Genealogy / GREGORY STECKIEWICZ: Tracing a Polish citizen living in Warsaw 40 years ago. [9]

STECKIEWICZ: root is Stec (pet form of Stefan); the -wicz ending is patronymic, ergo Stevenson.

Off-Topic / How do Polish people operate? what makes them tick? [103]

That is an interesting question - what makes Polish people tick? Naturally no matter what one says someone will counter that this is stereotyping and generalising. Nevertheless, sociological surveys show that different tendencies predominate in different countries. Wouldn't it be purposeful to create a comparative thumbnail sketch of different nationalities, for instance: Polish, German, Russian, Swedish, French, Italian, Irish, etc. Regional differences in many countries further complicate matters (eg Sicily and North Italy, Protestant north and Bavaria in Germany). One might consider such categories as:

truthfulness, punctuality, hospitality, bravery, industriousness, innovativeness, creativity, stubbornness, loyalty, altruism, patriotism, nationalism, tolerance, intolerance....etc.

Love / Goal: Meet a nice Polish girl! [60]

No, all I'm saying that if your interested in biking you'd be better off at a Hell's Angels meet-up than a bird-watchers' society meeting, and a heavy metal fan would probably feel more comfortable at a Nergal concert than at the philharmonic. Do you believe there is a larger percentage of traditonal family value advocates hanging around clubs and pubs than in movements devoted to such values? Maybe you're just quarrelsome. So be it. You've got every right to be if you want.

Love / Goal: Meet a nice Polish girl! [60]

This may drive the PF's inveterate Catholic-bashers up the wall, but here goes anyway. The club and pub scene may be good for one-night stands and meeting HIV-positive harlots, but for a more serious, stable amd substantive relationship, you can't beat the Academic Ministry (Duszpasterstwo Akademickie), Sodality (Sodalicje), and pilgrimage circuit and the like.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying people involved in the above are 100% sinless angels. B16 has openly stated : 'We are a Church of sinners.' Some, maybe even many go on pilgirmages just for something to do or becuase their friends are going rather than out of any deep spiritual need or motivation. But when all is said and done, chances are in active Catholic circles there will be a higher percentage of people attached to traditional family values, restraint, self-control, moderation, loyalty and the other things one rarely encounters on the trollop circuit.

Genealogy / Looking for information on Bonk family that settled in Washington County, Illinois [8]

It was not unusual for different family members to spell their name differently, esp. back in the days of widespread illiteracy. With the spread of literacy, some people whose surname had been misspelt or written in peasant dialect, eg Dombek or Wiżba, corrected it to Dąbek and Wierzba, but others did not.

Genealogy / Family Name: Mietek [5]

MIĘTEK: root-word either mięta (mint, the herb) or miętki (dialectal for miękki = soft), ergo perhaps 'softie'.

Genealogy / Looking for information on Bonk family that settled in Washington County, Illinois [8]

BONK: Indeed, only some 2,000 people in Poland use the spelling Bonk, whilst 33,000 sign themselves the original way Bąk.
Bonk in Poland is a misspelling rooted in former illteracy and/or foreign rule, whilst in the English-speaking world it is usually an attempt at a phonetic respelling to facilitate pronunciation. Left intact, the ogonek would have been disregarded and the name would end up being pronounced like English 'back'.

Only the immigrant ancestor's oriiginal Old country documents (baptismal or marraige certificates, passport, etc.) can determine whether he came to America as a Bonk or a Bąk.

MUSIA£: from the verb musieć (to have to) expressing compulsion.

Genealogy / Looking for information on Bonk family that settled in Washington County, Illinois [8]

BĄK: Bonk is a phonetic American respelling. Numerous meanings including: horsefly, top (child's spinning toy), idleness (bąki zbijać) and.....breaking wind (puścić bąka).

Language / Can anyone tell if this phrase is right: Zestrat sie a nie Podat sie [5]

It conveys the notion of 'sh-- in your pants but never give up!'

Life / Im a Black American Moving to Poland. Worried about adaptation. [47]

Do you speak any Polish? Polish people in general appreciate when foreigners try to speak Polish, even if haltingly. They are unlike the French who despise anyone, esp. Americans, who mangles their sacred tongue.

I know it must be disconcerting or uncomfortable, but it's only natural that people may stare at something unfamiliar or exotic. A British tyre expert building a plant in a remote location of provincial China about 2 decades ago told me how people would crowd round and mothers would hold up their youngsters to give them a glimpse of 'pale-faced round eyes' walking down the street.

Genealogy / Czappa / Klein - Kashubian name / Putzig, Puck Poland? [8]

CZAPPA: root-word either czapa (cap) or obsolete verb czapać (to grab, get hold of, pinch [steal]); a vestige in modern Polish is the verb capnąć.

CZAPPA: there is also the toponymic option -- a tag identifying an inhabitant of the Pomeranian villages of Czapie or Czapiewice.
And a descriptive source: czapa as a variant form of ciapa (simpleton, oaf, dullard).

News / Don't let Poland become like my country, France. [630]

In the US the main problem are wetbacks, illegal aliens mainly from Mexico and other Hispanic countries. They cross the broder illegally, double up with their already insatlled compatriots in Hispanic ghettoes and immediately land on the dole, get child support, food stamps, free medical treatemnt and other welfare perks but often do not work or pay taxes. Ordinary hard-working tax-paying folk are fed up with it all, but the wetbacks keep coming and coming. And the liberal mainstream media and the 'politically correct' entertainment-industry types eagerly hurl labels such as 'racist' and 'bigot' when anyone tries to point this out.

This seems to be a world-wide thing which, if unchecked, may well eventually spell the undoing of Western civilisation.

Don't make this thread about the USA.

Work / Holocaust and gender studies in Poland? [33]

Auschwitz was originally set up for ethnic Poles. The Jews came later and were dealt with mainly at Birkenau about a mile away.

News / Poles not promoting their own country? [9]

In a nutshell: Italian film producer Alessandro Leone, 35, who is fascinated by things Polish and speaks Polish fluently, tried to interest TVP in co-producing the Battle of Veinna. RAI would contirbute 40 mln zlotys and TVP only 10 mln. After much long-distance negotiating an Italian delegation travelled to Warsaw, but TVP head Romuald Orzeł knew nothign about it. The Italians were told

'don't phone us, we'll phone you.' After months of futile attempts by Leone to touch base, text messages and emails remained unanswered and nobody was available by phone. Leone was surprised of such behaviour regarding one of Poland's few great international victories.

I have personally encountered similar situations where sympathetic outsiders were more interested in promoting something Polish than Poles thesmelves. How about you?

[i]I got a letter : " My name is Alessandro Leone , I am a film producer and dealing with the promotion of Polish culture in Italy and the distribution of Polish films . I wanted to TVP interest in cooperating in the production of the film » Battle of Vienna . '"

Italy is 35 years old , speaks Polish . He says he loves Poland.[/i

Work / Holocaust and gender studies in Poland? [33]

In many US schools Second World War history is mainly holocaust history. There is also a separate discpline called Holocaust Studies which is strongly promoted by certain quarters.

Work / Holocaust and gender studies in Poland? [33]

Michnik has repeatedly defended the communsit crimes of his family by his silence. His father was a Comintern subversive, his mother -- a Sovietiser (schoolbook distorter) of Pollish youth; brother desk-top murderer now hiding in Sweden.

He has also defended criminals Jaruzelski and Kiszczak, whislt discrediting true patriots such as Kuklinski.

Genealogy / Popular Polish Names during the 1920s through the 40s? [16]

You are aware of the fact that 1940 - 42 were war years where not social advancement but sheer survival was the prime concern.

News / Dumbing-down in Polish schools and the Matura [185]

PC = political correctness

Genealogy / Looking for REM family [20]

REM: derived from first name Remigiusz.

Food / Recipe for regular "Przepalanka" (specific ingredient amounts) [5]

I would suggest 1 litre grain alcohol, 1 litre cold preboiled water and 1 cup sugar.
Proceed as you have indicated abovve. Instead of 'cukier waniliowy' (which is made with vanillin-- a synthetic substitute for vanilla), I would suggest adding 1/2 - 1 t pure vanilla extract (a liquid). The juice of 1 small lemon and/or 1 heaping tablespoon honey may also be added. Na zdrowie!

Genealogy / Adam Gegotek or Anna Gęgotek [9]

GĘGOTEK: from verb gęgać (to gaggle - sound made by a goose).

Genealogy / Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - my Lithuanian ancestry? [10]

PACEWICZ: patronymic for 'son of Pac', a common name in the NE Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian borderlands. Naturally the Lithuanian version is Pacevièius and in Ruthenian it would have been Пацевич. It is often difficult to determine who traces his acnestry to Polonised Lithuanians or Lithuanianised Poles, as that corner of the Commonwealth was one of the most ethnically diversified.

Genealogy / Adam Gegotek or Anna Gęgotek [9]

Has she got a name?

Genealogy / Dunda from Balnica and Cigan from Solinka search [12]

But it is not a bad or coarse word for phallus, it is on the cute or funny side like dangler in English. Besides, this is all highly speculative. For what it’s worth, there happens to be a locality called Дундай (Polish transliteration: Dundaj) in Russia’s Buriat Autonomous District – a possible toponymic source. Considering all the things that have happened to surnames over generations of manual recopying by often semi-literate scribes, it is frequently difficult to pinpoint a single source with any degree of accuracy.

Genealogy / Dunda from Balnica and Cigan from Solinka search [12]

DUNDA: variant version of dynda (something that dangles); in old peasant slang a dyndałek (dangler) was a humorous way of referring to the phallus.

CYGAN: Gypsy (Cigan most likely was an American respelling).