News / Why are Czechs more effective than Poles and Poland? [116]


How would a prick like you know that? You don't speak Polish, so you have no clue as to what is actually said, you rely on another pricks opinion instead.

Genealogy / Village near Lancut [15]

It should show you:

RZESZOW 1938 600 dpi »
RZESZOW 1938 300 dpi »

Click on the yellow tag (icon) in front of [RZESZOW 1938 300 dpi] instead of (>>) to open appropriate map, when fully loaded click on the map once more to zoom in.

EDIT: Here's a direct link to Rzeszów 300 dpi map.

Genealogy / Village near Lancut [15]

Here's a link to a very detail map of Poland prior to WWII.
igrek.amzp.pl/mapindex.php?cat=WIG100
Just click on the individual area you're interested in chose 300 dpi let it load and zoom in by clicking on the map once it loads. You'll find £ańcut In Rzeszów area but you might as well check the neighboring areas, hope this will help.

Life / Talking over people in conversations; is it a Polish trait? [41]


If you can’t beat them join them. Just to prove to yourself that they can hear you try to insult them while they speak, you’ll see how quickly they react. It’s called multitasking.

Off-Topic / Some Kurdish and Polish Similarities [53]

‘koło’ is not that farfetched, old settlements were always in shape of a circle easily defended on the step, even American settlers used this form of defence against Indians, but it goes way back when and could be of same origin. Besides he’s talking of similarities not actual borrowing or common origin anyhow.

Off-Topic / Some Kurdish and Polish Similarities [53]


I wouldn’t be so sure, I’m not a linguist but Kurdish belongs to Indo-Iranian so who knows.

Off-Topic / Some Kurdish and Polish Similarities [53]

Why limit the similarities to language? How about national anthem;

Polish starts with; ‘Poland has not yet perished as long as we shall live’
Kurdish ; ‘The Kurdish nation is alive, its language is yet spoken’

How about history? Partitions? Living dispersed throughout many nations, hell how about folklore? legends? I believe on one of your festivals ‘the procession of Newroz’ where you light up bonfires kind of similar to Polish ‘Sobótki’ where we also used to light up bonfires, probably not even remotely related but similar none the less. Now that would be interesting read, since not much is available on those topics.

Life / Do you really have to pay for your dogs to live in Poland [15]


Either way you may simply ignore to pay this fee, it’s just a German after all ;)

Joking aside the law governing the tax for dog owners has changed in 2008. Prior to 2008 it was nationwide tax in effect since the 40’s, although never enforced but since 2008 it is up to Gmina to decide if they should have such tax or not, who should pay it, who should be exempt etc, and it’s up to the local authorities how to collect it. There are many laws governing the exemptions from this tax provided you meet the requirements. I.E if you are senior citizens you may be exempt from paying this fee, if the dog you own is a seeing eye dog or you may have any other disability other then blindness where owning a dog is necessity you are exempt or if you are a farmer or land owner you do not have to pay this tax since you already pay the tax on the land you own and you may keep up to two dogs without paying this fee. Members of the diplomatic mission are also exempt. Fees are collected and govern by local laws and it differs for each Gmina; some do not have this tax at all. It all depends on where you live. I.E some municipalities might have 50% discount for senior citizens who are the dog owners, while senior citizens in other cities might be exempt all together. If you adopted your dog from the shelter you may be exempt from paying this fee or it might be at a discount. Even if you do not qualify for the exemption from this tax, the fee for owning one or two dogs might be set at one level, while the fee for each additional dog that you own might be at a much higher level. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the owner to know those things and pay this tax.

You should inquire at Gmina to see what the law is in your area, what are the exemptions, how much are the yearly fees, where should you pay this fee and what is the deadline.

Since there are so many dog owners who are exempt from this tax it is hard for local authorities to enforce it especially in rural areas, hence it's all done on an honor system. Many dog owners are not aware of this or simply ignore it and choose not to pay this fee. The only way for the local authorities to demand the payment if such tax exists in your area is when there is an inspection of the property and you are found out that you own a dog or through vetenerian services which might be required by law to report it to the local authorities. Since it’s the responsibility of the owner in the first place many vetenerians and inspectors simply ignore it, too much paperwork.

You are the land owner, you are exempt from this tax or at least on two of your dogs. Since the mayor himself shows up at your place to collect it I would simply tell him - only if you bring a good bottle of scotch.

Language / What are the Polish words of Mongol origin? [14]

Interesting article about borrowed words in Slavic languages from other cultures, you can read more about it here, [grzegorj.w.interia.pl/lingwpl/slowzap.html#z4] - Zapożyczenia w językach słowiańskich by Grzegorz Jagodziński

Look under "Zapożyczenia ałtajskie" this should give you some insight.

On a side note one of the first Europeans scholars to seriously study Mongolian language was a Pole Józef Kowalewski, author of Mongolian-Russian-French dictionary. Which reminds me, we should include him in famous Polish Russian section.

Life / Do Polish people help one another? [40]


Speaking for myself but it should give you a perspective on things I find that opposite is true. My parents instilled this idea in me but since I did traveled abroad I find myself to be less inclined to help a complete stranger. I’ve been taken advantage of, used by others etc, etc. The western attitude “it’s not my business” rubs off on you plus when you hear a Polack joke one too many times you start to develop this “F*** them all attitude” if you know what I mean.

UK, Ireland / Recently beaten up in England by 3 Polish guys [93]


What’s with Paweł? Did he kick your a** too? You do have a vivid imagination, the truth is that after that first punch that landed on your head you just saw 3, and now it just makes for a more interesting story, after all no one wants to admit he got his a** kicked by someone who’s much smaller then himself, wimp.

UK, Ireland / Recently beaten up in England by 3 Polish guys [93]



They waited for you to go back to England to kick the s*** out of you so they could have an even bigger numerical advantage over one lonely Brit like yourself? If it really was just over a girl local fellows would have kick you’re a*** long time ago because of some jealous former boyfriend of hers. Either your story is simply not true or if it is you are not telling us the reason for being jumped. Now that we know you got what you deserved tell us the real reason behind it.

History / Polish soldiers in '68 made Czech men to drink beer from his shoes... [34]


Please don’t be, Your Jewish brethren at Kremlin seen to the fate of Czechoslovakia and sealed it for the next 20 years of the communism till the Poles finally give them a chance to get rid of the yoke.


What I have claimed was that Poland was made to do a dirty deed against fellow Slavs by the Jews in 68, the interesting thing is that you have not disputed that fact.

History / Polish soldiers in '68 made Czech men to drink beer from his shoes... [34]

Manufactured, Yes. The dispute between Czechs and Poles over Cieszyn is like the dispute over Jerusalem today, what Palestinians claim and what Jews think and do are two different things. Besides your claim that Poles invaded Czechoslovakia in 68 is as much a fantasy as it is Jealousy. Jealousy, because finally after the purges of the Jews from the ranks of Polish communist it was mostly the decision of the Poles. Fantasy because it is as ridicules of a claim as saying that Poland Invaded Iraq in 2003, having a token of your troops participating is not the same as planning, executing and ordering others to do so, all of which was done by the Soviet Jews.

If I followed your logic in all of this I could conclude that it was the Jews who invaded Czechoslovakia in 68.

Love / Are all Polish men Psychos? [111]


Whatever you did he deemed it appropriate to speak his peace at the moment but obviously not serious enough to stay mad at you forever. Bipolar, don’t think so, horny perhaps, nothing better than make up sex.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


All unauthorized immigrants from Poland arrive in US with temporary visas, so in theory 100% of those that did not leave within given time frame result in visa overstay. The question raised here to which no one seems to have an answer is how are those numbers formulated? The answer might surprise many of you; it’s not based on real data collected upon entry and departures for each individual and country of origin but rather on DHS estimates. I.E. The estimate of overstays for the year 2000 is based on two sources; data on the total illegal population in US (this document is an estimate in itself) as of January 2000 and the data on what percentage of immigrants from each country are overstays (also an estimate) based on collection of I-94 forms to see who actually left the country. This system however was faulty because the bottom portion of I-94 which in theory was supposed to be recorded upon departure of an individual and compared to the top portion filled out upon arrival was sporadically collected recorded or not at all. Bureaucrats’ simply have no reliable statistics on who left the country prior to implementation of US-VISIT program.

To fix the problem with data collection INS lunched a pilot project to study why departure forms (I-94) were not being collected but were needed for comparison to come up with an accurate number of overstays just after 9/11, which in turn was scrapped in 2002 because it was not yielding desired results and excluded two major groups entering US. The Canadians admitted for up to 6 months and Mexicans entering US on border crossing cards who were exempt from filling those forms. In the post 9/11 world, out of the concern that the terrorists could also enter the US through one of the countries participating in Visa Waiver program, Canada or Mexico INS implemented an automated entry-exit system, which is now part of DHS’s US-VISIT program and is supposed to address the problems associated with the old data collection system. If successful this could finally help identify overstays accurately. I personally have not seen any report on how this program works so far.

However US-VISIT program is only a part of the equation for estimating overstays. Due to the security concerns of the potential sleeper cells that might be part of the illegal immigrants community already in US this group is also figured in the equation of overstays because they might be able to obtain jobs and security badges with fraudulent identity documents. However these are just that, the estimates. This makes perfect sense for the statistics on Poles who overstayed their visa dropping but not in the numbers desired to qualify for Visa Waiver program because of the way it is estimated based on the estimates and for that reason it never will be resolved till the legal status of those already in the country is resolved. Most of those who enter US during the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s, started a new life there, family and are caught in limbo because of the lack of comprehensive immigration reform. No way for them to legalize their stay. Unresolved status = illegal immigrant = visa overstay. Then again many of those already moved on to Canada and other countries where they could have resolve their immigrant status once and for all with relative ease compared to US. Once again these numbers are not reflected in the estimate of the illegal immigrants for a simple reason that the authorities just have no way of knowing who left. Even if none of Poles did overstayed their visa in recent years, the number would still be high due to the numbers of those who arrived in the US and the assumption made that all of them stayed due to the lack of evidence to the contrary, prior to the implementation of US-VISIT program. No I-94 form that would show they left for Canada Poland or any other country for that matter. This entire argument is moot, there’s simply no such thing as Statistics for Visa Overstay that reflects reality as it is as long as the estimate of the illegal immigrant community is part of that equation.

You might say that US security concerns as well as paranoia obscures this view.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


The issue had been raised publicly on plenty of occasions in the last 20 years or so, so it was not a secret to the US government that such policy would have been desirable for Poland but that was before Polish citizens were allowed free movement within EU yet US was always opposed to it. Visa free travel was always ignored by the US government and would have never happen. There are forces in the US that are strongly opposed to such Idea.

As to should have Poland tied that issue to some other deal with US, I personally think it’s none issue. Most Poles are not that keen on the idea of traveling to US anyway except for those who have immediate family there. Now that we are able to legally work within EU visa free travel is just a slap in the face for those who have family there or for those who might still have some positive sentiment left towards US. It is US which will ultimately lose by this opposition. Slowly but surely public opinion of the US is changing, people see that whatever deal was struck with US before US is reneging on and the reliability factor diminishes with each year passing, but I do think that this policy should be reciprocated on our part.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]

As it was explained to you before contrary to what you believe Military dose not issue visas or can set policy in that regard for the US, only Congress can deal in such matters so that bargaining chip you speak of is none existent and your excuse is nothing but a snow job to distract from the real reason to why US has such policy towards Poland. Now be honest it can’t be the friend issue now can it?, since we supported you on some issues against the wishes of other EU members proving once and for all that each EU member not only that it can peruse individual foreign policy when it comes to deal with other none EU members but it also dose.

Even if Poland blew it as you put it it dose not change the fact that US government is opposed to such a deal to happen within Immediate future. So no matter what Poland dose or say it will never happen, so stop putting the blame on Poland as somehow it was ever possible, US government will simply not allow it Case Closed.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]

And we are discussing potential reciprocation of visa restriction for US. US has separate visa agreement with each individual country, it does not deal with EU as one entity and although it is the same policy of the EU states for the entire Schengen area for US citizens, it’s only by courtesy and choice of its member states not by some law imposed by EU in regards to none EU members such as US.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


Your point is? Who cares about Uganda, if a Ugandan citizens is granted a visa to Poland he can only travel within Poland still has to apply for the visa to other European countries. Believe it or not but Poland can and dose issue visas to the citizens of Uganda China and others, and Brussels have nothing to say about it as long as visa is issued only to Poland not a Schengen visa.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


True but what Poland can do is to reciprocate in the same fashion to the way US is doing business and Brussels can’t object either.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


BS. Military has nothing to do with issuing visas period.


Like I have said earlier it can always be tested or Brussels will lose its credibility.


You got that one right. Even the **** that was part of a deal earlier they seem to renege on.


Same here, for someone that denies it.


Exactly my point, since the US citizen has to leave US on US passport because you can’t be a dual citizen even those Americans who are in position of Polish passport would still have to apply for entry visa.


Only for EU members, everyone else is in a different boat.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


Oh yes it does, Poland is a sovereign nation and any visa issued to any citizen of any nation outside of the EU is still up to Polish government. US is such a nation so they can enter other EU states if they want but since they have two separate policies towards the member states even when it comes to the issue of short term visa Poland can always claim the discretion, it’s just that they have not put that to a test yet because for some reason they brown nose US government or at least have the Brussels demand same treatment to all EU states. Either it’s one entity or separate period.

USA, Canada / What do the Poles hate and love about the U.S.? [170]


What a snow job. BS period. You really have no idea what you are talking about. Visa Waver Program was not tied into NATO membership negotiation nor missile defense, never was. It always was and is at the discretion of US government (as it should be) and it’s their prerogative who are the members of that exclusive club. It’s a way for the US government to reward friendly nations and to show the world who their special friends are. It’s not set in stone, this privilege can be revoked at any moment to any nation. It’s up to US congress not its military as to who is on the list and every so often it’s revised. Since it is customary for the countries to reciprocate in the similar fashion to the policies of the other nation in regards to visas granted to its citizens, I call on Polish government to revise the way they deal with visas for Americans entering Poland, including Polish Americans, if not traveling to Poland on Polish passport. As they say what’s good for the goose….

So be honest about it and say it like it is, you just don’t view us as friends or like it was stated earlier, it’s just another tool in the hands of Jewish lobby in US.

Life / Can foreigners really understand Poles? [136]


But that’s not always the case is it? And if you take it further to a national level that understanding and willingness to compromise (understand the other side) diminishes even further.

We are closest to understand one another at the basic unit family than nationality etc, etc, but the further you move away the lass willingness to understand you will encounter.

Life / Can foreigners really understand Poles? [136]


That’s because one side can’t comprehend where the other side is coming from. It’s true even at the relationship level ie. Husband wife and supposedly they are together because they have so much in common. Like I said; even at a tribal level it’s not always the case.

Life / Can foreigners really understand Poles? [136]



If such a thing was possible we wouldn’t have wars, discrimination, etc. We wouldn’t view others with suspicion, as alien or threatening. Just one look at any ethnic or racial joke should give you an idea how far we have evolved in that aspect or how well we understand one another or even if we’re capable to do so. No matter what culture we come from. Our intellectual capacity to understand others stopped at the tribal stage and even that’s not always the case.

Food / Why is it that some Polish people refuse to eat anything that is not Polish? [120]

Nyctrader you really ran out of things to complain about.
Since I’m Polish whatever I make be it Mexican, Chinese or Polish makes it Polish food (Polish cook = Polish food) hence I eat it every day.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


Since you insist
Mieczysław Mietkowski – Jewish
Roman Romkowski – Jewish
Juliusz Hibner – Jewish
Leon Ajzen-Andrzejewski – Jewish
The list is long, too big to fit even on the virtual paper, nationality the same, do you want me to continue?


Where were the brave Brits? Was it just another case of Britain and US being too cowardly to stand up to Russia? I wonder….


Interesting I was thinking the same of you.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


So you have no record of it, yet you still insist. Face it, no document = no proof.


We were not dominated; we were too busy digging holes under their feet for the eventual collapse. Face it, remarkable feat of engineering given how vest Russia is, all that in just 44 years.


On June 4, 1989. No thanks to you.