"Yes, Danzig was once to 98 percent german...Poles should return it to Germany"
Bratwurst Boy
Interesting statement Würstel so I decided to extract it from Crow's Slavic delirium and started a new thread. This idea is well known to me but I'm not going to discuss it as a historical issue .
Unless you're joking/provoking or represent IQ of 70, I'm sure you will be able to present some coherent logistic conception. What are you going to do with Polish population living there ?
It refers not to Danzig only. We are speaking about circa 15 millions Poles living on these, once German, territories. Some Germans claimed even Warsaw to be proto-Germanic colony lol.
1. Are you going to exterminate the population of todays Western Poland ? Even using German technical skills and given your well known experience it may be pretty hard.
2.Are you planing some mass expulsion to the regions Eastward the Vistula river ? Possible but again rather hard and will create a total mess, some kind of Gaza Stripe inside the EU. Believe me Würstel, it's gonna be a risky business.
3.All your previous attempts to germanize Polish en mass, failed
So enlnighten me - what are your plans !? Are you going to send us to the moon ? But then you'll need even a closer cooperation with Russia.
Clearly the statement was not meant in earnest. LOL Here in this forum, we really must learn to separate statements made for pure shock value (which Bratwurst Boy's obviously was) and those meant to generate serious and fruitfull discussion!
Yes, sometimes just the mention of that which was an issue at one time, brings up charged feelings.
However, a careful reading of the statement in the context of the original thread makes it quite plain that BB was using the "crazy-at-this-point idea" of returning Danzig to Germany....in order to demonstrate how similar and impractical Crow's idea is. Just because the population of a place ONCE was a certain ethnicity fails to mean it should return to that ethnicity.
The problem with words on a forum, especially one where many people speak different languages and are "talking" in a second language is that misunderstandings can occur. I am sure if he spoke that sentence, his voice intonation would show this was far from a serious idea and none that was meant to merit any discussion.
Absolutely, Softsong! People here have to post in English, sometimes NOT their mother tongue, and their meaning gets lost in translation, frequently appearing aggressive or angry when this is hardly their intention--:)
Absolutely, Softsong! People here have to post in English, sometimes NOT their mother tongue, and their meaning gets lost in translation, frequently appearing aggressive or angry when this is hardly their intention--:)
However, you were making a statement easily subject to being taken literally. Especially by others who might be generally fluent in English, but still have a few problems with nuances. Plus it was a controversial-type statement that often produces a knee-jerk reaction due to past conflicts. Sometimes those emotional knee-jerk reactions get in the way of rational logic.
I applaud all of you who speak so well in a second language! You have my admiration! :-)))
Now, now .......that's just not true. Bratski has a fabulous vocabulary in English, better than many native speakers.....so he might might an occasional grammar mistake, but grammar is the most difficult part of learning any other language.
But as for being misunderstood in tone rather than language, this can happen all too easily, no matter what language is being used, whether first language or second.
The tone of BB's point about Gdańzig was easy for me to understand... although I may be wrong.
Unlike BB, I refuse to use smileys to indicate the tone of what I am saying, so I can be misunderstood equally, if not more. I find irony and deadpan humour funny and that is my excuse. I'm not so keen on people laughing at their own jokes.
True enough, and the great novelist Conrad wrote better English style than many an English native speaker/writer, although he never learned the language until in his twenties. Bratski though, is NO Joseph Conrad, and keeps making the same errors in word choice constantly e.g. penchant for vulgarity.
How about this; he's practicing his English. He'll never be like a native speaker.
word choice constantly e.g. penchant for vulgarity.
Well, what you say is subjective really. Vulgarity to some is just adding emphasis to others. You stick strictly to the "rules" of English it's going to be a pretty boring forum.
...and conversely if you build a structure on a shaky foundation (misspellings, grammar errors, incorrect usages of standard language etc.), you run the risk that it will collapse, so too with a language that wantonly disregards its own rules, due more to laziness than out and out creativity: Learn the 'rules' before you break them. The US Beat writers broke the rules of English right and left; but they all knew how to spell and construct language correctly, only after which, did they get rid of the rulebook.
i.e. don't rouse a sleeping black bear, or....heaven help you??? You infer that BB's by nature NOT so gentle, therefore little is needed to set him off, eh?
It's easy for you guys to laugh at somoene's English and point out their mistakes while most of you don't speak a word in any foreign language. I keep making loads of mistakes but the thing is I'm still learning and for 19 years old person who never had a professional English teacher, I'm quite happy with what I have done by mself.
Wyśpiańsko, JA mówię po polsku, po niemiecku, po szwecku a po holundersku. As someone who knows a number of languages, I surely don't fall into the category you've set up, a priori, generalizing about us Anglos!
You infer that BB's by nature NOT so gentle, therefore little is needed to set him off, eh?
Let's put it this way, Bratski is a happy, easy going person 99.9% of the time, but if you mindlessly and thoughtlessly rattle off crap, he will be happy to set you straight. And yes, his tolerance for crap is low, especially if you piss on his beloved Prussia, and his temper can flash, but he cools off equally fast and returns to his jolly, happy self.
Okay guys and gals....I'm running out of smilies...back to the topic!
Pffft! You have more smileys than ANYBODY! hehe :)
'Shopski', what you deem crap, may well be valid. Seems to me you're justifying distemper by saying it's fine to return the volley swinging, yet forgetting that there's really no excuse for errant nastiness or mean spiritedness, despite how "vapid" or uninformed the other person's comments may appear. Being a trifle hypocritical, aren't we?
Nope, I'm not. I've seen lots of people on the forum react this way. It appears to be a part of human nature. I was merely pointing out an observation. I was not implying a personal judgment one way or the other.
Let's see now, as for the volley swinging, whose serve is it?
oh i don't know about that. he is more happy then not but not your numbers.
Well, I have spent lots of time talking with Bratski, hundreds of conversations.....and that is what I have seen. He has a level of patience and persistence that I am envious of. He is much calmer than his words convey.
