Life / Unusual Sightings in Warsaw - millions of black crows... [22]

You should be happy these crows are black, not e.g. pink or blue. THAT would be weird.

BTW, they can't be ravens, ravens are very rare in Poland.

History / Poland's National Heros [17]


I think that little coup d'état in 1926 spoilt his reputation a bit...

Life / Burlesque in Poland? [8]

I don't think so. I like such stuff but I've never heard of anything like that going on in Poland.

I've only seen one show that used burlesque convention in PL but it was actually a concert and the artist was American.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (Part II -- Much more detail than other topic) [109]

Your friend looks EMO :P

Love / Why english men like polish women ? [126]



So you want a woman to be financially dependent on you but you don't want to control her?


What does Sex and the City have to do with feminism?


Do you realize that working women are not something that feminism and emancipation came up with, but it was something that have always happened? Haven't you ever read of maidservants, seamstresses or governesses? Who were they, if not working women? Only the women of the highest social status didn't work. Neither did their husbands, but these were the husbands who owned the money they inherited and had the right to use it.

Man, go to a library and stop making a fool of yourself.

Work / please some advise on finding temporary work in Poland. [5]

Have you tried travel agencies?
Some of them organize trips to Russia and Ukraine so they might want to hire someone like you.

Study / University in Poland is too easy [68]


Not exactly. Some of them were kicked out, some decided not re-take their exams because they thought it would be too hard to go on studying, anyway.

Love / Teenage Relationship - girls from Poland walking next to you? [40]


In Poland constant staring at somebody for a long time is considered rude.


Uhmm, when there are a lot of people in a limited space (e.g. at school) you always sit next to somebody, don't you? Seats are usually next to one another...


No, it's not. Normally, a Polish girl, when she bumps into somebody, apologizes.

Have you ever talked to her?

History / Question related to Jews during Saturday night in II Rzeczypospolita [12]

afaik, Jews had the same rights as other citizens in this respect. And on Saturday night the Sabbath is over :)

Life / GENERATION JP2? [6]

I'm of the age in which I'm supposed to belong to JP2 generation and I'd never call myself that way (I'm having my apostasy tomorrow :) ). The media noticed some movement of young people around my age who manifest their religiousness (and only manifest) and somebody came up with the idea that it's the matter of the whole generation. That's all.

I remember that a week after JP2's death there was a concert in the Lodz cathedral. Before the concert, there was a mass for the pope's soul. I thought it would be cool to go to a free concert (Mozart's Requiem), so I went to the cathedral an hour after the beginning of the mass in hope that the mass would be over and I could find some place in the church.

The mass was horribly long and a lot of people came - they were standing outside, in the street, many of them wearing white. Finally, the mass ended and people started leaving (apparently not interested in the requiem), so I tried to get near the entrance and get in. It took a a very long time for the huge crowd to leave. People were squeezing and pushing one another as if they had been in a hurry. I was standing there and heard their comments. Mohair berets talked about the people squeezed around them with such hatred and despise that I was shocked - the only reason why they were so hateful was that they were squeezed in the same crowd and couldn't wait to get out. I've been to a lot rock concerts, mass festivals etc., where also I've been in a big crowd of people going somewhere through a narrow entrance, and no matter how 'satanic' the band was and how much squeezed the people were, they were always nice to each other and they didn't blame one another for the discomfort of standing in the crowd. I never witnessed such chamstwo as after the mass for JP2's soul. I really think low of Polish religiousness.

Life / GENERATION JP2? [6]

The JP2 generation are people who behave the same as other young people with one exception: form time to time they gather to pray and idolize JPII. Still, they cheat in the exams, drink, swear, have premarital sex and do not give a damn for Christian values. Their religiousness is very superficial. Truly religious people just live according to the religion and don't need to manifest it.

History / Poland's National Heros [17]

Zawisza Czarny

Study / University in Poland is too easy [68]

I actually know people who left uni because they couldn't pass the exams. This usually happens after the first year, even on the faculties, in which students are carefully selected (now, they're are selected basing on Maturas). In my first year, there were about 120 people, now, we've got around 100.

But I wouldn't say studying is hard.

Language / CIZIA & KOCIAK? [17]


I have used this words, I admit, but to make fun of the words themselves, not to express my 'appreciation'. The same way I sometimes use hip-hop slang or dialect though I'm neither a hip-hop fan nor dialect speaker; just for a joke. The only situation I can imagine in which I say "Ale z ciebie ciacho" to a guy is either joking with a good friend, or mocking someone.


As far I as I understand English, it's very close. Still, not very respectful terms.


In most cases it is true, but...
...when a girl wears shorts because it's 30 centigrades in shade, many men still think that she is doing it in order to objectify herself. It's not so easy.

Language / CIZIA & KOCIAK? [17]


I never said kociak was vulgar. One can be a cham without using a single vulgar word.

Calling someone 'kociak' implies complete sexual objectification of the person referred to. That's why a gentleman wouldn't call a lady that way.

Language / CIZIA & KOCIAK? [17]


Either you're not very fluent in Polish or you're just a cham...

Life / How to Survive on a Minimum Wage in Poland? [45]


A book won't stop you from hearing the other passengers' mobiles.


That's what they are for :)

Language / CIZIA & KOCIAK? [17]

They are very sexist and patronizing, aren't they?

Language / CIZIA & KOCIAK? [17]

I don't know if they're used often but they are perfectly understandable. If you want to insult someone - you can go for it.

Life / How to Survive on a Minimum Wage in Poland? [45]


I had the same problem during my P.E. lessons. Luckily I don't have them anymore. But what makes me furious are dresiarze who play music loud on mobile phones on public transport. I can hear them even through my own music.

An mp3 player is a must for someone who uses public transport, goes to gyms or supermarkets and has any sense of music.

Life / How to Survive on a Minimum Wage in Poland? [45]


But an average Polish consumer doesn't care about the sound but about showing off the equipment. Or to be more general - not for the product quality but the brand prestige.

Love / I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor [124]


I can hear a lot of idioms translated literally, misused word (where the translator uses the wrong meaning of the word which has more than 1 meaning) or 'false friends' wrongly translated. In consequence, you can often hear sentences that just don't make any sense. It is certainly NOT professional.

And using computer programs in literary translation (which includes film & TV ) is NOT professional either. It can be acceptable in translating documents (which are very standardised) but even the most sophisticated program will fail in a simple comedy dialogue. To choose the right word you must understand the text and this is something computers cannot do.

Life / How to Survive on a Minimum Wage in Poland? [45]

And I find it really funny when I see people showing off their expensive iPod models, but using them with standard earphones.

The quality of the sound would is much better with a cheap mp3 player and big, expensive headphones. But more people know what iPod is than what Sennheiser is...

Love / I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor [124]


In general, Polish translations for film and TV are on a very poor level. In most cases they aren't made by professionals but by krewni i znajomi królika (the managers' relatives or acquaintances). They usually contain basic errors, so it's hard to expect that the 'translators' would be able to preserve the humour if they can't preserve the meaning. I study translation and I sometimes find it embarrassing to listen to the translations made for the TV.

Some exceptions are the 'Shreck' films (controversial but really funny) and 'MP Flying Circus' (also controversial, by Tomek Beksiński). And both Shreck and Flying Circus are very popular...

Love / I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor [124]

Right. I think sense of humour is more a matter of individuals, not nationality, especially in case English-Polish encounters. Polish TV has played English comedy classics like Monty Python stuff, 'Allo 'Allo, Keeping Up Appearances or Fawlty Towers, so we cannot say that English humour is something not understood and strange for the Polish (I could even say Monty Python earned a kind of cult following in Poland). But some Poles don't get it and prefer other kinds humour. And some English people have completely different sense of humour from what Poles know from the TV.

Language / How to pronounce long consonants in Polish? [6]

'i' is not a consonant.

Australii is pronounce more or less like australi.

Love / I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor [124]

If Poles don't get British sense of humour, why are Monty Python and 'Allo 'Allo so popular? Aren't they British?

Life / How to Survive on a Minimum Wage in Poland? [45]

You can buy a cell phone for 1 zł in Poland, if you take advantage of one of many promotions, so it's not that expensive actually.

Language / How to pronounce long consonants in Polish? [6]

Theoretically we don't have long consonants in Polish. When we have two identical consonants next to each other, we pronounce them 'separately': lek-ki; mięk-ki; in-ny; man-na. I mean, ideally, i.e. in theatre, speeches etc, when we care to speak very clearly and correctly. The first of the pair is pronounced a bit weaker but one can hear these are two sounds.

But in natural speech some of the double consonants are pronounced like one long consonants (those, that can be pronounced longer, so no plosives or affricates) because it's easier. So, you can hear manna, Anna, panna, hossa, bessa etc. with something that is actually a double-length consonant.

You can even hear people pronounce one consonant instead of two (e. dżownica instead of dżdżownica) but that is not correct. Some people, especially children, say letki instead of lekki but that is incorrect, too.

Life / Poland peasant or noble tradition? [34]


Oh, yes, Pasek was a sophisticated intellectual. Anyway, great fun to read!