Life / Everything this guy says I feel about Poland [69]

Hear, hear!

Digitalization of overblown technology burrowing its little head into every aspect of our life was and remains the actual "killer" of all that was once literate, articulate, intelligent, and focused.

Youth today communicate, with exception of course, in an unintelligible series of verbal flatulence followed by giggles.
The entire planets on speed, processed sugar, and the rest of us are left frustrated at the starting post.

Life / Everything this guy says I feel about Poland [69]

"Groupy and standoffish.."

@Swirekkk,

I dare you to try to find ANY European society that isn't, cliquish or outwardly reserved to some degree!
Although only briefly in Poland, and some time ago, I'm afraid, I have lived for nearly a year and six months in Germany, returning every year until around the beginning of 2000, and I found the Germans on average far more socially distant at the outset than any of the Poles I met travelling:-)

Tough to generalize, but maybe because I've visited as well as worked in various other countries on the Continent, among them Spain, Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden, Czech Republic, I wasn't quite as disquieted as you appear to be by Polish behavior.

Give 'em a chance, would be my advice, for what it's worth.

Feedback / What made you join Polish Forums & whats attractive here? [29]

My remarks as of post #18 three years back still stand:-)

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]

Sounds like Dan Quayle:-)

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]

Glad he's holding some country other than the US today up as an example for other nations to follow, 'cuz as things stand at present, it sure ain't us!

Poland deserves plenty of belated recognition. Pity it has to be Trump on the world stage who's doing it, and probably for all the wrong reasons too:-)

Love / How to read the signals from this Polish Guy? [19]

Not your fault if it didn't work out, neuf.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

So I exaggerated the brevity of my stay.
Fact is, I already had studied Polish for at least four years prior to visiting Szczecin and her surroundings.
My Polish teacher, Pani Jola, let me stay with some friends who spoke almost zero English, however, fluent
German, and so my sojourn wasn't a total loss:-) Pretty historic quarters (Stare Miasto, Stettiner Altstadt)!

Love / How to read the signals from this Polish Guy? [19]

If it honestly bothers you that much, go and ask him, "What's the deal?" Figure he knows English well enough:-)
Short of that, use smoke signalsLOL

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

A few weeks, actually, but ahh, who's counting:-)
The menus were still just as dusty, the service just as unsmilingly Commie-Era,
and the offerings just as satisfying! Didn't have to eat much for at least a day or so
after that lunch.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

When I was first in Poland during the mid- to late 90's, I had absolutely zero problems with supposed "bad Polish manners"!

Only thing I remember, undoubtedly merely a holder over from the recent demise of Communism, was that when I went to a relatively bourgeoise-looking establishment for lunch, I noticed that even during a weekday, the place was nearly empty of customers, save for a few regular types.

Moreover, I could've sworn the menu stack had a thin coating of dust on ㅑㅅ almost as though they were barely used except for display purposes, and when I called the waitress' attention to my table, I was barely greeted and was gawked at for a second as though I had two heads:-)

They spoke no English and so I naturally was only too pleased to speak Polish, ordered my food and that was it.

I suppose a lone walk-in diner was a novelty for them.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

Here, as in most other languages, I always used "Ty".
Curiously, a Polish colleague once confided that if a contemporary introduces themselves with their diminutive in the familiar form, e.g. "Czesc, jestem Romek!", that familiarity should be maintained.

Unlikely therefore, that a Pole would ever 'slip', and revert from "Romek" to 'Roman" and not draw attention from the other person.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

If it's a vulgarism, then I'm certain to steer clear of it:-)

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

Possibly related to "rzykac" = modlic?
I'm not conversant with Silesian, although I'm able to recognize it when written, not spoken.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

Two separate verbs, two separate root forms, "rzyc" vs. "zyczyc"!
:-)

Language / Pronunciation question: ę at the end of a sentence [5]

In rapid speech, I've only very rarely heard the final "e-sound" distinctly pronounced, except actually for my
Polish teacher who by that time was quite an elderly woman:-)

Other than that, it usually sounds much like an unstressed 'schwa' to my ears.

Language / The rule determining pronunciation of " sprawdź " in the Polish language [3]

Palatalization in Polish can indeed be challenging, as that final "z + mnaki znak" almost seems to disappear if pronounced by a Polish
native speaker. A challenge for me was "przyjazn". Must have repeated it as many as fifty times before my native-born teacher finally gave
it her seal of approval:-)

Love / What do I need to know as an American about a Polish man? [15]

Stereotyping's just a convenient peg upon which to hang one's experience of any particular group:-)

My own encounters with Polish men (as well as women) have been typically that of my ESL students, therefore limited to a microcosm of only the most interested visitors to the States. For this reason, it wouldn't be quite fair to evalutate them in comparison with those whom I met while visiting Poland.

I will say, that Polish men on the whole gave the distinct impression of almost dogmatic self-confidence and assertiveness about their beliefs, sometimes to the point of appearing direct, even blunt or didactic.

In this way, they tended to resemble many Germans I observed while living abroad, only much more emotional on the surface.

Please stick to the topic

Life / Small Personal Experience in Poland [6]

@Nathans,

I nevertheless respect glpswt for forging ahead and learning the language!
Although there for only several weeks total and some time ago I'm afraid, couldn't even begin to imagine what a disappointing, not to mention frustrating, time I'd have had if I hadn't known the language.

Instead, I had a wonderful, although terribly brief, stay:-)

Life / Why are the Italians and Polski so much alike? [90]

Couldn't agree with ya more, Milo.

Travel / Is it safe to drive in Poland? [43]

I agree with that, Nathans.

Travel / Is it safe to drive in Poland? [43]

Is then national safety an "overreach" of the government?
You're a Republican at heart, I can tell just by your brief post; you'd ideally like limited government aka a caretaker administration which allows citizens to do as they wish (a la Ronald Reagan), if certain folks are dissatisfied, well, that's life!

Am I right so far, Nathans?

Life / Why are the Italians and Polski so much alike? [90]

Italians appear often far more physically demonstrative, even the Northerners, in comparison with those Poles
I've encountered over the years, as well as in movies.

Poland by contrast has had an especially tragic and challenging history, whereas Italy, from Rome to the Renaissance up through the Risorgimento, has
been one of the most culturally blessed nations in Europe, perhaps the world, able to draw upon so much, frequently the envy of others, both in food as well as fashion and cinema, for example:-)

These differences have stamped the respective character of both countries, making Italians in general whom I met while traveling in
Italy far more naturally self-confident, able to easily publically withstand ridicule, being as the latter can always claim Ancient Rome,
Michelangelo, Bernini, Vivaldi, Verdi and so forth, whenever their nation has been impugned throughout the centuries.

In this way, Poland seems at times to resemble more Germany than their closest fellow Slavs, in their constant, indeed strident,
assertions of and need for the approval of their neighbors.

Life / Political correctness in Poland [210]

Bandying about the term "Nazi" in public is ill-advised, Dirk!
Folks might well take it the wrong way:-)

Some stupid politico several years back made a nice faux pas when she referred to the plight of the Native Americans
on reservations as a "Holocaust" which this country has allowed for far too long!

No, it wasn't Sarah PalinLOL

Genealogy / Slavs are descendants of Sarmatians? [600]

@Nice one there, paw:-)

Genealogy / Slavs are descendants of Sarmatians? [600]

abc, my meaning was crystal clear, in English or Polish.
I don't chew my cabbage twice!

News / POLES FEEL LIKE JEWS HAVE TOO MUCH CONTROL IN POLAND - TRUE? [209]

Familiar tropes about the Jews having "too much control":-)

How much pray is too much vs. too little?

You can't answer that!

Genealogy / Slavs are descendants of Sarmatians? [600]

Aha, linguistic "laws", for example "Das Vernersche Gesetz", after the Danish linguist, are quite another thing from mere theory, based usually on conjecture or projection:-)

News / Russia says: WE'LL NUKE POLAND [150]

Russia like to talk tough but usually it's just a smoke screen. Even following Crimea, Lavrov admitted, unwillingly I'm sure, that there might still be room for negotiation (aka 'blyat').

LOL

Genealogy / Slavs are descendants of Sarmatians? [600]

Indeed.

According to several relatively reliable-looking Wiki links I just pulled, there IS in fact a degree of semantic similarity between Modern Lithuanian and
Sanskrit, however not to the degree once claimed long ago that Lithuanian peasants as Baltic speakers could understand fluently a sermon or whatnot
given in Sanskrit!

Genealogy / Slavs are descendants of Sarmatians? [600]

@gumishu,

Nobody here's certainly denying extensive transmigration of peoples. It's simply that to suggest, as had been suggested by certain scholars, that Lithuanian farmers

of the present day can possibly understand intelligibly prayers being chanted in Sanskrit, is preposterous:-)