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

There are also thousands of French words in the Polish language ("brought" "by" Napoléon?) with different spelling, pronounciation and sometimes different meanings too from the original ("parasol", "kokot", "kotlet" "szampan" .........just to name very few).

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

@Pol: no, the hundred or so of non married couples that I know are not in Poland. In Poland I've met few non married couples in fact and all of them in "higher" social classes. I assume that most (?) non married couples in Poland are to be found in lowest social classes and hence poverty, lack of education, often alcoholism, even maybe drugs leading to violence....

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

Yes, absolutely disgusting to exploit poor people's misery for propaganda. This unfortunate situation has of course nothing to do with people being married or not. I know hundreds of unmarried couples (including a good dozen in Poland) and they don't kill each other or abuse their kids.

Travel / Is Poland Too Expensive To Visit? [18]

@Roger: yes, you are right re hassle and also the ... danger over there.... However, on such a budget and also in 2 week's time, it is not difficult to sightsee nice cities/areas in neighorhing countries. Poland is nothing special if not of Polish origin and just in the vicinity, Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Budapest are much more interesting and nicer than any city/town in Poland can be (Bratislava, although not a "beautiful" town, is rather nice for a couple of days). My goodness, a budget of 6,500 euros and stay in Poland!!!

Travel / Is Poland Too Expensive To Visit? [18]

Yes, Roger, I forgot about Vienna (a "must" too) .... Definitely with such a budget, possible to travel all over the area. Maybe also to ... Saint-Petersburg, which is gorgeous even in the opinion of .... Poles.

Travel / Is Poland Too Expensive To Visit? [18]

if you have 6,500 euros, if you have 2 whole weeks and also have never been to Europe, why seeing only Poland? As a matter of fact, I believe 2 weeks just to visit (since you have noone to visit) is too much. If you don't want to travel very far away from Poland, at least visit Prague (one of the nicest cities in Europe, and much better than any city in Poland, which can be visited in 1, 2 or 3 days), Budapest and aslo go to Berlin. Of course, you could go further but I am talking about very close to Poland. As a matter of fact, with your budget, you could tour almost the whole European continent. Why limit yourselves to Poland??? ;). Coming all the way to Europe just to see Poland is rather ... reducing ;)

Love / Portuguese Boy with a Polish Girl - she is more conservative than others. How to approach her? [24]

@Levi: I am talking about attitudes in personal relationships, including sex. And saying that Greeks do X and Norwegians don't do Y is completely stupid. I was married to a Pole for close to 18 years (am a widow) and I have seen tons of Polish couples or Polish-something else couples and trust me, nothing particular because X is Polish and Y is British or Z is Bulgarian in terms of their relationships. The other day, one girl wrote that her Polish husband did not want to buy more expensive potatoes and my (Polish) husband systematically bought whatever was the most expensive (believe me, sometimes I panicked ;)) and often said that I don't spend ... enough money (nice to have such husband and anyway, I could not put up with someone who counts groszy ;) ;). Thus, just in the particular situation, 2 Polish guys react in different manners and this is so in all national or social groups ;). A lot of Polish guys do drink alot but there are some who don't drink any alcohol (I know Polish men who don't drink anything stronger than ... tea). I know Polish women of the "I'll ask my husband" type and some who are very independent and have their own life even if married. Generalizations are anyway completely stupid and only come from ignorant people.

The Polish girl may be shy, may have psychological problems and it has nothing to do with being Polish; believe me some Polish girls are rather "audacious" and some of them are even ... slu@@@ts and this is so in ANY nationalities. Some years ago, I worked with some teenage ... Pakistani girls and believe me, they were not "shy" with boys.... ;)

Have a nice day (am leaving now)! :)

Love / Portuguese Boy with a Polish Girl - she is more conservative than others. How to approach her? [24]

@Levy: don't play with words! In your nationality, for instance, do all people believe and behave same way? I doubt it. Of course people have things in common when brought up/educated in a given area but there is NO national characteristic for personal relationships, including sex. People are not clones. Since it is POLISH forum, believe me, some girls are hot and sleep around, some girls don't and sometimes prefer to wait until they are married to have sex and I even know quite a few (old maid) Polish women aged 45 and + who are ... virgins. All the Polish men I have met (my husband was Polish) don't have the same characteristics either. This is so in ALL nationalities. Thus, you cannot say German husbands are this way and Greek wives are that way ;). People who come up with such stupid theories base their beliefs upon 1 or 2 examples they know; not only a whole social group can be judged upon 1 or 2 examples and also people tend to mingle with people of their kind. In my case, in Poland, I don't mingle with bigots and with any sort of extremists (I mingle also with gays) and as a result they don't act, react, and even think the way the Poles you or someone like Pol3 or Johnny Reb may have come across ;). In conclusion, completely stupid to judge a whole group based upon 1 or 2 elements. Seems logical to me but .... ;)

Food / Polish Pear Wine and Cider - is it popular in Poland? [9]

Yes, recently a lot of cider in Polish stores but since new thing, not a tradition (logical ;)). I have tried several brands, and they were all disgusting. Coming from also cider producing/drinking culture (Brittany and Normandy, although I only drink Normandy cider), Polish socalled cider tastes awful at least the one sold in normal stores. Maybe, some small farmers can make good cider but I don't know any. The only decent cider I have found in Poland was some cider from England at Mark's & Spencer.

I know 2 Poles who make .... wine in their Warsaw kitchens but I would not say that wine producing is part of Polish culture and same thing applies to cider, which is no Polish tradition.

@Roger: maybe your father in law or your grandfather did but it does not mean it's a national tradition ;). It's purely a family tradition.

Love / Portuguese Boy with a Polish Girl - she is more conservative than others. How to approach her? [24]

@Portugueseboy: are ALL the Portuguese girls the same? No, they are all different from each other and so are Polish, Greek, Bolivian, French, Tanzanian, etc ... girls/women and even men. Some Polish (and whatever nationality) girls jump to bed on the very first night (I know a lot of Poles who do) and some Polish (and whatever nationality) do not and play hard to get (I know a lot of Poles like that too) or even have "problems" like the girl you are talking about (or maybe she just likes you and does not want to go further and that's her right to fall in love or not). Nothing to do with being Polish, Chinese, or whatever!

I can tell you either the girl does not want you/is not ready or she has psychological problems and all this has NOTHING to do with her nationality. If she does have psychological problems, better to run away and look for some "normal" girl, from whatever nationality.

I understand that you are very young but please, grow up, people are not any special because of their nationality! Poles are normal human beings, just the way Portuguese and any other nationality are and among Poles, you find everything and contrary. Logical! ;)

In conclusion: good luck (with or without her) and you message have nothing to do with Poland. You should post in some "lonely heart" column in any cheap feminine magazine.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

Yes, re German but as to Polish language, it does not change the fact that Polish language has no formal pronoun to address one person and that's why they use "Pan/Pani". As a result, a lot of Poles when speaking for instance French use "Monsieur Pierre" or "Madame Marie", because for them, using first names is automatically "ty" whereas in French, use of first names can be either formal or informal depending upon pronouns (and verb endings). To French speakers, Polish way is even laughable and can be insulting but in my case, I know that it's because of Polish grammar not having a pronoun so when Poles talk to me in French as 'Madame + my first name", I explain and we laugh together as they are aware that I neither run a bordel]]]o nor am a retired hook..###. However, I am told that Russians use "Wy" when talking to ONE person. In Polish, "Wy" being the plural of "Ty", it is used obviously when talking to several persons.

Languages can be very different from each other.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

@Ziemi; I'm not confusing anything ;). Yes, you do have "Wy" in Polish but it's the plural of "Ty" and you don't use it when talking to ONE person, whereas "vous" is used to address one person (formally) or several persons (both formally and informally). For instance, in French, it can be "Magda, vous" or "Magda, tu" . Sorry, no time and no desire to teach you grammar ;). As to German "Sie", I know that it means "oni/one" or "ils/elles" but when used to address someone, it corresponds to French "vous". I am been told by several Russians that in Russian, they use "wy" when addressing also one person.

I am not confusing anything, in conclusion:

Pol. Ty
French: tu
German: Du

Polish: Proszę Pana/Pani = NO pronoun
French: vous (which is ALSO the plural of "tu" = "wy" in Polish)
German: Sie (althougn meaning "oni/one", "ils/elles"

Life / Many Problems with UPC Broadband in Poland - Anyone Else? [20]

Of course, you need to go there. Sure, UPC are not brilliant but what a relief from Aster City that UPC bought up a few years ago! If you had been using Aster City (I did for years first of all because they were the only ones in my building), you would have found UPC marvellous (I do). Aster City had short opening hours, was closed on Saturdays and to go there, one had to take a day off from work because huge lines even 1 hour before they opened (if I remember it was at 10 or 10:30) and it was very complicated to schedule a technician at home. UPC is almost great and since they have bought up Aster City, I have never had any problem with them.

Life / Blood donation in Poland [21]

@Chemi! Absolutely and that's also the reason why they demand that applicants to donate their blood are functional in Polish as it needs to be clear to doctors whether the applicant is suitable. This is a serious matter and personally (I had to undergo a 3-hour operation here some years ago) I would not want to receive blood from someone who could not have been screened thoroughly because they were not able to communicate in local (here, Polish then) language. As to homosexuals, I suppose they may not give their blood in Poland and once again, the applicant if foreigner needs to be able to function in local language.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

@Atch: I am not talking about ONLY Polish language but also talking to and about Poles in other languages. No, in some languages (including but not only mine) it is NOT rude to talk to and about people by their first names and not using their titles. I do happen to speak to many Poles a lot in French and in English. For instance, in French, you would never say "Pan" or "Pani" in front of a first name because insulting (to a woman, it would imply a bor]]lo owner or a "retired" prostitute and "Pan" to a guy would imply that he is a "pimp" ;). In Polish they do because in Polish grammar they do not have pronouns such as "vous" in French or "Sie" in German, just to mention a couple of other languages (I know that in Russian, they use "wy" in such circumstances). Even when (French speaking) journalists for instance interview politicians, they just say "Jacek Kowalski" or "Sir", when talking to them. When I for instance write French consul, I use the title in the greeting but when I talk to him in person, a simple "Sir" is alright because normal...

I may not always be clear as I get carried away very easily (my Mediterranean blood ;)) but it seems to me that you don't always understand. However, you have to understand that every culture is different and therefore social relationships are different too as per culture. ;)

Life / Blood donation in Poland [21]

Don't they have conditions? I seriously doubt that just anybody can donate blood in Poland. What about homosexuals, for instance? Someone says that a functional knowledge of Polish is demanded and it makes sense to me. It is crucial that the concerned people do understand the requirements as it can be very dangerous if sick people donate blood (I would not want to receive it ;))

Love / Portuguese Boy with a Polish Girl - she is more conservative than others. How to approach her? [24]

sorry, but nobody here knows the girl, the boy and the exact situation so no need to extrapolate anything or its contrary! Without extrapolating, the girl may not be interested in the guy and she does not know how to say it in order not to hurt him. That's the way most of us girls do, when we are not interested, we find excuses to escape. Guys are unbelievable, they do not think 1/2 second that girls are sometimes (or often) NOT interested in them. A lot of guys have such a marvelous opinion of themselves that they do NOT expect any girl not interested in them.

Maybe (and probably) the girl is not interested and no need to extrapolate as to her supposed or real religiosity! She has the right to accept/turn down guys.

The guy is still young, he'll recover quickly and will find someone more suitable. Like said "un(e) de perdu(e), 10 de retrouvé(e)s" - "one lost, 10 found" :)

PS: such situations do happen millions of times every day around the world so nothing to do with Poland. A girl does not like a guy and that's it. It's amazing to read all these macho guys here, they never think that a girl may not be interested in one of them....

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

@Wulkan: I do NOT open new accounts (I do indicate who I am). Sometimes I do type in a message and then I realize that I am not connected so I type in anything just to have my message appear.

As said, I am 100% westerner, was married to a Pole, came for first time to Poland in March .... 1990 so believe me, I have nad tons of opportunities to notice a lot of things that are more Eastern than Western Eurpean. Normal since Poles are slavs and speak slavic language! As said again several times, I do NOT see anything negative in the term "Eastern". If you do, you have an inferiority complex and if so, do consult psy.

I don't have time because I happen to work (crazy hours which are different every day) so no time to list all the examples I can think of but trust me, there are tons of différences between Western and Eastern Europeans.

Get over your inferiority complex!

PS: On Wednesday, I saw your good friend, MP ... Kukiz ;).

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

It is NOT only a matter of grammar but also and mainly a way to address people and to talk about them. Poles are very formal. Sorry, I don't want to be called "Pani Magister". It happened to me 2 times and the first time, I looked around me because I thought the "Pani Magister" was addressed to someone else. Once an uncle of my husband's was referred to by a neighbor as "Mr. Professor" (ok, the guy was very high at the university and also well known at the time in Poland) and I got shocked; French people whould have called him by his first name or said 'your uncle"

That's what I mean when I say that relationships in Poland are more ... "Eastern" because in the West, people go straight ahead ....

PS: to finish, when I talk about or to a doctor, I just say 'Mr. X" or "Mrs. Y" but Poles make such a big deal....

News / IBM fears racist attacks on employees on Poland's independence day [63]

Yes, Chaff, but maybe IBM and consorts would rather work in more tolerant countries.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

Moved from another thread, edited
Poles are very formal and love to use titles "Pani Magister" to the pharmacist, for instance, which cracks me up. A few times, I was called "Pani Magister" too because I have a Master's Degree.... In French, people are much more informal. French grammar first of all enables people to use first names and both a formal and an informal pronoun whereas in Polish, it is not possible and that's the reason why, I'll say "Magda" or "Jacek" without "Pan" and 'Pani". Well, consult grammar books ;)

PS: what I'm saying is that your husband, just mine was, is only ONE example out of so many millions of Poles. In my opinion, ONE single individual does not reflect a whole social group. People either Polish or anything else are no clones.

News / IBM fears racist attacks on employees on Poland's independence day [63]

Every 11/11 I stay at my place to be safe. I used to live right in Centrum where all the "action" takes place. I could watch them from my kitchen window ;)

Travel / Polish Travel Agency - private tours with guides and pick up from hotels [7]

In Old Town of Cracow, there are guys advertizing for tours in area. As they stand holding signs and are all a few meters from each other, no way to miss them! All agencies offer picking up from hotel, guided tour, lunch and taking back to hotel. Prices are very reasonable. Of course, someone will come up and say that things can be arranged on one's own for less money but for (older but not only) people, who don't want to bother with any detail, it's the perfect solution. I don't know current prices but last time I was in Cracow's Old Town, they were not expensive and I don't think they have gone up so much since then ;).

News / Don't read "Gazeta Wyborcza" Polish newspaper -- wPolityce.pl [83]

@Grzegorz: Switzerland may have a few international companies (Nestlé, etc...) but the % of filthy money in their system is significant in their economy. All the dictators, oligarches, mafiosi and crooks of any sort hide their money there. The only thing from Switzerland that I'm fond of is their .... chocolate. The same goes for places like Luxemburg (a laundrymat), Monaco, Cyprus and a few others in Europe.

Good that Poland does not play in same league as above ;)

Life / Do Polish children have a typical bedtime? [11]

@Kpc: there are people in PF (who of course don't live in Poland and often have never set a foot in Poland) who believe that Poles are like a "special race" and that all Poles think/act.... in a block.... Such a country does not exist, maybe not even ... North Korea. It would be boring if in a given place, everybody looked, thought, did... the same ;).

Why would there be a ... going to bed time for Polish kids??????? I know Polish kids who go to bed early and I know Polish kids who go to bed very late as they watch tv and/or play computer games until dawn and this is SO in ALL countries.

Well, such messages are so childish and completely stupid. I imagine that there are a lot of ignorant teenage kids from Polonia in PF. Well, I hope they are teenagers otherwise we could worry ...... ;)

Food / Best Polish Potato Variety for Mashing [67]

@Atch: it is not so difficult to introduce the words, "Poland", "Polish", "Pole"... in the paragraph so you stay on topic ;):)

Life / Do Polish children have a typical bedtime? [11]

Nevertheless, there is no going to bed or getting up time for Polish, Greek, Pakistani or Swahili...... kids. In each family it is different ;). It beats me when I read people who expect Poles to act/think as a block ;).

News / Don't read "Gazeta Wyborcza" Polish newspaper -- wPolityce.pl [83]

@Harry: Switzerland has been used for years for laundering dirty money and hiding dictators's and mafia's fortunes. During war, nazis hid their money there. Same goes for Luxembourg which is a big washing machine. Not an example including for Poland ;)

News / Don't read "Gazeta Wyborcza" Polish newspaper -- wPolityce.pl [83]

What about the socalled 500 ZL allowance? What are the conditions to get it? Number, ages of kids, family's income... ? Is it every month or only at birth...?

Nevertheless, as Polish birth rate is dramatically low, authorities need to do something to help families to have (when they do want kids) and to raise kids. Just heard, highest rate in Europe is France with 1.99 (thanks to generous policies since 1945), then Ireland with 1.96, the lowest rate is in Portugal with 1.21 and Poland (they did not give number) it's close to Portugal's.

Food / Best Polish Potato Variety for Mashing [67]

@Atch: as to myself in Poland (to remain on topic ;); I eat potatoes max 1 or 2 a month and sometimes I don't for several months although I do love potatoes (maybe I'm too lazy to peel them ;) or cultural thing since at home we don't eat potatoes often (except when kids). However, in countries like in Poland, it's like for instance rice in Asian countries.