USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]

This is a crock of something whose smell does not resmeble daisies...in fact this whole thread about what makes a Polish-American is rather daft and off the wall.

90% or so of Polish Americans are US-born. They have betrayed nothing because they were born, lived, worked and will die in the good old USA. They have names such as Kołodziejczak, Mazur, Jankowski, Wójcik Zieliński, Kaczmarek and Król. To varying degrees they identify with their ancestral heritage (food, customs, Polonian festivals, etc.), whilst some do not. Only a tiny minority are fluent in Polish. Soem 9 million of them answered 'Polish' in the last US census when asked about their ethnicity. Others say they're American or 'my busia was Polish'.

Those are the facts. Interpret them as you may.
And here's one more fact: US-born Polonians do not need be ashamed of their parents or grandparents unlike many of the post-PRL-ians on this forum, because their families did not join the PZPR or otherwise collabroate with the alien, Soviet-imposed regime. Those were the real traitors! Case rests.

Life / How many English native speakers in Poland? [28]

Can anyone more or less reliably (?) guesstimate the breakdown of Americans in Poland: students, businessmen, professionals, diplomats, OAPs, others?

Life / How many English native speakers in Poland? [28]

45,000 sounds plausible countrywide. Few years ago I heard there were 10,000 or so in Warsaw alone. That probably figures because the ratio is undoubtedfly much lower in Jelenia Góra, £omża or Sanok, innit?

Food / Turkey kiełbasa? [9]

Turkey-based products should be healthier than pork in terms of cholesterol.

News / Pole-basher Gross up to old tricks [284]

I am not questioning the robbing of graves in post-war Poland. Grave robbing is as old as mankind and goes back to the pyramids and beyond. The bottom line is Gross' one-sidedd focus and we all know why. He actually once wrote a decent, balanced book way back when, but such books do not sell. Starting with Jedwabne he found that Pole-bashing pays. Not that he tells only outright lies. It's like the Russian Smolensk reprort -- it conveniently glosses over or avoids things that would put the authors or their clientete/masters in a bad light regardless of truthfulness. So with Gross you'll never hear about turncoat Polish Jews shooting Polish soldiers in the back at the start of WW2, or collaborating with the NKVD and fingering Polish patriots for death holes, dungeons or exile, serving their Soviet masters as self-styled red militiamen, or failing the provide the help to beleagurerd Soviet-occupied Poles that at least some Poles provided to Jews in the GG. For nearly 2 years until the Nazi invasion, ex-Polish Jews in general were in a privileged position in the one-half of Poland annexed by Stalin (and never returned). In the GG, where Poles themselves were hunted and persecuted, Jews received the most assistance including food, concealment and fake documents.

Genealogy / Kwasny Joseph born 1891 Kalisz area [5]

KWAŚNY: adj. sour; possibly a nick for someone with a sour disposition (sour puss) or topo nick from Kwasy, Kwaśno, Kwaśniów or similar.

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I agree that languages evolve as do customs and practices, but some people disavow us Polish Americans because many of us do not speak Polish as it is spoken in post-PRL, have modified certain customs (we call it kiszka, you say kaszanka!) and have different cultural preferences (the polka rather than your beloved Doda). But that too is evolution. Would you attack a Québecois because his French differs from that of the ancestral motherland or that Mexican food differs from what is genrally eaten in Spain?

USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]


The Old World (PRL and post-PRL) version of Polish is a language which consists of a vocabulary mangled and twisted through time by macaronisms, Germanisms, Czechisms, Gallicisms, Russicisms and more recently by all kinds of Anglo-commercial 'dwa w jednym' and 'od Wedla' rubbish not to mention hip-hop crap of the 'siema' and 'ziomal' variety.

Food / Eating Kielbasa - how do you cook yours? [119]

I beleive the basic seasoning for the most common type of traditonal Polish kiełbasa are salt, pepper and garlic. In western Poland (Wielkopolska, Kashubia) marjoram is added.

There are of course different types including:
czosnkowa (more garlic)
kminkowa (contains caraway)
gorczycowa (with mustard seed)
krajana (chunky)
krakowska (chunky with coriander and pimento)
kabanosy (thin, dried, in sheep casing), etc.

Food / Polish Duck Soup [117]


They may be able to direct you to a poultry market in your state that sells live ducks:
Kentucky Poultry Federation
P.O. Box 577
Winchester, KY 40392
Phone: (859)-737-1048
Fax: (859)-737-1049

Genealogy / Looking for info on Zalecki [21]

ZALECKI: Well over 100 people in Poland spell their name without any diacritical accent marks. That form migth be traceable to the verb zalecać się (to court, woo). It might have been applied to the village's perpetual suitor courting different gals but getting repeatedly turned down.

Food / Eating Kielbasa - how do you cook yours? [119]

Merged thread:
Anybody make home-made kiełbasa?

Does anybody n PF make home-made kiełbasa? Maybe not on a daily basis but for holdiays and special occasions? If so, would you care to share yoru recipe?

Language / cookery, word usage question [19]

Re translating savoury pies into Polish, the pieróg or kulebiak of eatsern Poland might be considered, as it is a pastry encasing some filling. Also pasztet w cieście was one of the offerings of Old Poland's manorhouse circuit. That crust-encased pasztet was not the pâté we associate with that word nowadays but could be sliced or chunked meat, poultry or fish.

Sweets pies or tartes can be called tarta z jabłkami or placek z wiśniami. The popular szarlotka comes pretty close to the American apple pie except for its non-circular shape.

News / Poland's atheist loonies have had their 5 minutes [239]

Mr Oatmeal (Owsiak) has worked hard to prove that you cannot simply raise funds for a noble cause for tis own sake. You have to seduce young people with idiotic slogans like 'róbta co chceta' and 'siema', pretend to be a rocking, ear-pierced 50-year-old fart and organise drunken, drug-laced rock concerts as incentives. Why not show the young that helping sick and handicapped children is its own reward?

Genealogy / Polish Family History, Cwirko-Godycka. [8]

ĆWIRKO: onomatopaeic, imitative of the chirping or twittering of birds as in the verb ćwierkać˛

GODYCKI: possibly derived from the old first name Godzimir or topo nick from Godów.

BĄKOWSKI: topo nick from Bąków or Bąkowo; the bąk root-word has many different meanings including horsefly, top (spinning children's toy), toddler and, last but not least a fart as in puszczać bąki (to break wind). Someone inclined to do so migth have been humorously nicknamed Bąkowski (Fartington or simialr).

History / Silesia occupation [49]

Don't recall if the Sielsian regional mvt has been discussed on PF... But what do you think of it? They want their own Sejm like in II RP and far-reachinnregional autonomy within III RP.

News / Pole-basher Gross up to old tricks [284]

Even Pole-bashers are entitled to their day in court. Naturally he's going to wiggle and squirm out of any accusations and try to show himself in the best light. That's why others must be vigilant so Zionist/Holocuast Indsutry propaganda does not prevail.

News / Pole-basher Gross up to old tricks [284]

Anyone know if Nowak's book on Gross' 100 lies about Jedwabne has been translated into English? If not, it was probably suppressed by the Holocaust Indsutry types whose long tentacles reach far and wide.

100 kłamstw J. T. Grossa o żydowskich sąsiadach i Jedwabnem – książka autorstwa Jerzego Roberta Nowaka, opublikowana w 2001 roku w wydawnictwie Von Borowiecky (ISBN 83-87689-35-1) jako polemika z książką Sąsiedzi autorstwa Jana Grossa (ISBN 83-86872-13-6) dotyczącą pogromu w Jedwabnem.

News / Pole-basher Gross up to old tricks [284]

All the so-called purges of the 20th century in Poland were a Sunday school picnic comapred to what Jews had experienced in the 'enlightened' West. Wherever they went they were soon caught on to, persecuted, burnt at the stake or expelled, since the Portuguese, Spanish, British, French, Germans and others had no use for their usury, exploitation, shady dealings, economic domination, clannishness and overt anti-Goyism. Yes, Poland truly was a safe haven, the only country willing to put up with the lot. Even in the 1930s Piłsudski agreed to accept thousands of Jewish expellees from the Reich.

News / Poland's atheist loonies have had their 5 minutes [239]

Wolniewicz is not a clergyman but a secular philospher.

Genealogy / Looking for info on Zalecki [21]

Whilst Załędzki and Załęcki are pronoucned the same and may have caused confusion amongst illterate peasants, etymologically they come from different roots. The root of Załędzki is łęg, a marshy meadow on or near a riverbank. With Załęcki the root is łęka (reigonal for meadow; standard Polish). In both cases, the msot likely origin is toponymic traceable to the loclaites of Załęcze and Załęże frespectively.

Ther Załęcki stronghold in Poland is Mazowsze in the coutnry's NE quarter, from the Ciechanów area in the north on through Greater Warsaw down to Radom and vicintiy to the south of the captial district.

News / Pole-basher Gross up to old tricks [284]

War is hell and brutalises all people, but Gross tendentiously zeroes in only on the real, exaggerated or imagined offences of Poles. On the other hand, he twists, bends and writhes to come up with excuses for why many Jews stabbed Poland, the country which had been their people's safe haven for centuries, in the back in 1939 by collaborating with the Soviet enemy.

News / Poland is important in the global economy crisis? [33]

Merged: Poland shakes off global recession


nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10697178

History / Watch Poland grow and shrink (interactive map) [52]

Good borders for Poland at present would be the 1600s border in the east and the 1945 one in the west. Even more ideal would be Poland's western frontier moved up to the Polish River £aba (Elbe).

Genealogy / POKORSKI/POKOROWSKI, POKORSKI/POKOROWSKI, POLANSKI - genealogia-szukam [3]

MASEK/MASSEK: possibly topo nick from Masów, Mastki, Masty or similar; less likely a rare hypocoristic (endearing) form for someone named Marcin or Maciej.

POKORSKI/POKOROWSKI: from pokora (humility); posibly topo nick from Pokorów or Pokoradz.

POLAŃSKI: topo nick from Polana or Polany.