News / Poland Elections oct 2011/your feed back about RP Janusz Palikot? Poland is changing! [106]


Check out the graphs. People from all walks of life and of all ages voted for Palikot:

News / Poland Elections oct 2011/your feed back about RP Janusz Palikot? Poland is changing! [106]


But he did get 10% votes. I for one do not think that he is a clown - he is more of a jester.

Language / pisać-pisanie, jeść-jedzenie, what is the rule for jeść to jedzenie? [9]

spaść - spadanie

Language / pisać-pisanie, jeść-jedzenie, what is the rule for jeść to jedzenie? [9]

pisać and jeść are verbs; pisanie and jedzenie are nouns.

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


actually you are quite right - I somehow managed to blank out twardy dysk and twardziel ;-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]

lunch - known since before the war

hard drive - normal useful borrowing, nothing to see here, move along

meeting - known since before the war

weekend - known since before the war

parking - normal useful borrowing, along with parkować, known for years and years and years, probably since before the war

trendy - short-term "fun" borrowing, will disappear within a decade

cool - as above

super - known since before the war

...so what do we have here? One technical borrowing "hard drive" and two "fun" words - cool and trendy. Wow - some invasion, huh?

Care to give me any real examples of this terrifying attack of English?

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Some did, especially in secondary schools and university. The fact that it was often lousily taught is another matter altogether. My mother had English at school still under Stalin.

Do you think nobody learnt English in Poland until 1989?
Jeez.


Having English at school or uni and actually learning a language enough to speak it are two different kettles of fish. I also find it mildly amusing to say the least.


What new words exactly?

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Not true. Some were, some weren't. Stop generalising.


That doesn't mean they didn't know what internet was, or that they wouldn't be able to use the word "internet".

You are confusing two completely different issues here. I cannot make architectural drawings, yet I immediately recognise them when I see them. I cannot solve math equations, but I know what their structure is. I could go on. An older person can easily recognise and name items of new technology, but may be reluctant to use them. They will understand most of the newest vocabulary without necessarily feeling the need to employ it. It is the young who are at a disadvantage - they have no knowledge of technologies, concepts, or vocabulary which have preceded their arrival and are now seen as outdated. ;-p

Language / Ambulans displacing karetka - similar meaning of different Polish words? [19]

If anything, ambulans is more old-fashioned.

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Yeah, 'cause 50-year-olds are generally Alzheimer-riddled senile drooling idiots. What sort of world do you live in? The people who are 60 today were young in the Sixties and I bet have experienced more than you ever will ;-p

I can never understand this condescending tone toward anyone over 40. Intelligent people don't suddenly stop learning new concepts or expressions just because they have lived a certain amount of years.

BTW, what exactly are these magic "new words" that you speak of?

UK, Ireland / Grateful Polish photographer stitches up his Welsh hosts [96]


Then kindly upload some pics of young middle-class Polish women lying comatose from drink among piles of rubbish in Warsaw, exposing their underwear and abandoned by their "friends". Do it. You know you want to.

Language / Which language is easier for Poles? [43]


Are you serious? How did you arrive at this conclusion? Have you ever found yourself in a Kashubian-speaking environment? And why would you place Ukrainian and Belarusian so low on the intelligibility scale?

USA, Canada / Polish or American Education? [180]


Exactly how can you tell?

Language / How many words does the Polish language have? [30]


Did you miss the word "estimate" in the article? ;-p

Language / Weekend vs Łikend [15]


lots of other languages don't have a specific term for the end of the week either. you can always say "koniec tygodnia" or "sobota i niedziela" if you really want to ;-p

Love / Talking to a Polish man on "ty" terms [13]

No one would beat you up for this, you would simply sound rude (unless you're both around the same age and under 30).

Life / I was cursing Poland daily, then returned home, but now thinking of going back.. [39]


Well, I one for one would be interested in the examples, and I want them hair-raising (i.e., they must be more shocking than what I see and hear about in the UK on a daily basis). Deal?

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Weren't they speaking a local dialect of some sort? This would explain much of your problem. While a dialect of this sort would incorporate both Czech and Polish elements, they would be mixed and matched in a manner totally unfamiliar to you.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


well, they are. nadávka means insult.

this only serves to show how Polish and Czech overlap in Silesian, which btw is a perfectly normal linguistic phenomenon at any long-established border.

"Słuchajcie uważnie, bo wam coś wyjaśnię", but
"Posłuchajcie teraz mojej opowieści" -
absolutely normal in Polish.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


But don't you think Silesian might have dialects? Like Czech and Polish Silesian?

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Silesian Czech and Polish dialects, as well as highlander Polish and Slovak dialects, overlap very nicely... :-)

Silesian dialect (language?)"

krajane.czu.cz/geografie-nab/doku.php?id=slezstina

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Marian, esp. so-called "wonsaty marian" ;-)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Józiek would be the slightly retarded, unsophisticated, and unkempt brother of Józef ;-)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Calm down, it's OK, I just wanted to get my point across ;-)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


OK, the Poles are Jóźki. Polacy to jóźki takie. Do you like it? Cause it's not Janek, its Józiek with all the negative connotations.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


I never said it wasn't. So now tell your friend "Vy Češi jste takový pepíci. My Poláci vám tak říkáme protože nám to připadá vtipný."

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Google says: No results found for "bosý Antek".

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Yeah, the Poles are ever the wide-eyed innocents, never meaning any harm, never a bad intention between the lot of them ;-)
About the laughing: let's try a simple linguistic experiment, shall we?

"Riž sta dve vrsti iz družine Poaceae (trave), in sicer Oryza sativa in Oryza glaberrima. Izvorno obmoèje riža so tropski in subtropski deli južne in jugovzhodne Azije ter Afrika. Riž je vir veè kot petine kalorij, ki jih zaužije èloveštvo.[1] (izraz »divji riž« se lahko nanaša na divje vrste rodu Oryza, navadno pa na divje in udomaèene vrste sorodnega rodu Zizania.) Je enoletna rastlina in zraste med 1 in 1,8 m visoko, ob ustreznih tleh pa lahko nekatere sorte zrastejo še višje. Za vzgojo je potrebno dosti vode in dela. Zelo je razširjen v deželah s ceneno delovno silo. Kultiviranje riža se je zaèelo hkrati pred veè kot 6500 leti v veè deželah. Letna proizvodnja znaša približno 600 milijonov ton in na prelomu 21. stoletja je prehitela proizvodnjo pšenice ter koruze.[2] Generalna skupšèina OZN je proglasila leto 2004 za leto riža."

"Rýže (Oryza) je rod jednoděložných rostlin z èeledi lipnicovitých. Původ má v tropických oblastech Afriky a Asie. Je známo asi 20 druhů. Celkově rýže dodává asi dvacet procent[1] kalorické spotřeby lidské populace.

Rod rýže se dá rozdělit na rýži setou a rýži horskou.[zdroj?] Rýže setá je nejrozšířenější, ale je nároèná na zavlažování. Nejkvalitnější odrůdy jsou vhodné pro vaření a obsahují vysoký podíl škrobu. Oproti tomu horská rýže není tak nároèná na zavlažování a mnohde se pěstuje bez závlahy. Výnosy tohoto druhu jsou však nižší a zrno není tak kvalitní.

Zrno rýže je tvarované velmi různě. Jsou zrna podlouhlá, oválná až kulatá, krátká a dlouhá. Od tvarů pak plynou názvy odrůd: dlouhozrnná, krátkozrnná, kulatozrnná."

We have here two Wiki texts about rice. One is in Czech, the other in Slovenian. I am not even sure you will know which is which, but let's try. Find the Czech text and point out to me how it is inherently more funny to a Pole than the Slovenian. If you can do that, I'll eat my hat.


I just explained in a post above that your intentions have nothing to do with it. The Czechs somehow do not find it funny.


Never ever heard that one.


So does "Józiek". That doesn't make it sound any better.


Sure, nobody's gonna die because of it, but could you possibly try to understand it's just not terribly nice, so if you use it, don't be surprised if at least some Czechs get annoyed.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

But you do agree that pyry, centusie, or gorole are meant to sound slightly derogatory and / or funny? Than what's the deal with saying that pepiki is OK? It's not OK, it's a put-down ;-P

What makes me angry about pepiki is that Polish people use the name and claim it's harmless. That's it's actually rather nice. No, it's not nice, and if you use it, please be aware of what you are actually saying. If you want to make fun of Czechs, by all means use it. If you want to be nice to them, then don't use it, because it won't work.

Do you understand what I'm driving at?

Also, "pepiki" doesn't work even in friendly banter, for some reason. The level of contempt it contains is too high. It's simply not a friendly name. Take it from a Czech.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


It is rather unpleasant, I am afraid. Pepík is a diminutive of the name Josef, but not necessarily a pet name. Compare with Polish Józek or Józiek.

Calling a whole nation "Józki / Jóźki" is derogatory and patronising.

If you're Flemish, think of a given name you would associate with a rather stupid, slow, and slovenly man in your country, and imagine another nation is calling you that. Of course, you can live with it, but it's definitely not pleasant.