Love / Asking Polish Girl to be in a relationship [22]

I'm afraid to ask how old this young lady might be.
If she's truly a "girl", make sure she ain't jail bate!:-) You might want to charm her with a little bit of her own language too.

My advice from someone who had an erstwhile courtship with a Polish woman long before I was married, is simply GO EASY and don't rush things.

Had I followed my own counsel way back when, who knows, I might have tied the knot after all.

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

Such a crying pity.
And the kicker is, as I've said before, even when the interlocutor speaks excellent Swedish, far too many Swedes
will automatically assume their partner prefers English, usually far better (if an educated American native speaker) than that
of the Swedes.

So long as your Swedish buddies don't forget that they're practicing their English to the same degree that you're continually
polishing your Swedish, you should have no problems:-)

I'm still in touch with one gentleman in particular from Stockholm and we've never spoken a syllable of English since the late
'80s, about the time we and our respective lady friends at the time first met!

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

Often, as you say, it's responding appropriately to unspoken, indeed, the "silent" yet ever present language of social cues.
Swedes, as with most Western Scandinavians aka the Danes and the Norwegians, (I'm excepting the Finns, who are of course non-Germanic),
although different, tend to interact similarly in close quarters by frequently maintaining an enviable even keel, a kind of ineffably relaxed social grace
in my experience rather out-of-character for Poles as well as other Slavs!

Out-of-control discussion or loudly gesticulating with one's hands, raised voices or the like are still considered rather unsightly in Sweden, where
the emphasis has usually been on equilibrium instead of necessarily always "being in the right" about something. Oh the Swedes are plenty opnionated allright, but in contrast to many other groups, they try above all not to take themselves too seriously.

Unlike Poles, Swedes will more often than not, casually switch over to English, particularly the young urban professionals, once they sense that you're not Swedish,

something which can appear most condescending.

Life / What do decent Poles think about true rightists ? [148]

Define if you would "decent" Poles. I'm almost certain the average Pole believes himself to be quite decent.

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

Rumchajs,

I reiterate my prior question as to whether or not you've learned any Swedish since living in the country:-)
Although many years since I was there, I recall even during the '90's many younger Poles were already moving
to Sweden, both to work as well as to live.

Reactions were mixed, as I recall.

Life / Would Poles prefer US or UK medical care? [112]

In itself of course, an unspeakably horrible concept, meant solely as an easy way out of life's often unsurmountable difficulties!
One doesn't ameliorate, that is, eliminate suffering by short-circuiting it, but by seeking ways to include humanity and doing what we've done
for thousands of years with the feeble-minded.

Lower-level societies might stone, punish, or put to death those who were deemed weaker or "less productive" aka the Nazis following suit with
many of the ancient pagans.

Advanced, more to the point, ENLIGHTENED, civilizations who have graduated from being mere "societies" know that even the most challenging among us
needs integration and a fair chance to make their poor lot in life a little less so, by leavening their stay here on earth.

It's always simple to do the expedient, much harder and in the end more rewarding, to do what is fair and right.

Sadly, Oliver Wendell Holmes advocated the attrition of the feeble-minded in our midst. From whence do you think the Nazis got the idea of state-run euthenasia?

Thank heavens the US didn't follow later Chief Justice Holmes' lead:-)

Travel / Where to buy marihuana in Warsaw? [38]

Atch,

Refer to the language thread on Polish-English malopropisms and have a good laugh.
Reminds me of Archie Bunker on "All In The Family" talking about having no respect for any religion (Catholicism, as Archie was an arch W.A.S.P. bigot par excellence)

"where the head guy there's whatcha call, uh- inflammable (rather than infallible), further complaing about "all dem unflocked (rather than defrocked) priests..."

Could've died laughingLOL

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

"Divide and conquer", is that what you mean?

UK, Ireland / SMART MOVE! Thousands of Poles are leaving the UK because 'life is a piece of s*** here now'. [26]

Won't be the first time the press got it wrong.

UK, Ireland / SMART MOVE! Thousands of Poles are leaving the UK because 'life is a piece of s*** here now'. [26]

I read something similar in the NYT. Haven't seen the London Times though, I will admit. Wonder too what the German press reports are about that.

UK, Ireland / SMART MOVE! Thousands of Poles are leaving the UK because 'life is a piece of s*** here now'. [26]

As I said around the first rumblings of BREXIT, "It ain't gonna be long now!"
Told ya so:-)

Off-Topic / Funny mistakes by Polish users of English [34]

A person can also be a beard as wellLOL

Polish mispronunciation of English, leading to those amusing malapropos mentioned previously, in large measure stems from those fierce consonant clusters along with
gentle "dropping" of the 'r-sound' in words such as "gorzy" > "gAUzy" etc. That almost whirring-type sound scarcely translates into English distinctions like "beard", "bear", "bird", and so forth, as well as pronouncing a word like "perfORmance" correctly. Then of course, there's also syllable stress.....

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

A portentious date indeed, as the prospects of a world any year about to hover on the brink of war grows ever more ominous!
Let's hope Trump and Gim Jung (Mentally-) Ill will finally come to some accord.

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

Zhukov though was a tough bird and doubtless would have anticipated Hitler's rigid impetuousness.
Most likely, he would have anticipated the Germans, albeit the General Staff scoffed at much of their
Fuehrers poor knowledge of military tactics, and probably would have surprised the Nazis.

I'm sure the top Russian tank experts could match a Heinz Guderian any day!

Off-Topic / Funny mistakes by Polish users of English [34]

If you even bother shaving your bird, make sure then that it's a pocket razor....for a close shave:-)
"Bird" is older US slang for the male organ!
LOL

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

As a student of history, I'd tend to agree.

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

Had he done so, Bobko, why then did he insist that Manstein, Paulus and Runstedt engage in a Russian campaign in the first place? If he really took those lessons to heart which you're suggesting he did, he certainly was not a quick study:-)

Off-Topic / Funny mistakes by Polish users of English [34]

As "gwiazda" can mean both the astronomical as well as the entertainment variety, specific cultural context aside, I think one might easily see the allusion.

News / Will Polish people and Poland be forever slaves and nobody? [20]

Do you mean "well wishers", perhaps?

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

Many of the "worst" aspects of living in Poland would seem to me, a seasoned professional visitor abroad for many years, to be
none too different from the same complaints I can recall about any number of other European countries, (at least regarding the service sector)
namely France, Germany, The Netherlands, and much of Scandinavia:-)

News / Will Polish people and Poland be forever slaves and nobody? [20]

Many assimilated Polish Jews were patriotic indeed. Don't let's lump shettl Jews with urban Jews.

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

Sure, his arrogance lost him the Eastern Front:-)
Thank G-d for such arrogance....

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

Hitler,of course!

USA, Canada / An Ashkenazi Jew's Gratitude to Polish Americans [9]

Good, it's a bother for both of us! Just take my word for it, Milo!

USA, Canada / An Ashkenazi Jew's Gratitude to Polish Americans [9]

Then for that, I too must apologize because what I said was the exact opposite!

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

Hitler stupidly waged a two-front war, and merrily ignoring his advisors, refused to quit while he was ahead on the Western Front, boldly defying the Russian winter as though he'd never even studied Napoleon's failure of taking on the Russian Bear!

Off-Topic / Funny mistakes by Polish users of English [34]

Amusing nevertheless!

USA, Canada / An Ashkenazi Jew's Gratitude to Polish Americans [9]

For the bleedin' umpteenth time, Milo, you royally misunderstood many of my previous posts; I never blamed ALL Poles for the excesses of a minority.

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

In the US, there essentially is no real intimacy (save the rawest and most physical!) because there is no true distance!

Old joke: What does a European call a person to whom they can share their innermost feelings, emotions, or tears? - Their friend.
What does an American call the same person? - Their shrink! LOL

My point is that you are for some odd reason perturbed by Poles, perhaps other Europeans as well, who don't say "ty" aka "du", "tu" etc. right off the bat as is everyday normal in the US. Try to accept their culture and much older history, remembering too that even the Brits, along with the rest of Europe have a monarchical tradition which bowed to their royalty; Americans kicked out ol' Georgie Boy during the Revolution, and vowed thereinafter NEVER to bow anybody again, but simply a firm, homespun handshake followed shortly by the first name to show that everyone's "equal".

Poles and most Continentals still don't feel that way. So who is to say who's right? We're not talking civil rights violation of women or shrinking heads or similarly savage behavior:-)

Life / Worst aspects of living in Poland? [82]

Once more, I only agree with the second part of your last statement.

However, it's simply a matter of getting used to, that's all. I always advise first-time travellers; if you're typically "annoyed" by foreign cultures in your face - STAY HOME!!!

:-)