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Posts by ArcticPaul  

Joined: 7 Apr 2008 / Male ♂
Last Post: 17 Dec 2008
Threads: Total: 38 / In This Archive: 34
Posts: Total: 233 / In This Archive: 183
From: Wakefield, England, U.K.
Speaks Polish?: A few words (but I keep trying!).
Interests: History, Reading, Organised Crime, Travelling, Film/TV and attempting to learn Polish.

Displayed posts: 217 / page 1 of 8
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ArcticPaul   
31 Jan 2009
UK, Ireland / Here comes the Anti-Immigration marches.... [114]

Some would say we have closed the barn door long after the horse has bolted.

They'd be exaggerating if they even said that!
We have not closed 'the barn door' in the slightest.

I agree with much of what Enoch Powell predicted.
This is not a Muslim country.
It is a Christian and Post-Christian secular state.

The 3rd Worlders who flood here are used to a standard of living that Brits haven't had to tolerate since before WW2. They lower the expectations of employers towards their employee's. Of landlords towards tennents.

They import illnesses that were eradicated decades ago. And they think we are inferior for our lack of belief in Allah.

Three generations it has taken to produce home grown suicide bombers and women who dress more strictly Islamic than their cousins on the streets of Pakistan.

They are also behind a huge majority of the heroin being imported and distributed in this country.
ArcticPaul   
30 Jan 2009
UK, Ireland / Here comes the Anti-Immigration marches.... [114]

We need millionaires who are not trying to become billionaires by importing cheap labour.

The rich should be happy to employ the people who want to stay in this country. Not just save evry penny to buy a house in Gdansk or Peshawar or Kurdistan.

These employment savings are short term when the consumers are losing their jobs and their ability to consume!

Britain has enough wealth for every subject (who is willing to work) to have a good standard of living but employment agencies have imported millions of people with far lower expectations.

I like the idea if a 'United States of Europe' but I'm sick of Asian and African new-comers who have no love for me or my culture.

I'd round them up and put them on the first ship out of Europe.
ArcticPaul   
30 Jan 2009
UK, Ireland / Here comes the Anti-Immigration marches.... [114]

The highest paid workers I met in Poland were English speakers (Australian and English) working in the financial sector.
They were both doing a course in beginners Polish.
Neither needed any language other than English for their jobs but they had met Polish women and wanted to learn the language for that reason.

One of them had lived in Krakow for 8 years and spoke about as much Polish as I did!

Many Brits are complacent when it comes to language tho it is a fault of the system as much as anything else.

Not just BRITS. English speakers in general.
The world speaks English so there is less motivation to learn.

The jobs that go to foreigners are the low skilled jobs so a second language is not necessary.
ArcticPaul   
30 Jan 2009
UK, Ireland / Here comes the Anti-Immigration marches.... [114]

Killinghome, North Lincolnshire.
TOTAL have sold a power station to an Italian company who have imported most of their workers from outside the UK. This lead toto pickets protesting outside the plant. The next day similar demonstrations took place outside other power stations and the police had to stop hundreds of angry Brits from driving to Immingham to protest at that power station.

Sympathy strikes are being arranged in several area's of British industry.
Less law abiding Brits are planning more drastic action.

This is a bad time to be a foriegn worker in Britain. Scapegoats are being looked for by many different groups of men who are afraid for their jobs and their futures.
ArcticPaul   
28 Jan 2009
Love / Are Polish women "PRUDE"?!? [24]

According to reality, men are thousand times more into gossips, and gossip much more than women do, it has been prooved ;)

Nonsense.
Men discuss.
Women gossip.

Huge difference.
ArcticPaul   
28 Jan 2009
Language / Tak bardo chcialbym/ Tak duzo mowic??? [13]

Sirs/Madams do you have to talk so much?
or
Please, do you have to talk so much?

The webs have fallen from my eyes.
ArcticPaul   
28 Jan 2009
Language / Pan/Pani...usage changes for case distiction? [23]

Excellent Piorun & pomorzanin.
Thanks a million.

I'm just at the Genitive Singulat stage of things so Dative, Locative and Vocative are not necessary yet but I'm intrigued.

When are INSTRUMENTAL, ACCUSATIVE and GENITIVE the appropriate case to use?
ArcticPaul   
28 Jan 2009
Life / Polish Police - my bad experience. [33]

....Fortunatly being a member of a Polish motorcycle klub meant there were other ways of seeing justice done....

Wow.
You sound like a class A sphincter!
ArcticPaul   
28 Jan 2009
Language / Pan/Pani...usage changes for case distiction? [23]

How does pan/pani change when used as part of instrumental, accusative or genitive sentences?

Thread attached on merging:
Pan Adam Burczak...

If the nominative name is "Pan Adam Burczak" how would it change in instrumental, accusative and genitive case?

Do names ever take instrumental case?

How would the nominative names "Pan Marcin Kowalski, Pani Elżbieta Nowak and Pani Malgosia Kowalska" change in instrumental, accusative and genitive case?
ArcticPaul   
24 Jan 2009
Language / Czy lubi pani kawe z cukrem? [6]

ze curkiem. (Z becomes ze before an s, c, z

"Czy lubi pani kawę z cukrem?"
Above is an exact copy of the sentence on my worksheet.
ArcticPaul   
24 Jan 2009
Language / Tak bardo chcialbym/ Tak duzo mowic??? [13]

ArcticPaul: "Czy muszę panstwo tak dużo mowić?" ?

Do you have to talk so much?

...but where is 'panstwo' in that translation?

I can relate to "Czy muszę (Must I ?) duzo mowic (much talk)".
ArcticPaul   
23 Jan 2009
Language / Czy lubi pani kawe z cukrem? [6]

Czy lubi pani kawę z cukrem?
Is Kawa made accusative because it follows the verb LUBI?
Then Cukier is made instrumental because it follows the preposition 'z'?

If I am wrong please correct me.

Any similar examples of short sentences with case changes would be helpful.
ArcticPaul   
23 Jan 2009
Language / Tak bardo chcialbym/ Tak duzo mowic??? [13]

What does it mean when 'TAK' is written in sentences such as:
"Czy muszę panstwo tak dużo mowić?" ?
or
"Tak bardzo chciałbym...!"?

I'm guessing it's an affirmation to add emphasis BUT I'm unsure of how it works. And its a bitch to try and translate into English.

If anyone could explain the details and help to clear up my understanding I would be most pleased.
ArcticPaul   
20 Jan 2009
Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

As for liking grammar...
At first I hated it. Completely out of my comfort zone.
Now I quite like it and I have a real thirst to learn more.

I met an Irish pub owner (Tom, NIC NOWEGO, Krakow Old Town)
He'd been in Poland 11 years and I thought he was fluent. He'd speak really fast Polish to staff and customers with great confidence. Then one of the girls behind the bar told me his grammar was 'horrible'.

He'd learned parrot fashion phrases, increased his vocab by listening/nominative dictionary entries then did the best he could.
He made himself understood but I want to MASTER Polish.

Edit for this:
You bastard, Bubbles!
That PYTHON clip is PERFECT!!!!
When Chapman says 'Dative?' and Legionaire Cleese whips his sword out (to encourage him). CLASS.
ArcticPaul   
19 Jan 2009
Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

ArcticPaul: similar group of words

Sorry not sure I follow exactly what you mean..?

As above with WROCLAW RYNEK

Many of the street names in Krakow were GENITIVE (Nowakego, Kowalskiego....)
What is the relevence of this case for this purpose (naming public streets).

I'm a little unsure of the overall concept of CASES.
ArcticPaul   
19 Jan 2009
Love / Are Polish women "PRUDE"?!? [24]

I once said that polish girls had more morals than brits.
In about 3 seconds half the guys I was talking with (smoke shelter at work) had out their mobiles to show me a video of Malgosia (girl from different area of my work place) giving someone a very experienced looking blow job!

At one point she looked into the lens and flashed her eyes like a REAL PORN STAR!

The guy was Asian. Her Ex. When she'd dumped him he'd sent there 'movie' to about 250 of her work mates. Dirty trick.

Later I spent a few weeks in Poland. Most girls were less like;y to behave like animals (Blind drunk, sex with anything, typical Brit 21 yr old woman) but I did snog a few, get teased by several (in a good way) and spend a fantastic night with a girl I'd been dancing with every night since I'd arrived! Her body was PERFECT!!!

Polish girls, prudes?
Not in Poland. Not in England.
Probably nowhere.
ArcticPaul   
19 Jan 2009
Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

Well then, Bubbles, Ben, Donkey,
Can you post some examples of CASE changing the meaning of a similar group of words?

I notice that many nouns have the same spelling in nominative plural as they do in genitive singular. At the moment I have just started learning genitive so the material I study is simple stuff where adjectives (obviously denoting the genitive case) preceed most nouns.

Am I correct in assuming that nominative plural and genitive singular could be confused in certain sentences???
ArcticPaul   
18 Jan 2009
Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

I just want to know how I should treat names.

I'm learning how to make adjectives/nouns into instrumental, accusative and genitive (from the nominative).
If I knew how to ttreat names I would know how to modify them into the appropriate case. Nothing overly complicated in that?

I know a noun can be an adjective.
ArcticPaul   
17 Jan 2009
Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

So names are treated as nouns
(unless they end in -ski, -ny or ,y)
???????????????????????????????

Agnieszkę Nowak is accusative

Why no change to NOWAK in the female name?
ArcticPaul   
16 Jan 2009
Life / Illegal drugs enjoyed by many of the young male Poles. Availability? [24]

Heroine and other opiats are not popular. In 80's situation was different ... opiats were more popular.

If this statement is true then Poland is the only country on earth to buck the trend.
When opiates, like heroin, enter a market they grow to a peak over years until 'saturation' then level off. This means the users remain around the same amount. Each death is replaced by one, rather than the 2 or 3 new addicts that have replaced every dead addict in most European countries over the last 20 years. (See Hong Kong, New York for 'saturation').

Countries that have managed to reduce the use of street heroin have done it with draconian laws (Singapore, Malaysia) or a very expensive programme of state prescribed alternatives (Switzerland). I don't mean substitutes like methadone I mean Diamorphine (Pharmaceutical heroin).

Over the next 15 years Polands wealth will grow dramatically. People will have much more disposable cash. There will be a much bigger incentive to smuggle into Poland as an actual market.

In the past it was far more profitable to continue on to Germany or Scandinavia with the contraband.
ArcticPaul   
15 Jan 2009
Life / Illegal drugs enjoyed by many of the young male Poles. Availability? [24]

heroin has been around in PL

I noticed a few Junkies in Krakow. But compared to the amount of hard drug abusers you would see openly in a western European city of that size the amount was negligible.

At the moment I do volunteer work to gain experience/qualifications to start earning my living in the substance misuse field.
The fact I am learning Polish has been a fantastic door-opener because loads of new clients in UK are Polish lads.
Away from family structure. Bored after work. More money than they have ever had before....they're drifting into all the wrong passtimes.

It is my belief that has many return to Poland they will take their desire to use drugs with them and create the demand that will inevitably be met and supplied my any number of importers.

When the Irish economy took off and the Irish started returning in huge numbers the amounts of heroin deaths went from one of the smallest in EU to one of the highest.
ArcticPaul   
15 Jan 2009
Life / Illegal drugs enjoyed by many of the young male Poles. Availability? [24]

Many of the young, male Poles I know enjoy a smoke of weed and/or hash. They tell me it costs 30 zl per gram in Poland (considerably more than in England).

I haven't smoked in years but the conversations I hear verify this.

Some of the Poles are developing a taste for coke. One guy I work with supplies several of the Polish guys with a few grams each on Friday/Saturday nights.

How common is drug abuse in Poland?
Are heroin and crack starting to cause problems yet?
ArcticPaul   
15 Jan 2009
Language / Verb patterns 'BYC' [29]

Does that make sense?

Yes.

I'd like more examples, with explanations (like above) because it is clear, concise and very informative.
Thanks.
ArcticPaul   
14 Jan 2009
Genealogy / Why would someone lie about their age? [26]

4 years difference is not apparent in old people but obvious in kids.

Can you look into your Grandfather schooling?

1924. Start school around 5 (1929)
1928. Start school around 5 (1933)

Even in later schools a 16 year old trying to pass as a 12 year old would be a non-starter.
ArcticPaul   
14 Jan 2009
History / Poland Betrayed in WW2 [243]

Lets also remember that in 1920 Poland was only just understanding itself after 123 years of political non-existance.

But we can concede that maybe Poland has wronged Ukraine in it's history.

During WW2 Britain made many promises to former colonies/allies.
The Shan (Burma) are a good example of a people who fouight for UK. Lost many lives in barbaric ways to the Japanese. Expected Britain to support their claim for an independent homeland (It was obvious that the colonial era was ending and the Shan wanted their own sovereign state. Not just to be a minority race within a free Burma....A far worse situation than being a British colony to the Shan!) Britain promised them all this. After WW2 we granted Burmese independance without honouring our promises to the Shan.

Lawrance of Arabia. 1919.
After years of promises to the Arabs of a free Arabia, no longer a colony of the Ottoman Turks. We sat down with France and divided the area between us like fat children grabbing handfulls of cake.

lawrance was deeply upset at the betrayal.....not unlike Pilsudski after the breaking of his treaty with the Ukrainians. (???)
ArcticPaul   
13 Jan 2009
Language / What exactly all these grammatical terms mean! - feeling frustrated [19]

I have no opportunity to do Polish where I live. (English countryside)

Yes you do!
Like me. Using a SKYPE connection.
I have a 90 minute lesson every week (£17.50) with an excellent teacher based in Krakow.

As for English Grammar 12 months ago I didn't know what a verb, a noun or an adjective was!
Turns out that many of my generation were not taught these things!!!!
We're the 'lost generation of English Grammar'.

So I have had to learn English Grammar also.

It's a challenge but determination will shine through.
Good luck.
ArcticPaul   
12 Jan 2009
History / Poland Betrayed in WW2 [243]

How in fact did they rescue us?

In UK we get a very limited, very one sided story concerning our entry into WW2
We are taught that Hitler invaded Poland so we declared war on Germany.

It all sounds very noble. 'The British. Defenders of our oppressed Polish cousins'.

I read lots of history BUT I have never read anything about this time and these events.

So far this thread as contained no useful info or opinions and it would be great if the Polish view of these events could be contributed.

It is not antagonistic. Just because I'm a Brit doesn't mean I cannot listen to criticism of Britains behaviour.
Churchill was a bastard!
He had the soldiers open fire on striking coal-miners.

He could sacrifice a thousand lives and not lose a minute of sleep over it.
He was a typical upper class English gentleman of his generation.
Born at Blenhiem Palace he believed it was his birthright to rule the 'common people'.

In 1945 the British electorate couldn't get rid of him fast enough.
But he was re-elected in the 50's?

OPINIONS ON BRITISH BETRAYAL OF POLAND AFTER WW2 would be interesting to read.

And if Bubba woo (et al) feel too patriotic to accept them maybe they should read a few history books.
We Brits didn't get the biggest empire the world has ever known by being honest and fair.
ArcticPaul   
12 Jan 2009
Travel / wloszczowa station [4]

I could see similar things happening in Southern Ireland a few years ago.
There were 8 lane super-highways that just stopped dead, or turned into a dirt track, when the European grant money ran out!

And they'd always stop in Irish equivalents of Włoszczowa!
Three men, two pigs and a wanted Serbian War Criminal living in a nearby cottage.

PS.
You should merge this thread with anything to do with the former Yugoslavia.
I have mentioned 'Serbia'.