Life / Polish people start families at early age-how true is this? [20]

I guess it's the matter of the social background.
In a farming family a girl at the age of 21 may be urged to look for a husband, but in a big city family a 21-year-old girl will be demanded to study and not even think of marriage. My friend who comes from a small village in the mountains told me that there, most of girls in their early twenties are determined to find a husband as soon as possible. But if I (I'm 22) told my parents I'm going to get married soon, they'd say I'm nuts and I should think of graduating and finding a proper job first. Polish society is not homogeneous.

Language / Pronunciation difference between Ź and Ż / RZ [83]

Gab, if you mean IPA?

Ż is something like in 'u[b]s[/]ually' but a bit harder.

- is a 'z' sound, but it is palatalized; i.e. if you say it, you say it like 'z', but you move the blade of your tounge up so that it is close to your hard palate. Then, it sound much 'softer'.

And here are recordings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BB

Language / Capitalization of Cie, Ciebie, and others [17]

One thing is certain: if you address someone as pan/pani in a formal letter, then pan/pani has to be capitalized.

Language / Gra półsłówek (play on "half-words") [11]

LOL
You linked nonsensopedia, which is a parody of wikipedia! :) But I had a lot of fun reading it, anyway.

Life / COMMERCIALLY DRIVEN SUBCULTURES? [14]


Do you believe that individualism lies in what you wear and what you listen to? How about your mind?

And why spending money on alternative clothing is more 'naive' than spending money on brand mainstream clothes (which are even more expensive)?

Really, that's ridiculous. These are not the subcultures who make up an ideology to clothes - usually these are people who share some sense of aesthetics, so they like similar kind of clothing. And the non-subculture people desperately try to find some ideology in it, which isn' there. Why do so many people assume that the ones who dress differently do it in order to say some statement or prove something? Is it really so hard to understand that people wear alternative fashion BECAUSE THEY LIKE IT?

You are naive.

Life / Goth scene in Poland [30]


Dead Is The New Alive ;-)

Life / Goth scene in Poland [30]

RubasznyRumcajs:
So maybe they play post-punk or cold wave?

Language / Adjective/Noun Order? [20]

When an adjective describes an individual feature of the noun, it goes before the noun. Amerykańska borówka - an American cowberry.

When the adjective describes a type of the noun (e.g. in the names of species), it goes after it. Borówka amerykańska - blueberry :)

So you've got: fale krótkie (high frequency waves), because it's a kind of radio waves, but you've got krótkie nogi (short legs) because it is just feature of some individual pair of legs. And so on.

Language / Capitalization of Cie, Ciebie, and others [17]

I'm young and relatively impolite but I always do, and people with whom I communicate in writing (usually young) do as well. Maybe a generation gap or something?

Language / Pozdro & kasa? - examples of Polish word abbreviations [21]


'Siema' is a trademark word of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Owsiak

The others are used by older people who think they sound cool and young when they use it, or by youths who think using slangy words will make them cool. I think 'spoko' is entering more common speech. Sometimes I use it, but never in formal situations. I guess these words sound a bit... ridiculous. I'm 22, so I guess I'm still a youth, but if someone started talking to me like that, I wouldn't treat the person seriously.

Only Jurek Owsiak can say 'Siema!' and not turn out silly. :)

Language / Gra półsłówek (play on "half-words") [11]

Gra półsłówek is Polish for Spoonerism.

The phrase "Gra półsłówek" is a spoonerism itself, as when you exchange the initial letters, you get "sra półgłówek" which means: "a dumbass is having a shit".

I'll try to translate the least obscene of the examples on the website you linked:
chodzenie w płaszczach - wearing coats=> płodzenie w chaszczach: begetting in bushes

elita wieprzy na piecu: the elite of hogs on a stove => elita pieprzy na wiecu: the elite is talking bullshit on a rally

Jacek na wózku: Jack on a rally => Wacek na Józku: Wacek (a male name) on Joseph

Kędy z miłą? : Which way to go with my beloved? => mendy z kiłą: crab lice with syphilis

kupy w trawie: pooh in the grass => trupy w kawie: corpses in the coffee

pradziadek przy saniach: great grandfather by the sleigh => sra dziadek przy paniach : grandfather is shitting in ladies' presence

The other examples on the list are much more 'indecent'. And more funny...

Life / Goth scene in Poland [30]

There is a goth scene in Poland but here, it is completely underground, I would say. There is no goth in the media and you don't usually see people wearing goth clothes in the streets for they would just get beaten up or verbally abused. I used to dress in an extravagant way in gymnasium but I got sick of being abused in the streets and harassed at school. Now I just dress black and goth up for gigs and festivals and that is what most Polish goths do. (I still haven't grown out of that, contrary to my family's expectations )

Castle Party is the most important event on Polish goth scene and it's really a great party. People are relaxed, have a lot of fun, and the locals are very nice to all the 'freaks' who come to Bolków. I've been there three times and this year it will be my fourth time. A lot of people from abroad come, mostly Czech, Russian and German, but I've met there English and Dutch people as well.

But a lot of stuff happens apart from Castle Party. In most of the big cities there are some goth parties going on, but they are known only to the interested ones. There is quite a lot of concerts in Poland. These year we already had performances of: Clan of Xymox, The Fields of the Nephilim, Christian Death, Einsturzende Neubauten (I know it's not exactly goth, but popular among goths, and btw, THE WERE FANTASTIC!!!), The Cure. And there are going to be (apart from CP line-up): Diary of Dreams, Peter Murphy, Combichrist, to name the most important artists in the scene visiting Poland.

Unfortunately there aren't too many interesting Polish bands. I can recommend Miguel And The Living Dead (post-punk, gothabilly, very energetic, oldschool and tongue-in-cheek yet too professionally performed to be treated as a mere joke; they are great live), and Sui Generis Umbra (dark ambient, industrial, electronica etc.). Pati Yang is interesting, too, and she's performing at CP this year with Flykkiller, but it is rather a kind of dark trip hop, not anything gothic.

All of these can be listened to on MySpace band profiles if anyone's interested. Asking about Polish bands you can also come across names such as Closterkeller, Artrosis or Monlight, but in fact they are popular rather among young metalheads as they play more of a goth metal.

So, we're there but you can't see us ;-)

Language / Capitalization of Cie, Ciebie, and others [17]

You capitalize Ty, Ciebi, Was etc. in:

-letters (including e-mails)
-on the Internet forums and chat. Many people don't but it is not too polite

In other words, when you address someone directly in writing.

In books (e.g. in dialogues), they are not capitalized, because the writer does not address anyone. In cases the author does address the reader directly in narration ("Now, dear children, I will tell you what the princess did..."), not to be confused with a 1st. pers. narrator addressing a fictional listener, second person pronouns are usually capitalized.