USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]


Well, if voting makes you laugh then you probably shouldn't become a US citizen. I know it's a joke to you but it is important to me. Too many deadbeats in America already...

PS. You've gotten some bad legal advice. People lose their green cards all the time and it's not that complicated to apply for a replacement followed by a citizenship application.

USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]


How is that amusing? Voting should be mandatory. Those who do not vote because they do not want to or because they do not want to become citizens are nothing else than societal leaches. Not amusing at all.


That's pretty common in many places around the world and will become even more common. Everytime I fly into Japan, Korea and lately Singapore you stand in front of a tiny camera and a table with two glass covered areas that are for your finger prints. You show up, put your fingers on the glass table, smile and keep going.


Marynka is right. Unless you have committed a felony, as long as you have a green card applying for your citizenship is fairly easy. You don't need an immigration attorney although it'd probably make things easier for you. You fill out the paper work, get it notarized at the Post Office for example and wait. Eventually you'll have an "interview" where they'll ask some basic civics questions and then they schedule your swear in ceremony. Nothing to it inless you have some major skeletons in your closet.

PS. Six months ago I was invited to my friend's mom's swear in ceremony. She was born and raised in the UK but had lived in the US for some 30 years as a permanent resident (green card holder). She finally decided to become a US citizen and had no problems at all even though it'd been some 30 years since she became a permanent resident.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

We have people in America who've lived here for generations who still call themselves Italians. When they travel abroad they're Americans but here they're Italians because they like to hang on to their Italian traditions. Melting pot you know and some ingredients have more flavor than others. Don't see anything wrong with that. I might be oversensitive to certain aspects of this issue as Ironside pointed out but so are you.

Anyways, I'm done with this thread, no one seems to understand my point. You are talking legal issues, passports. I'm talking about traditions, memories, culture. Apples and oranges. I thought PF was a venue to discuss those items, instead more often than not it's a "you're not a real Pole", or "my country is better than your country" forum. Apples and ...rotten eggs.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I think your trip home has gotten to your brain convex. Reread my post again, am I advocating renouncing my American citizenship? Am I? This website is called Polish Forums and as such it is a venue for ALL of us who somehow feel a connection to Poland to do just that, connect. Not to discuss whose country is better or bigger or what not. It's not a "mine is bigger than yours" bragging score card. You might be a moderator but you lost the idea behind it. ...or maybe I misunderstood what PF was from day one...


...and to me those rules are as common sense as it gets.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]


I realize that, that is what I always hear from my relatives who travel to Poland. Notice I called them PF members and nothing else :)


Again, I called them PF members, that's it.

What I don't get is why there's so much venom here over something we all should be in agreement with, one way or the other we all feel something special about Poland. For some it's patriotism, for others traditions while some cling on to the melancholy of years long gone.

Yet does it really matter why? Isn't the fact we all have something in common an aspect we should cultivate and cherish? It's an amazing affair to attend a Scandinavian get-together in Minnesota. Swedes and Norwegians of third and fourth generations intermingle with tourists from Scandinavia and they all have a blast, some speak Swedish and Norwegian but most don't. ...but don't you ever imply to them they aren't real Swedes or Norwegians. ...and no one would ever try to imply that. Instead they all share their interests and talk about traditions from the past and the way things are done today. I wish we had some of that here on PF.

Now, I realize that PF is nothing like the real Poland, I know that the real thing is much, much better than what we've got here. ...but I wish some of the PF members were a little more welcoming. Whether they live in the UK, the US, Holland, Poland or elsewhere. Little less sarcasm and little more friendliness would be a nice change here.

.....
Right now I feel like we've created a cast system here on PF, notice I said we as I'm just as guilty. Within each cast we have our own "untouchables". On top of the "purity pedestal" we have the "real Poles" who ironically reside in the UK more often than not. Then we have the Plastic Poles which generally means the "Americans" and the word could also be used as a curse word (ie, "I hate you, you are so &$@&$ American!") ... because it's common knowledge that the Brits are better than the Americans, after all they ARE Europeans. Well, sort of.

So the Brits and often the Polish expats who now live in the UK (are you following me?) despise the Americans first and foremost, then they look down upon the rest of Europe followed by a feeling of contempt for the "real Poles" who they believe are clueless.

Then we have the German Poles who are torn over which side they should belong to? Whether Poland itself is a western or an eastern European country? They readily admit though that the Americans are at the very bottom of their "pure human race" scale; in fact they're just above the monkeys, ...but barely so.

We can't forget the Dutch who are wondering if they can lower the impact of the Islamic invasion of Holland by inviting a few more of those weird Christians from Poland? After all, they seem to be European, right? Well, then they hear the horror stories from their French neighbors about those Polish plumbers so they decide to stick to the Middle-Easterners. It could be worst, those immigrants could've come from America!

I shouldn't forget our Balkan friends; we have Serbs, we have Greeks, we have Croats, not really part of the Balkan culture but not too far away we also have our Turkish friends - their mutual distaste for each other is best enjoyed in the proximity of an American, then all of a sudden a miracle occurs - they become their own bestest (yes, that's a word!) friends and they mutually disembowel the American weirdo.

Then we have the real Poles. One must have been born and have lived in Poland continuously to have the right to call him/herself a Pole. A 30-day period overseas is an exception to the above rule. If anyone spends more than 30 days overseas he/she automatically becomes a Plastic Pole if the vacation destination was in the western hemisphere. If the vacation happend to be in Europe the time limit might be extended to no more than 60 days BUT only if the trip was to the UK (except Scotland), Ireland (except Northern Ireland) or the Netherlands (except the Flemish speaking areas).

Whenever a real Pole stays in a European country for more than the prescribed period his/her "Polishness" seizes to exist and the new term to be used becomes "hooligan", "frog-eater", "plastic-pole", "amero-pole", "linguini", etc., etc.

If a real Pole ventures out to a country in the eastern part of Europe the max "away" limit becomes 15 days. This rule cannot be changed. If a Pole ventures out to Russia he/she is not a real Pole and never was a real Pole, no exceptions!

......

Yes, I realize that this is just PF and not real Poland, I know that people are simply venting. However I struggle with all those "I'm better than you are" comments and innuendoes, from all sides. I joined PF to reconnect, to get encouragement but often feel that I get hate, venom and sarcasm instead.

I guess that's part of the online culture. To all you "purist" Poles (I'm talking about the PF crowd) you often forget that many of us who do not live in Poland today ended up wherever we are because of our parents, our grandparents, etc. Sometimes it was voluntarily and sometimes it wasn't.

Either way, a sense of connection and support would surely be more appropriate than ridicule and finger-pointing. I know, I am a dreamer but I am not the only one... :)

"...Bo kto siedzi w Ojczyźnie i cierpi niewolę, aby zachować życie, ten straci Ojczyznę i życie; a kto opuści Ojczyznę, aby bronił Wolności narażeniem życia swego, ten obroni Ojczyznę i będzie żyć wiecznie..."

Autor: Adam Mickiewicz

USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]


The most important one - you cannot vote without it! I cannot fathom living in a country, any country, where I cannot vote.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]


Yes you are, and you even spell grammar the way most of us do! LOL Sorry, couldn't resist.

I think this thread is absolutely silly. Most nationalities cherish and encourage exchanges with their expats no matter how they emigrated, how many generations ago, etc. Here on PF on the other hand we have several members who must have graduated from Dr. Mengele's "Pure Race Pole" labs, a disturbing and very illogical fixation on "I'm better than you are" ideology.

PS. No, I can't spell either. Just poking' fun at you, that's all. :)

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

s2good2 - I can't give you any advice as I moved from Poland when I was a kid. I just wanted to say that it's very admirable of you to even consider this. Moving to a different country is a major undertaking and as a man I'm impressed with your thoughtfulness. My hat is off to you.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Haven't followed all his posts so I'm not sure whether it's true or not but you're missing my point. What is "real" Polish society? Isn't this forum geared toward all of us, Poles living in Poland and those living abroad? Doesn't the name Polish Forums imply that everyone is welcome here? That if you feel a connection to Poland then you are invited to our dialogue?

If not then why don't we rename this venue to OnlyRealPolishForums.com? Your "pure Pole" mindset reminds me of the Lebensraum mentality. I just don't get it, you sound like a teenager whose girlfriend dumped him for a "foreigner" or "not real Pole" and now you have a grudge against all of us who do not live in Poland...

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Earlier I said:


Here's Delph's reply to Polonius3


I rest my case...

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]


Once again a person of Polish origin is vilified for being curious about his/her ancestral country. How dare he imply that he is Polish??? He doesn't even speak Polish!! ...and if he does then it's a mangled and twisted version of it!

Yeah, I too dislike fake Polish words such as Busha, etc. Yet was your reply really welcoming?

A year ago I ran into a lady in Minnesota whose grandparents came from Sweden (surprise). She told me about a trip she'd made to Sweden about 6 months prior and how she enjoyed visiting the birthplace of her grandparents. It was the only time she'd ever flown in an airplane!

I said:
- so what made you decide to visit Sweden? After all you're afraid of flying and it was a long trip.
- Oh, it was all the encouragement from the people on the Internet, people I didn't even know would say come and visit, you'll love it, you are one of us, etc. I was very surprised how friendly everyone was AND I don't even speak Swedish!

Compare this Delph to the "real Pole" inferiority complex you and many here seem to have. Yes, you are right he is an American and America is his country. Yet, was this sarcastic venom really necessary? Couldn't you have said "Welcome to Polish Forums!!" ? "Hope you'll find what you're looking for and give us a shout if you want to learn a few words in Polish, we'll be glad to help out! What happened Delph to the extra plate on the dinner table???

Language / Grammar help; Dokąd? and Gdzie? [19]



Examples:

Dokąd idziesz z tym tematem?

Gdzie się uczyłaś angielskiego?

Sorry, couldn't resist. I feel extra mean today... ;)

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]

Please do and let me know what you think whether it's good or bad. My mother ran women shelters in Sweden and unfortunately I've seen what we men are capable of. However, she also taught me that there are lots of mean and selfish women out there. So the only way to judge a person is by his/her deeds and not by what gender, race or religion they might be.

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]


With all due respect TZ I disagree with you a lot, maybe even most of the time and I don't have an anti-liberal or an anti-woman infatuation, I simply speak up when I see something wrong whether it affects men or women. That's all.

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]


Offensive phrases directed at you only, really? You've called at least one person here a moron simply for disagreeing with you and indirectly blamed my friend's divorce and his wife's infidelity on him (it takes two, remember?). Then you implied I was a cheater since I was the person who suggested mandatory testing. (your paragraph #4).

I'd say your "phrases" are just as offensive if not more.

You say that you believe in equality yet you look at everything from the prism of your own vagina, and that's a total BS. You hate discrimination, you hate sexism, you hate racism, etc. Welcome to the club because I do too. Yet your egalitarian views stop when it comes to issues that some of us men find unfair.

I never suggested the testing should be covered by the taxpayers. If you have kids you pay the bills, a $40 test (i looked it up for this thread) is all we're talking about. Although I find it ironic that a person who constantly bemoans the US for not having a larger government, universal health care, etc. suddenly doesn't want the taxpayers to foot this particular bill. This must be something new for you but that's not important here.

Either way - no you are wrong, I have never ever cheated as that is not who I am. I know that religion isn't your thing but it is for me. However that has nothing to do with religion but with your personality, my mother didn't raise me to be a cheating scumbag. So once again, you're way off.

and no I'm not a catholic as someone else implied (irrelevant but still).

If you review my past threads you'll see that I hate when women are taken advantage of, when they're mistreated and unappreciated. ...and I frequently speak up on those issues here and in my private life. However, just because many women are wronged doesn't mean I should look the other way when some men are wronged too.

To say it's ok for a man to keep paying child support for a kid that isn't his year after year is simply preposterous. If he's doing it willingly I'm all for it and in fact my hat is off to him. However if he's paying because he was lied to then it's wrong, it's callous and it's selfish. It's not fair to the child either. Revenge justice at best yet you said yourself you were ok with that.

The idea is not a popular one and I'm sure will never be implemented for many reasons but I suggested something worthy a discussion, that's all. One way or the other a man should have the right to know if the child is his. Too many men have been lied to and a simple test takes care of it.

1. Mandatory paternity tests are nonsense. People who have doubts should request them on case to case basis and pay for them out of own pocket. I don't want my insurance rate to raise because some people will not take responsibility for their actions. I don't know the law, if they require woman's consent or not, but I believe men should be able to request the test without woman's consent but only if it's in the best interest of the child.

- You totally missed my point here. The one about deceit and skillful lying. Some men never, ever find out that "their" children aren't really theirs. Some find out years and years later (child support can never be repaid). They are a minority I'm sure but yes, they do exist.

Your idea wouldn't work as if a person doesn't suspect something than why would he request a test?

2. People should take their vows seriously, and even if they are not married they should stick to one partner. Not only it solves the problem of paternity conflicts, but also excludes the risk of spreading the STDs and HIV.

- Here I agree with you 100%, in fact more than 100% but have you looked at the divorce statistics? Some 50% of marriages end up in divorces, so what happened to those vows?

3. However people cheat, men and women. But the society looks more sternly at a cheating woman. It should be regarded as equal offense.

- You're right and according to a Swedish paper a read a while back men and women actually cheat about just as much. Women more often when they're young, men more often when they're approaching the middle age, women often deny it when surveys are done, men sometimes brag about it in those surveys. Not sure how accurate the article was but in a nutshell there are male and female sluts out there - no doubt about it.

The double standard is out there, things are changing but for now yes there's a double standard and often women are their own fiercest critics.

I certainly don't condone this double standard but why are you throwing your revenge ideas into this equation? If the society looks differently at cheating women versus cheating men how does that change the fact many men pay child support for children that aren't theirs? Two different subjects. If the men are aware of it and are ok with I'm all for it but if it's done through lies and deceit then how do those societal disparities even come into picture here? A wrong is always wrong, whether applied to a man or a woman.

You're correct when you say both men and women cheat, it's despicable but it's a fact of life. In a previous post you even said that the wife of my friend cheated on him because he must have done something wrong. In my view if a person is unhappy for whatever reason then he/she should leave the marriage BEFORE he/she starts looking for a new partner. Cheating is ALWAYS wrong, there simply are no excuses.

4. People look at others through the prism of their own values and character traits. The ones who are cheaters themselves will project that trait on others. Therefore I believe those who scream the loudest that the paternity tests should be mandatory are most likely cheaters themselves (e.g. they are banging some married woman on the side) and therefore have serious trust issues.

- On this issue the only prism that you look through is your own vagina. I'm very bunt but so are you. You love the status quo because if you were to cheat on your husband and get pregnant with another man you could keep that a lie for a long time, possibly for ever. You also enjoy when men are treated unfairly as it fulfills your sense of revenge justice.

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]

Did you actually read my initial post? He had no suspicion whatsoever and paid child support all those years because she lied. Her lover was unemployed and she simply kept the facts to herself because she wanted the highest amount of money for the child support despite the fact her husband at the time wasn't the father. He had no idea she was cheating on him.

Either way, I don't expect you to understand his plight as whenever discrimination occurs to a man you simply see "someone who's had bad luck", if it's a woman who's been wronged then you see endemic, systematic discrimination. Selective sense of fairness.

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]


Of course you're ok with it because if you were a man you'd be called a sexist pig. Now you're just a selfish woman. ...and you're wrong about my friend. He's indeed very angry over the situation, primarily because despite being a good man and paying for a child that isn't his he has to literally fight to see "his" daughter as his ex always has an excuse whenever he wants to see the girl. He loves the child but in a nutshell he's paying for a child he gets to see a few days every few months; his ex-wife is using his affection for the girl to blackmail him into paying more money. I get airline discounts and arranged for him and his daughter's flight to Orlando, FL so they could visit Disney World and once again the trip had to be cancelled as the mom decided she had other plans that weekend and couldn't drop off the girl. She told him that only one day before the trip, which is very typical of her.

The situation is very one sided and it's discriminatory; you fail to see that because the current unfairness would benefit you if you decided to cheat on your husband.

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]


So I assume you're ok with my friend having been paying for another man's child all those years? Unnecessary expenses? Yeah, exactly, for years and years but you don't care as long as you get what YOU want.

Why the angry reply? Would a mandatory DNA testing impede on your personal life? If not I don't see why you care about "unnecessary" expenses. In general you like for the government to mandate and run things. So what gives here?

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]

Unfortunately this is probably more common than most of us realize. Not twin kids with two different fathers but kids who have different fathers than what the papers show. Although the majority of women (and men) are faithful a large percentage aren't. Personally I believe a paternity test should be mandatory for each and every child born, just in case.

A former neighbor of mine who later became a friend got divorced when his daughter was two. He'd been paying child support for 9 years when "his" daughter had become sick and needed a kidney transplant. During the donor compatibility testing he found out he wasn't the father after all. Being the great guy that he is he's still treating her as his own daughter despite the fact he's had to fight for time with his little girl from day one after the divorce; the ex wanted his money and nothing else. His ex-wife is a truly mean person, sarcastic and vicious are the terms that'd describe her the best. I've met her many times and was never impressed. She has gotten married and divorced once again since then. Either way, a mandatory paternity test would solve any future problems and litigations.

Sad for the kids for sure...

PS. How reliable is this newspaper though??

News / US Military: The Army of Poland is crap. [124]

Wish he ran for Prez.

Genealogy / Drzyzga name: family information in Poland [20]

It could be Jaśkowice.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaśkowice,_Lesser_Poland_Voivodeship

There's more info about that village in Polish but it'd be too difficult for me to translate as I'm not familiar with many of the Polish terms.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaśkowice_(województwo_małopolskie)

News / US Military: The Army of Poland is crap. [124]


You are totally clueless in this aspect. You have no idea how many of our guys have died by being overly protective of the civilian population, something jihadis use to their advantage each and every day.

If we are "oblivious to collateral damage" than you're a mass murderer. Both statements are about as logical.

News / US Military: The Army of Poland is crap. [124]


Perhaps you're making things up to suit your own agenda?

I've been to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and probably will be back again sooner rather than later. The only comments I've ever heard about the Polish troops were very positive. GROM forces "kicked a@&" in Iraq, I heard it several times from our own special ops guys. Never heard a so called "Polish joke" which in my view is a Polish to Polish phenomenon.

Surely there were problems but all troops and all nationalities ran into different kind of problems. Most of the stuff being said in the article is by Afghans themselves not by US commanders. Afghans by default want to deal with "top commanders" at all times, they view the Americans as the top-dogs due to the shear size of our military personnel. If the Afghans don't deal with Americans but rather with other nationalities sometimes they feel like their problems are being looked down upon because if they were viewed in a serious light surely the'd be dealing with the Americans. A flawed logic but a common one in the region. The comments in this article seem to reinforce that mentality.

Love / Getting to know a Polish Man who's first time he'e ever been in the USA [12]


I think you worry too much about him being from a different culture or him being a man. I think you should do what you'd want him to do. If you're hoping that he'll ask you out -> ask him out. Most of us men do not bite (unless you insist ;) and it's about time you leave the old school dating rules behind and do what feels natural. Once the dating becomes "official" we can easily unleash the gentleman that's lurking within all of us and chivalry becomes our second nature but initially some of us might need a gentle push in the right direction - yes, sometimes we're fairly clueless (or maybe it's just me?).

You say he's preoccupied with his work... well it could very well be BUT many of us, and I think men in particular like to bury ourselves in work when grieving past relationships. I know that my work (I have 2 jobs ;) was my savior after the divorce. It's been 2 years and I'm just now learning how to breathe again. He too could be "slow" in getting over his past failures.

Personally I think you can never go wrong with being kind to him, with showing an interest and maybe taking him out for coffee evey now and then. Sounds like you're doing all that so I say keep it up without being too intrusive.

Maybe a nice Christmas card with a greeting in Polish would make him smile. I certainly wouldn't mind getting a similar card from a lady and don't see why he would either.

Good luck to you, hope it works out...

PS. Don't by the "setback" theory in you having a child from a previous relationship. Kids are a gift whether they're "yours" or not. I've never ever heard any of my friends say "I like her BUT she has a child from her previous marriage." IF that's how he thinks (which I seriously doubt) then he isn't worth you, as simple as that.

Timed out in editing my post but the last sentence was supposed to say:

"...then he isn't worthy of having you as his partner, as simple as that."

USA, Canada / Expat Poles swearing allegiance to the US - how did you feel? [157]



Right there you proved that discussing things with you is pointless. Maybe instead of creating a thread where you pretend that you're curious about other ideas and perceptions you should create a Wroclaw Boy Monologue thread where you tell everyone else how you view the world and if someone doesn't agree than he/she is "brain dead fcuk head."

The screen name is a combination of an old call sign and what some of my friends called me. I'm not proud of any killing but if called upon and I feel its justified I will. I'm done "discussing" this with you as obviously discussion is not what was on your mind when you started this thread.

USA, Canada / Expat Poles swearing allegiance to the US - how did you feel? [157]

Very proud and grateful. Then I put my money where my mouth is and joined the military. That way if needed I'll be able to help even those who hate it here and feel like traitors such as marynka11111 and other "citizens against their will".

I won't get into discussions on what it really means to me as many of you already have a preconceived notion of our country and probably wouldn't understand; it's very hard to explain so I won't even try. I was a kid when I left Poland, I loved Sweden and still do but I never felt any patriotism toward Sweden, in fact I've never met anyone who feels patriotic in Sweden or Norway; there's the "who gives a @&$!" camp or the "what's in it for me?" society (the vast majority) and the "Sweden über alles" nationalists who mingle with the neo-nazis. That's it, no middle ground.

The notion of loving your country while respecting others simply didn't exist. I traveled a lot and saw the very same sentiment all over Europe, Germany in particular where many still are guilt-ridden over ww2 and think loving their country equals nationalism whereas in my view it's patriotism.

I can't ever imagine a Swedish or a European politician say: “Don’t ask what your country can do for you. Ask instead what you can do for your country” – I think the European version would be something like “Don’t ask when your next welfare check will arrive. Ask instead which taxes we should raise for you to keep receiving it.". I'm being facetious of course just to make a point.

The way Europeans feel about respecting and loving their own countries is the way teenagers feel about studying. It simply isn't cool, instead it's the rappers and dead-bangers who earn respect of the teens. (I'm generalizing to illustrate my point)

I'm totally ok with many of you not feeling any for if allegiance to your respective countries, to your culture to anything at all, that's your choice and I respect that. So instead of branding our way as a form of "brainwash" maybe you should at least try to respect our way. By our I mean those of us who were proud and embarrassed or ashamed on that day.

So to recap, how did it feel? It felt great and thank you for asking.

Life / The most dissapointed with Poland are those who have Polish origins. [35]


I'm crashed you forgot about me... Where's Prozac when you need it!? ;)


...and my answer is that I have noticed that. If you remember I even sent you a message to reconsider your decision to "retire" from PF as I thought you had a positive influence.

Those things upset you that much? Remember that many of the posts are written by jokesters who only pretend to be Americans, Brits, etc., and simply want to stir the pot. Look at it from my perspective, recently a moron basically posted that he was ok with the Stockholm terrorist attack because it wasn't in Poland. My parents happen to live just few blocks away and I was upset. I would be upset even if they didn't live there. It's Poland's neighbor so i figured someone from Poland would show more respect but nope, it's not Poland so it's ok.


I see your point Zeti but you also need to understand that they should be able to vent their frustrations. It's human nature you know.

Well, some of the UK Poles left Poland fairly recently so they might have more knowledge about Poland than I do, in fact I know that they do. I left as a child and haven't been back ever since. More than three decades. Yet, I studied and learned about Poland because I wanted to. So somewhat off the subject - my mom said that my Polish has greatly improved since I joined PF so maybe your and others' translations here have had more of a positive effect on PF members than you think.

Nie pretensje Zeti ale argumenty. Twój "thread?" - i dlatego odpowiadam do Ciebie. XOXOXO :)

---------


The few I'm thinking of actually were (at least that was my understanding). My main point was that we often see what we like to see based on our own biases, our own perceptions. In pilot lingo we call it "parallax error" or error in reading an instrument employing a scale and pointer because the observer's eye and pointer are not in a line perpendicular to the plane of the scale. In plain English if you look at your watch from above the needles will not be in the same position as if you look at it from the side.

Life / The most dissapointed with Poland are those who have Polish origins. [35]


Are you serious?
How many times have those of us who joined this forum been belittled for not being "real" Poles but merely "Plastic" Poles? A while back I remember a new person joined this forum and he wrote something like: "hi, I'm new here, I'm third generation Pole and am very proud of my Polish heritage, do you know where I could learn some Polish?" (I'm paraphrasing as I can't remember his entire post verbatim)

Within minutes there were several post pointing out that this person was not a real Pole as he couldn't even speak Polish. I've seen it numerous times. On one hand you see those who're disappointed that Polonia has "forgotten" their roots yet when some of us try to reconnect we're immediately reminded that we're only half-Poles, at best. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

I visit a few Scandinavian forums too and whenever there's an American of Swedish or Norwegian descent who wants to proclaim his heritage and maybe to learn a few words in the language of his ancestors the replies are usually something like "welcome home", "you're one of us", "glad you wanna learn your grandparent's language", etc. Very little sarcasm and disdain and instead a much more welcoming attitude.

Also, we're all extra sensitive to issues that affect us but often oblivious to things that are important to others. Case in point - you feel like there's a lot of complaining about Poland here on PF, I really haven't noticed that. I've noticed some racism and tons of sexism but not so many anti-Polish comments. Instead, from my perspective I see a lot of complaining about the US and to certain extent about the UK. So the irony is that although this is a "Polish" forum we seldom (from my perspective) ***** and moan about Poland but almost every day about the "evilness" of the US, it feels like PF is a cesspool of anti-American conspiracies. In fact, on few occasions I felt like the cold war was still in full swing and a large portion of PF members were free-lancing as the mouthpiece of the USSR (was it ZSRR?).

Maybe your knowledge and your understanding of us, the "plastic-Poles" is as incomplete and as inaccurate as our knowledge and understanding of you - the "real-Poles"??

USA, Canada / American...Polish Resident...Returning to the land of milk and honey [103]


cargocollective.com/4thamendment#802019/Metallic-Ink-Printed-Underwear

;)

Life / During winter in Poland, does petrol in the car freezes [60]


Don't know about petrol but the gasoline ;) does not freeze and become ice even in the state of Alaska which I frequent very often. (Unless there's water in your gas which will freeze of course).

Gasoline will freeze anywhere between -120F (-84C) and -240F (-151C) depending on the amount of ethanol and detergents and other fluorocarbons in the gasoline.

PS. Aviation fuel has special anti-freeze additives.