t.

UK, Ireland / Polish kids in UK education system [57]

Life / "I can spot a Pole a mile away" - Polish fashion? [146]

My trilby raised a few eyebrows in Poland.
It raises a few eyebrows round here.
I only wear it on certain occasions.

I think you're unlikely to see a Pole in a trilby.
A donkey on the other hand...

Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]

-ish!

I think the problem may have been the vowel rather than any of the consonants, which is silly because Polish people are notoriously bad in the English vowel department - English has a huge number of vowels, but most of them are the neutral schwa sound.

Extra note: I'm not saying all Polish people speaking English, just all of them I've heard.

For me, I'd say a common mistake I do make is with y and i. Sometimes I accidentally say the wrong one. In my mind, I can hear the right one but it just comes out wrong.


Someone give me an example - I'm not sure what any of the cases are called.