Genealogy / Do you guys see the Polish in me in this picture? [29]


And the hair, and the eyes, none of which looks typically Polish even in the slightest way.


Not anyone who knows what most Italians look like. Sicilian, perhaps, but the proportions and the structure are very different from Italians generally.


No, for the same reasons you couldn't pass as an Italian among Italians.


These you do look like.


...Specifically the Lavant, Middle East, and North Africa.


Yes, because the heavy black curls are not something that Poles usually have.


You do definitely have that.


Not necessarily Arab, but certainly Middle Eastern -- Persian, or perhaps Caucasian, Turkish, Levantine....


Pretty much agreed.


Don't take that to heart. You could pass as a recent immigrant to Britain, but certainly not as an Englishman, a Scot, or a Welshman.


That is good, especially if you are glad you are both.




Why so excited about how many replies you receive?

Life / Is it safe for me and my Asian friends to come to Poland? [44]


Not bad at all, I would say. That is, if you could even consider the two events to be attacks.

That there were two occasions when your ethnic origin marginally figured into people making unkind remarks about you does not legitimately constitute an attack. You should have to be a Russian in Poland; then see what you'd get.

Genealogy / Do you guys see the Polish in me in this picture? [29]


No, not at all. Maybe if you included a photograph of your Polish parent, one could see resemblances to him or her. The picture of you, however, just looks Persian.

News / The new Polish government is going to do... reprivatisation [25]


Of course they can. Contemporary democracies act in the best interest of the whole people. If they fail to do so, they can admit fault. In order to continue to do so, they do not have to contort to grandiose compensation schemes. If you'll humor my opinion, a full disclosure and an apology serve the greater good of the nation.

Life / DECENCY RATINGS FOR THE INTERNET? Would it work in Poland? [17]


I'm not opposed to decency ratings if they don't interfere with accessibility. That said, the above is at best a gross stretch. At most, there was a telephone conversation or a shared memo between Obama staffers and the Culture Secretary.

Life / Dog's life or what to expect when living in Poland with a dog [22]


I've never even heard of some of these breeds. I looked them up. The akbash dog looks like a polar bear.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


I haven't assumed anything of the sort. I don't think you read terribly well. Go back and try again.


There always have been.


I know this is "popular knowledge," but it's also not correct. It's based on the false premise that unaffiliated religious people constitute the same confessional group as atheists, which, obviously, they don't. Statistically, diversity of religions practiced, including agnosticism and the unaffiliated religious, is expanding in most Western countries, but the number of believers in all three Abrahamic confessions is also increasing. In some places, certain denominational numbers have dropped of late, particularly among Protestants, but that does not hold true for the breadth of religions present.


Hmm, yes, puzzling that you might write something, and someone who disagrees with it based on the evidence at hand says he disagrees. Very, very puzzling...

It's so puzzling.


Perhaps. However, the evidence may be judged by anyone so inclined, from (a) the particularly awkward use of colloquial language by both you and crocker2 as though it were written by someone not used to speaking using the terms you each were using, (b) the juvenile nature, though crocker2 with a phony and contrived direction, of the messages posted in the same time span but never at the same moment (that is, unprovoked attack messages), (c) the identical session sign-in time of both you and crocker2 when neither had been logged in during the hours before, (d) the same being true with the exception of the sign-in time (no longer available) in the only previous appearance of crocker2 at this forum, and finally, (e) I tend to notice when someone calls me the very dated term "homie," as crocker2 did, and then only a couple minutes later, someone else calls me the similar, equally dated, and awkward term "homesteak," as you did in this thread.




Have you encountered many trolls in this forum that attack forum-goers and then, seemingly without precedent, complement a forum-goer?
And how many conversations happen on forums where both people call each other "brah?"

Well, perhaps you're not the same person, little guy, but anyone participating in this forum may be the judge of that for themselves.


Right, another very mature take on this issue.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


No, it doesn't. The doctrine in question is the prohibition of contraception, but there is also a prohibition of premarital intercourse. In other words, the prohibition of contraception is intended for marital intercourse which, in concurrence with the moral guidance of the Church, has the intent of creating a family. If a person disregards the doctrine regarding premarital intercourse but then observes the doctrine prohibiting contraception and becomes pregnant, it is not a hardship intended by the Church, as you suggested. It's just dumb people practicing one doctrine without the one that actually prevents the pregnancy. That they then choose to murder their own offspring rather than carry him to term is their own failing. That's hardship they brought on themselves with the help of no one else. If someone intends to engage in premarital sex and will have an abortion if pregnancy ensues, they ought to damn well use protection. There is no Church doctrine intended for contraception use during premarital sex since premarital sex is, itself, proscribed.


The answer is still no. If you intended it rhetorically, would you have also answered no? If you would have answered yes, then it wasn't rhetorical to the very large number of people who would disagree.

I don't agree that it applies. Religion might be a great conundrum to you, but it isn't to many people.




Hmm, sort of not really "with it" use of certain language...awkward and a little bit contrived. It's not really the words you use, it's the way you use them that leads me to think "50 bucks says this guy is the same person writing in the other thread as crocker2"

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


It wasn't and, in effect, it doesn't.


No.


It's not a conundrum. One either believes no one has the right "play God," in the words of tornado2007, that is, to decide whether a life should be extinguished or else one thinks people who behaved in such a way as caused their situation have the right to do so based upon anything from their convenience to their station in life to their lack of interest.

Genealogy / Turmoil in Small Villages Post-1905: How Extensive? [5]

In most cases, records were saved. In terms of ecclesiastical records (baptisms, which often also include the day of birth and almost always include the names and places of residence of the parents, grandparents, and godparents; marriages; and funeral rites, including day of death), if the parish book survived, it is often still with the parish or else is preserved with the diocesan records. If your ancestor was Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, or Russian Orthodox, you will want to research which parish or parishes he or she may have attended. Often, if your family is of Polish, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Belarusan, or Lithuanian origin (and these more frequently intermarried than is widely admitted today since they all used to coexist as one nation in the old Rzeczpospolita -- Commonwealth), you may need to research several different parishes in the same few villages. If you run across landed families (either szlachta or the lesser gentry), you will have a much easier time finding records for that line.

As for the civil records (and some metrical books), look to the Polish State Archives. What has been preserved is usually kept at the main archives or the nearest branch archives. Their website is here: archiwa.gov.pl and there is an English version (click the link in the top-right of the homepage). In some cases, because of the various border changes during that era, you may actually have to conduct your research through the Ukrainian archives in Lwow (L'viv in Ukrainian).

Generally speaking, when the records have not been destroyed (again, most of them have survived), most people with Polish, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, etc., origins can trace their ancestry to at least the late 1700s, sometimes a bit earlier. If you find you are descended from a family of szlachta, which is not impossible, you may be able to trace that line to the 1500s or 1400s.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


No, dumbbottom... [Does that pass the snuff test?]

[By the way, who is the administrator who removes posts with the word dumbXXX (dumbbottom) from the threads?]

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]

Perhaps, but you see how contradictory it is: one breaks with religious doctrine by engaging in intercourse, but upholds doctrine by not using contraception. It's completely nonsensical. The religious doctrine on contraception is intended to be upheld when the doctrine on intercourse is also upheld. It certainly isn't the right Christian thing to do to have intercourse, not use contraception, and then commit, in accordance with religious doctrine, murder when pregnancy ensues. The Church obviously didn't discourage contraception with the intention of increasing abortions. So, I suppose the argument should be blame the idiots involved, not their religion.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


It also forbids premarital intercourse, so you see how much the people involved care for religious doctrine.

Life / FISH SYMBOL ON POLISH CARS? [37]

A mark of sheer brilliance... and you're worried about whether a bunch of rural Americans think people and dinosaurs shared supper at some point in the distant past? You actually think whether someone believes that or not is important or relevant to anything they do in their day to day existence or how they interact with other people? "Hey boss, I know I should have called to let you know I wasn't going to show for work today, but I was just so worried about whether a distant ancestor of mine ever saw a living, breathing dinosaur, I neglected that responsibility." Try calling someone in your place of employ what you called him above and see what happens.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


No.


Agreed, for any country, that is. It's a different topic, though.

Life / FISH SYMBOL ON POLISH CARS? [37]

What is your basic language, noimmigration?


Or any of the other billions of people on the planet, from the very most educated to the least, from among the wealthiest to the poorest, from the most passionately faithful to the most learned scientists, and from a host of religions, Christian and otherwise, who do sincerely believe that man is a creation of God?

Life / FISH SYMBOL ON POLISH CARS? [37]

Sometimes it says "Darwin" in it. People who think he was an atheist or advocated atheism didn't read Darwin very well.

Life / FISH SYMBOL ON POLISH CARS? [37]

It's a universal symbol for Christianity. It has no specific denominational association.

Law / Names of construction companies in Poland required. [15]


Read this carefully, noimmigration: Perhaps that's true, but my eyes aren't beady.

Law / Names of construction companies in Poland required. [15]


Yes, commerce, it's always shrouded in mystery and general sneakiness.

Law / Names of construction companies in Poland required. [15]


Of course, the one-timer who wrote the lead post is from Brazil, according to his profile, not Great Britain.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


It doesn't concern only women, though. It concerns men, too.


I knew you were going to quote yourself. What seems to be the case, though, is actually not true. Men and women are about equally proponents of life over abortion. Would you like a long list of statistical and literary support for this?

USA, Canada / How to stay in USA without getting married? [125]


Yes, the easiest way to do so is to become employed by an American company and have them sponsor your permanent residency request. You may then apply for citizenship which will entail testing and an oath of loyalty. To that end, you really shouldn't apply for citizenship unless you actually want to no longer be Polish (or whatever nationality you may have) and become American.

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


Apologists for abortion always like to suggest unusual and radical circumstances. Rape isn't characteristic of most abortions. An evil, cult-loving Satanist? Hmm, well, ;-) , what if your mother knew how you'd turn out...?

UK, Ireland / 10,000 Poles in UK for free abortions [58]


Bizarre.


Or, you know, to anybody at all who finds the habit of sticking a blade and a vacuum into someone and wiping out what would have been a human being (regardless of when you feel life effectively begins -- it still would undoubtedly become a human being) because some other human beings were dumb enough to behave in such a way as to bring into being that future human being that they didn't want.


Yes, paying for the healthcare of the citizens of another country is crazy; absolutely agreed, but that's another topic.


Probably, but almost as big of an issue is that the would-be parents don't want to be bothered in the short term in addition to the long term.


To the problem of abortion, no. Is it a better solution to an unwanted pregnancy? You'd have a hard time gaining support from reasonable people that it isn't a better solution.

Life / Polish views towards the Brits and all other "natives" [26]


Actually, I think a scientific study was conducted that demonstrated that more people are on this show than watch it.

Life / HAND-KISSING WANING IN POPULARITY? [29]

The custom isn't unique to Poland, really. It's just very dated and has only much more recently lost significant popularity among Poles. It's cute in a way, I suppose, with someone one is dating or with whom one is being very formal or even silly. Much like prostrating oneself before an authority figure or informally bowing, it's very much waned in popularity. We should recall, too, that as a habit, it wasn't done hundreds of years ago either. Instead it's something that developed only a few centuries ago. It may make a comeback -- who knows? -- maybe when we're all less concerned with where her hand has been or where his lips have been earlier.

Life / Moving back to Poland after 20 unhappy years in Canada and USA [70]

I like that sentiment -- very nice!

Law / Do you want to import quality garmants in best price? [9]


Right, you mean a sweatshirt. Sweaters are knits.

Travel / Train Stop Closest to Gdansk Airport? [6]

Rebiechowo, right by the airport