Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

have no idea whether there any lynxes in the forests I live next to (I doubt it actually - but it is really a difficult animal to spot) - those pumas don't shy away from open ground contrary to lynxes (and from easy pray around human household as well)

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

there were some indices the animal could be an Asiatic snow panther before
(fur found in one of the attack spots (household animals were killed) has been tested for DNA)
the animal was quite capable of hunting in snow - and there was plenty of snow in the begining of March here - I don't know whether pumas are good winter-time hunters

btw a the animal in question (or one of the animals in question) has jumped upon a car in motion near Prudnik while hunting for a small deer (sarna - don't know how is sarna in English)

(the conditions were snowy - I guess on the road as well)

google Lech Kubat for the incident

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

no, it is for real and I really think there are a couple of them around

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

it's enough someone has let one (or a couple of them) go into the wild (or that one has escaped somehow this is not outwardly impossible) - you yourself stated they are highly adaptable

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

i have heard of even stranger things - like Mayne beast :P

i mean Maine ;) :P

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

leśnicy are forest rangers and they actually do not have much to do with animals and hunting professionally and are unarmed (though there is a service called Straż Leśna and they are armed I think - still they are not that numerous and they deal with people who violate forest laws - you should not drive into the forests for example)

but many of the hunters are involved in hunters organization say hunters' association (Polski Związek £owiecki) (there's only one such in Poland) which seems to have some professional staff - anyway the animal(s) is not easy to follow - and most appearances to the general public have been reported to the media

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

btw Sean sarna is not a female deer in Polish; female deer is łania while male grown deer is byk (which is bull of course)

as for wildlife around here I get a feeling I have seen an elk (łoś, female of łoś is łosza or klępa)or even a group of them (some other time) I wasn't close enough to be sure though

and some cranes colonised a swampy side nearby recently (have seen them on ground as well as in flight - magnificent birds)
and there are lots of crows - too many in my notion - they hunt young hares whiles these have become rare before and also squirrels

I once saw some 30-40 crows in one place (a glade in the middle of the forests)

on the strange side - several times I seemed to have heard the sound the bats make - very high tings ;)

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

jeleń - is a deer (the word is actually cognate (etymological staff) with elk )

not sure I understand what you write but sarna and jeleń are different species

male of sarna is called kozioł - female sarna is just sarna (don't know any special term)

sarna is considerably smaller than jeleń

contrary to jeleń (European deer)? sarny (roe-deers - just looked it up) are often found in the open (in winter they seem to prefer staying in the open in big packs (but they don't hunt fortunately ;)

Travel / Travellers to Śląsk-Opolskie beware - pumas on the loose [83]

well Sean male deers (the big ones) can be dangerous in autumn (when they fight for the females)

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]

yes I am tolerant towards people of different colour unless they raid my house, steal my car, threaten to kill me or deal drugs to my kids - any ideas

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]

you can tell jokes about us osiol but some People are not telling jokes
just deliberately slandering Poles in general instead

and some other make some stories based on deliberately fabricated reputation
some allude to some fabricated reputations

some conceive suspicion as racism (e.g. paul)

etc etc.

Language / Pan/Pani...usage changes for case distiction? [23]

dzień dobry Panu - is one bit you cannot put a comma inbetween - you can translate it as good morning to you sir

dzień dobry, Panie Janku - coma makes sense here - this one translates good morning Mr John (sort of)

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]

because you should be a decent human being - it does not matter if you really are - you should be :P

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]


why should any party in Poland be pro-immigration and in what sense.

should Poland go round the world and encourage people to coming to Poland? why so? does Poland need to become multicultural and why?

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]


so change for one and stop bashing Poland

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]

Poland has got no whites at all, so no worries, just regular in-black gang violence :P

please quote Bible Harry :P

please get off me you nasty brat :P

I have never hit nor kissed a black person :P

I don't know what you are actually aiming at - does your bashing make this country any better?
Are there racist thugs in Poland - God, yes? Should we kill'em all? Huh? What if they go underground and form a guerilla then? :P

Are the authotorities letting go of those who commit crimes against foreign race members?

Language / mizeria - cucumber salad? [23]

I actually don't know the etymology of the word - but you can't go far from Latin root of the word (English misery comes from the same root for sure) mizerny means shabby, weak, bad - the notion was some time in the past that mizeria is not a proper food i.e. potato and meat ;) (just cucumbers in sour cream plus chopped onion, salt and pepper - you can hardly satisfy hunger with such stuff)

actually I love mizeria

btw the same term mizeria is also applied to a pasteurised cucumber salad in oily vinegary brine (onions, piment and bay leave added) (there are some variations to the recipe btw)

Study / Studying Polish with a view to becoming a Translator or Interpreter [4]

I doubt there are any courses that will give you fluency in Polish - there was no real demand for such thing untill quite recently. So you can get courses which will improve your Polish but you would have to make your own way to the fluency level. Good luck anyway pal :)

Food / Where can I find information for a Poland Foods assignment? [12]

there are some other brands too but not that widespread

I loved Choice instant noodle before, but I like my food hot :) (they had really delicious noodles then - haven't seen Choice quite long though - in these days I would shun Vifon but now it's value for money and a variety from the makes of Knorr, Winiary or Amino. I like the taste of the fat attached.

But this is just me. Most people I met (in Poland) couldn't eat the hot stuff I could but when in England I really suffered on some Pakistani food hehehe :)

Language / How do people mispronounce your Polish names? [60]

L
e as in shed, bed (always pronounced the same)
aw - Polish o is spoken like aw in saw, raw etc
k
a - like in barn but shorter
d
y or i
a - always pronounced the same (i.e. like in barn)

Le'awkadya

News / Racist text book for Polish schools [130]

11th B.C. :)

Language / mizeria - cucumber salad? [23]

Brueckner was completely off the spot in many instances of Polish etymologies

Life / COUNTRYSIDE RULES IN POLAND... [7]

well I don't know the litteral rules
you should stick to common sense as for lighting fire in woods
if you light a fire on a peat soil care should be taken to put it out thouroughly afterwards
now it's quite dry in the woods for example - so lighting a fire could not be welcome by forest rangers - even if you are very cautious (and well prepared)

methinks there is actually some rule against lighting any fire in the woods but you can get away with it if it looks you have taken good care of the fire and the surrounding.

as for driving in the forests - you can take chances - but when you get caught by Straż Leśna they are gonna be very indiscrimanate - it does not matter if you drive slowly - it is because they are not that often to be seen - there's not so many of them - so when they actually catch anybody they have little mercy. (it is because as usual in Poland too many people take advantage of not so many Forest Guards and do take chances)

in the hot summer days there are often bans issued against entry into the forests (it is being regional)

many people who work in the forests these days have nothing or little to do with the forest rangers administration - they are hired small companies and workers

they do drive in the woods to get to and back from work as do the forest rangers

as for the land - hardly any land is beign actively cultivated by state or state-owned companies - now it's all sold or leased. but there is plenty of land that is not being in cultivation in many areas especially Western Poland, some of these are in such neglect that noone claims any right to it. Many military training grounds have fallen from use and are just ideal for some off-road activities. There was an abundance of such in Pomorze Zachodnie (for example between Szczecinek and Czaplinek - former Russian military training grounds).

you could have heard of Borne Sulinowo as well
i think you can find the locations of such grounds in the internet

I wouldn't advise driving on farm land even if there are no crops there (just bare soil) at least for fun, you won't be looked upon favourably if you cruise the fields around in an off-road.

btw I am just looking at a page that might be interesting to you - an archive of pretty detailed (low-scale) German maps of western Poland - (1:25000) - mapy.amzp.pl/faq.shtml

Life / COUNTRYSIDE RULES IN POLAND... [7]

fires are regularly made by those who work in the forest if it's not very warm outside, yes there is law but there is also reason if you act reasonably and what you do looks reasonable you can get away with lighting fire in forest (not when there is a place designed for making fire near)

it's not the same with driving in the forest if some catches you

Language / The best way for me to learn Polish [89]

i think she meant książę - a prince - juts switched two letters

Language / Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases [178]

Lyzko - there must be some - I've somewhere that the dyngus thing comes from German or other Germanic (das Ding) and it must have been the same with the dingus - must be from dings I guess (from Jewish people or from German immigrants)

Language / Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases [178]

yes I meant Yiddish speaking people but as far I know most of those who came to America then originated in the Russian Empire (the lands taken from pre-partition Poland or rather Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - so also from the ethnically Polish lands - these were the only areas in the Russian Empire Jews were allowed to live for quite long (rule introduced by Empress Catherine) it was not until late 19th century that the rule was lifted (or even later, can't remember)

as far as I know there was much less incentive for the Jews from Austro-Hungarian Empire to emigrate as they weren't persecuted in any significant form there

Language / The best way for me to learn Polish [89]

this was a really a bad example cause they used in the film - fast can be described in quite a lot of words in Polish: szybki, prędki, bystry, chyży, rączy, żwawy

Language / Kupić - Kupować [17]

Marku you should write Polish grammar handbooks for foreigners :)

Language / Kupić - Kupować [17]

while shopping is zakupy - zakupować does not mean to go shopping

to go shopping is iść na zakupy in Polish

zakupić/zakupować is somewhat formal way of stating the same as with kupić/kupować