History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]


Some very good Turkish soldiers not only the ones who fought Jan III Sobieski and Turkey (not only Turkey) could do with a few Kemal Pashas now.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Yes, fair enough!

So what about some of these in Polish? I know there are a few in English - popular a century ago plus today's Dingbats. There are certainly plays on words in Polish - I've even made a few lame ones for fun; just can't think of any now.

Perhaps the Mods could pop these posts (from Voltaire onward) into a thread about Polish wordplay?


Autocorrect on an ipad, sorry!


Certainly J'ai something. I'll think about it in bed tonight.

Language / Message from Polish speaking friend (in English) translation help [13]


Possibly, but it could also mean that the writer thinks she is doing the right thing. When Polish people say "you have right", they mean "you are right". The words 'a right' and 'right' (as in you are right) are very different in Polish. The person who replied to you may have meant one or the other. The level of English in the message as a whole suggests they are not precise about using the word 'a'.


Yes, Looker is right. It means they are very different people, perhaps socially, economically, educationally, in outlook on life or in nationality.

Travel / Zielona Gora - What's there? [19]


I liked that one. Very hearty food, very cheap. I'm pleased to hear it's still open.

History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]

And royalty fighting well into the 19th century (something which wouldn't have been possible in Poland) and of course the King's cousin dying in WW2.

Naturally, I won't mention Prince Harry.

Quite what this has to do with Jan III Sobieski is hard to see, except worth pointing out that in his day it was expected that royalty led battles.

Travel / Zielona Gora - What's there? [19]


Yes! That name rings a bell, and I can really recommend it.

When we were there we went to a couple of other places that were nothing to remember and one fairly decent cafe (with alcohol) to the left of the station that was quite nice but Haust really stood out.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

P/Venez = venez sous per. Ci/sans = sans sous ci

Venez super a sans-souci

I wonder of there's something similar in Polish

History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]


Very untrue, Levi. Dozens of Kings went into battle and even more of their sons.

History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]

Nope, Levi, many were on the battlefield, some killed very little difference between the two countries.

Especially in the period that Jan III Sobieski lived.

UK, Ireland / What do you hate about England and English people? [142]


Bingo. If someone hates something or somewhere, why would they want to go. Or get all hot and bothered about another country's history.


You forgot the Welsh. And some of us are a mix of all four...

Travel / Zielona Gora - What's there? [19]

There's a really nice pub with a microbrewery right in the middle of the town centre. I forget the name, but you can't miss it.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Yes. The peasants raised the animals, the ruling class, and the educated - often monks (there were a lot of them) spoke Norman French.

Some similarities in Polish.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

filizanka = Turkish?

Genealogy / Are the origins of Bernatowicz French? [23]

Don't confuse the stem and the ending. Endings can change, grow, adapt or disappear.

Are you the same person who keeps asking here and elsewhere about that surname? Is it that you don't like the answer you get and wait a bit then ask again, in the hope history has changed?

Just google 'Bernatowicz Armenian' and ignore forum stuff from sundry Americans and Canadians. Look at original research - there's plenty out there. Toros Bernatowicz, an Armenian who lived in Lwów sounds an interesting guy.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Loads of those, going back centuries. Phrases like 'Court of Oyer and Terminer' which reflect the Norman French heritage of the medieval upper class. The pronunciation is often a sign of social status and education (foyer pronounced fwayea or how a Brit would read it).

Poland has such borrowings too - etui for example. In Arabic, a lift is asensor.

Languages are inherently eclectic - they're about communication after all. They all suck in and use vocabulary from other languages and this is entirely natural. Just don't tell the Academie Francaise!


In America, they grow them and have their own name, eggplant. In Britain they were mostly unknown until the seventies (posh London restaurants used to make ratatouille with cabbage!) and the only people who knew aubergines were those who'd seen them on holiday on the Cotes d'Azur, hence we use the French name.

Same with courgettes and zucchini (cukinia).

I wonder if there are many words that have come into Polish from English but are actually borrowings from French.

Edit, thinking of names of fruit and veg, the Polish word awokado comes directly from the English avocado which is actually a name made up by American marketing executives in the 60s. Based on a South American Indian word that is pronounced completely different but isn't as unappealing and marketing-unfriendly as the original name in the English language.

Food / Do Polish restaurants use dead dogs fat as a delicacy for you to eat? [41]

There used to be a restaurant near Poznan (a Korean one) that would allegedly do dog if you knew them and pre-ordered it. I heard it's nice meat. Of course it could just be an urban legend, however the wholesale Vietnam food suppliers down by Piaseczno somewhere who were putting dog and cat meat in the Saigonki is not an urban legend. The meat was analysed and they were prosecuted.

I've got a fortnight in Dubai coming up. There's a North Korean restaurant there that serves dog stew. Tempting. Last year I was stuck in that city on Christmas Day and thought I may go, take some photos, pop them on Facebook with the caption "a dog is for life not just for Christmas. But this one was just for Christmas dinner" and see how many people unfriended me.

Seriously, dog is not eaten as a rule in Poland. It is illegal to sell as meat. The infamous dog lard is an old countryside thing made for m divination purposes and belongs firmly in the past.

UK, Ireland / What do you hate about England and English people? [142]

They do all those things even more in Trollhagen

Anyway, here's a picture of a cat. Just because.

Only joking, I was going to post a picture of a cat but it would be off-topic. Oddly enough, the trolling posts probably look like they're on topic, even though they aren't, since they aren't genuine.

What do I hate about England and the English (or Britain and the British)? Well, sometimes they don't realise what they've got, what the country has achieved and how much global cultural influence there is.

News / Warsaw's silent march in support of 5th Commandment - Thou shalt not kill [75]

Who cares, Po3, who cares.

Haven't you insulted this dead family enough?

Now run along and reflect on the appalling lack of respect you've shown for these victims of a terrible crime. It's almost as if you're pretending to blame them for their own tragic deaths and saying they wouldn't have been murdered if the lady and her partner had a bit of gold on their fingers.

Disgusting.

Genealogy / Are the origins of Bernatowicz French? [23]

If you google it, there is plenty of info. One theory concerns Armenian origins.

Coincidentally several people have asked here before, some of them several times.

Food / Vegetables in Warsaw cheaper than Carrefour [10]


They're supposed to (and they don't pay tax on the stalls on that basis)

If it's genuinely their own or picked wild by them, like a lady selling poziomki or mushrooms on the street (they pay for the space by the square metre by the way) I buy from them. Otherwise, some of those street stalls are part of small chains.

News / Warsaw's silent march in support of 5th Commandment - Thou shalt not kill [75]


How do you know what 'circles' that poor dead family were in?


Yet I suspect I'm a far happier person than yourself.


Why not try to be open, positive and decent rather than


in such misery that you have to pass judgement on dead children.

Very very sad.

Food / Vegetables in Warsaw cheaper than Carrefour [10]


Very true, And what you gain on some apples being a fraction cheaper, you lose on the convenience in being able to buy other stuff at the same time.

Time is precious enough without shlepping round 5 different places to save a zloty.

Food / Vegetables in Warsaw cheaper than Carrefour [10]


Yes. The same place that the bigger shops get them from. The street stalls aren't supposed to be exotic fruit - they get their tax exemption because in theory they're selling their own produce but almost none do.

Biedronka is a bit cheaper than Carrefour. If the OP really does want cheap and doesn't mind a. getting up early and b. buying in bulk, he can also go to the wholesale market himself. I've been an the minimum quantities for some things isn't that big.

News / Warsaw's silent march in support of 5th Commandment - Thou shalt not kill [75]


Given that a) you're the person who decided to start a thread on an internet forum, spreading their personal tragedy across the internet and accusing them of:





I rather think that's incumbent on you.Since you seem to know so much about that family and their tragedy.

One also wonders how one might


given that the single mother and both her children sadly died.

But if there are any surviving kids and if there's been a fund set up directly to provide for those children's education, I'll be more than happy to send a


of $100 too, though the onus is on you (being less trustworthy) to provide proof of payment. If there isn't, I'll be equally happy to match a similar donation from you to a charity I'm peripherally involved with that helps young single mothers complete their education without being dependent on a family or a male for support.

Po3, you really do come across on here as bitter, twisted, unfulfilled, inherently evil, spiritually malevolent and generally all-round nasty. I very much hope the reality is not that bad. Really.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

You know as well as I do that parties in Poland form and re-form. Only PSL has any sort of history.

Schetyna would make an excellent premier though.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

Perhaps yes, unless they do some irretrievable damage.

I think we'll see the cracks that are beginning to form (they haven't even managed to last the honeymoon period without it starting!) become critical in the spring, and this time next year it'll be the "will they, won't they" stage before they fall. By that point we can expect Jaro as premier, this hastening the process of self-destruction.

And yes, we'll get a decade of sensible government.

News / UAE's Emaar to Invest in Poland [26]


Say it as often as you like - it doesn't make it true.There are countries far far less ethical that Poland trades with happily - remember the military helicopters to Myanmar affair?

A company like Emaar investing in Poland will bring much needed jobs. Perhaps they'll even let you have one, rather than toiling away in the Magic Kingdom.

News / Warsaw's silent march in support of 5th Commandment - Thou shalt not kill [75]

You still haven't said anything positive at all, just that you don't like one thing, but like another.

Basically grumbling while saying nothing about the unfortunate family in question.

And of course sniping at a disadvantaged family about which you know nothing except the contents of media reports.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

The recent election results and the frankly bizarre appointment of the crank Macierewicz is excellent for Moscow - essentially the worst possible regime for Poland and the best from the Russian point of view. It's a gift for the Russians, and we can be sure that they've long analysed every possible outcome and scenario.

News / UAE's Emaar to Invest in Poland [26]

None of that is to do with the anticipated Emaar investment in Poland.

Inward investment is always welcome, and anything which create jobs is good.

Hoşgeldiniz!