News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

The ancient Romans also thought they were so 'modern' and cutting edge - eat, drink and be merry, and they got fat and flabby and were overrun by lean and mean barbarians. Is today's consumption-crazed, pleasure and entertainment-obsessed homo ludens really any different? Hitler's 1,000-year Reich and Stalin's 'wave of the future' also invoked 'modernty'. There is always some cetnury, so 21st is no argument. And in every century there are the mindless conformists that go with the flow and lap up whatever is being peddled and the thinking minority that sees through the cheap, superficial veneer. Which one are you?

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

Someone asked why the term ‘new’ cross war was used in the heading. Well, the Smolensk cross was not the first. Steelworkers planted a large cross in a field at Nowa Huta, the godless Marxist showplace, because they lacked their own place of worship. After much manoeuvring and tussling the regime caved in and let a church be built. The cross together with pictures of the BVM and JP2 figured prominently in the peaceful Solidarność revolution that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the end of the cold war. A large floral cross laid out on the pavement of then Victory (now Piłsudski) square was systematically removed by the MO, only the reappear the next day. The commies finally threw a fence up round the vast square saying repairs needed to be carried out. Another cross promptly appeared in the side court of St Ann’s Church (to which incidentally the Smolensk cross was to have been moved). Also in the 1980s teenagers in several Polish schools staged school strikes when headmasters, on orders from the regime, tried to remove crucifixes from classrooms. Maybe subliminally the message of Adam Mickiewicz has been getting through down to the present:

Tylko pod krzyżem, tylko pod tym znakiem
Polska jest Polską, a Polak Polakiem.
(My rough translation: Under the cross, under that sign alone can Poland be Poland and a Pole feel at home.)

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

The Polish cross war has spawned some colourful rhetoric not only on PF. 'Enslaving people's minds?' Someone opposed to the Church could well apply that term to medieaval times, but nowadays the Church is playing a amrginal role in the enslavbement catgeory. Today the dominant enslaver (also increasignly in Poladn) are the powers of rampant commericalism, those bombarding us with round-the-clock brainwashing tellign us we were 'born to buy' and should 'shop till we drop', and if we can't afford it then do so on credit. Catchy slogans and seductive ad campaigns makeit possible to force all kinds of cleverly packaged but often useless gadgets, silly fashions and trendy clutter down people's throats without them even realising it. Apart from the all-pervasive moloch of sales promotion, it is the mainly the liberal-leftist mainstream media and entertainamnet industry peddling their supoosedly trendy celebrity lifestyles, recreational drugs, loose living and an anything-goes mentality that is the dominant brain-washer of the Western world today. Not the Catholic or any other church!

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

None of the cross defenders want the cross to stay there permanently. It is an interim memorial until a proper one, memorial plaque or other fitting marker honouring the Smolensk victims, can be installed. Bruno Chamberpot (the komora in Komorowski means chamber) apparently wants to obliterate every last trace and vestige of his predecessor.

Food / How do you make PLACEK Z KRUSZONKA? [39]

KRUSZONKA (Polish crumb topping)
Cut 1/4 lb butter or marge into 1-1/2 c flour, 1/2 c sugar and 1/4 teaspon baking powder.
Work by hand into crumbly consistency and sprinkle over the top of your cake. Bake as directed.

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

You get plenty of mindless herd instinct amongst football hooligans, rock-concert freaks or rampaging anti-globalists.... On balance, Christian fanatics in our times have caused far less damage than any of the above-mentioned. From the standpoint of public safety, prevention is the way to go rather than letting things get out of hand. But that requires the kind of common sense, foresight and sensitivity the Don-Bron clique seem to lack.

Genealogy / Looking for Perz Family [7]

PERZ: (pronounced pesh) an archaic word for dust or dust storm (kurzawa) as well as an invasive weed that chokes out grain. Possibly topo nick from Perzyce or Perzów.

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

The Warsaw cross controversy is not really about religion but about alienation. The protesters would allow the cross to be moved if they got a credible written or verbal guarantee that the site where their president lay in state would be marked with some fitting memorial, even a simple plaque. The cross defenders saying 'Poland is here' have expressed the feeling that they have been marginalised by the powers favoured by the Tusk-Komorowski pro-business clique. Komorowski pledged that taxes would not be raised and Tusk turns round and raises VAT.

Komorowski lacked sensitivity when his first post-election statement was a pledge to remove the cross as if wanting to eradicate all traces of his predecessor. If he had class and courage he would have gone and laid a wreath and lit a votive lamp beneath the cross. It would take courage because he would probably be booed and jeered. On the other hand, his appearance might so surprise the crowd that silence would befall the gathering. If he had only class (but no courage to face a potentially hostile crowd), he could have at least made a conciliatory statement. Those marginalised by transformation, privatisation and globalisation including miners, shipyard workers and the berety (which may be your own grandmotehr) have the same right to vocie their opinons as the Tuskites, Michnikites and assorted tycoons, bankers, yuppies, liberals, lefties and who al!.

Genealogy / Polcinske Pulchinski - just one branch of my family I am researching [16]

PU£CZYŃSKI, PULCIŃSKI, PO£CIŃSKI, PULCZYŃSKI and probably a few additional variants all exist in Poland. The -ski ending is usually toponymic so look for places such as Połczyn, Pulczynów, Połczyna, etc. as likely soruces.

Genealogy / Anyone know the name Neugewirtz? [15]

Probably Krakau (Kraków), Poland's old royal captial. The u and n often get confused when handwritten. Check out Old Documents Archives: sekretariat@agad.gov.pl

Probably original spelling Immerglück (meaning something like constant good fortune).

Genealogy / Anyone know the name Neugewirtz? [15]

NEUGEWIRZ: possibly variant spelling of Neugewürz (new spice); a nick given to a new spice merchant in town??? If you have access to a databse of Austrian localities, check if there is one close to this.

Life / POLISH FLAG DAYS...when are they...? [30]

Wildrover, why does flying the Union Jack in the UK peg you as a Nazi, whilst Americans, Canadians, Danes, Poles and others can fly their national colours with impunity? Some defect or distortion of the British psyche?

Genealogy / Unknown Origins Dzikowicz [9]

I wasn’t sure if the questioner was familiar with Cyrillic, but I had in mind the Russian equivalents: Диковa Диков Диковo.

Genealogy / Unknown Origins Dzikowicz [9]

With so little to go on it is impossible to say. There are places in Poland called Dzików and Dzikowo as well as in Russia.

The name could have originated as a patronymic nick to mean the son of someone nicknamed Dzik (the boar). Whether he was called that becuase he looked (or smelt) like one (shaggy hair, tusky teeth, etc.), or because he hailed from Dzików or Dzikowo is buried in time...

UK, Ireland / What's the rule on 'the UK' but just 'GB'? [60]

Multiple-element countries (the Czech Republic) AND those in the plural (the Netherlands) require the def. article!

On another score, oceans, seas and rivers require the def. article but lakes do not!
Lake Baikal, Lake Huron, Lake Victoria, but the (River) Thames, the Vistula, the Seine, the Hudson, the Baltic, the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, etc.

WEIRD LANGUAGE!

UK, Ireland / What's the rule on 'the UK' but just 'GB'? [60]

I think it's the Netherlands because it's perceived as plural. There aren't any plural countries or regions without the required 'the', are there?

Genealogy / Adam Gegotek or Anna Gęgotek [9]

GĘGOTEK: from the verb gęgać (gaggle - the sound made by geese), so Gęgotek would be the Gaggler. Pronunciaton (roughly): gain-GAW-tek.

Genealogy / Krupski name [36]

JUNKIEWICZ/JUNCEWICZ: patronymic nick from junak, juniec (bold, young lad, soldier, brave recruit, daredeveil, etc.)

Genealogy / I'm looking for family history information - Martha Forbrich [7]

Both names excist in today's Poland but look to be German or Yiddish.

FORBRICH: Yiddish or Polish respelling of ther German surname Vorbrich (meaning obscure)

JESKE: possibly adaptation of the Jewish girl's first name Yiska.

Po polsku / Przyjmowanie Komunii świętej w kościołach w Polsce [43]

Wśród naszej Polonii widać, jak pary żyjące z sobą w grzechu (ona ma męża i dzieci np. w Lublinie -- one swoje pod Wrocławiem, a na emigracji udają singli!)) przystępują do Stołu Pańskiego, choć wcale nie mają zamiaru konćzyć z grzesznym procederem. Z drugiej strony, niski poziom wiedzy religijnej mozę sprawić, że nie są świadomi tego, że przyrzekając poprawę w konfesjonale bez zamiaru dotryzmania obietnicy popełniają świętokradztwo. Ale może wówczas nie jest to ciężki grzech. Warunki popełnienia ciężkiego grzechu to: ciężkość przewinienia, świadomość tejże ciężkości i mimo tego popełnienie go.

Language / Why 'działka'? [10]

Most of the people I know in Poland mean they're going to their summer house when they say 'Jedziemy na działkę.'

Food / No Vernor's ginger ale in Poland? [29]

Another taste Poles don't seem to fancy is root beer -- whether Hires, A&W or whatever, many say it tastes like Crest toothpaste. Licorice is also none too popular amongst Poles.

Life / HOW MANY CHINESE LIVING IN POLAND? [29]

Can the average Pole distinguish between a Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese or Korean?
Reminds me of an old joke from when HongKong was part of the British Commonwealth.
Police were questioning the Chinamen whose business had been held up by two men. Asked to describe them, he replied: 'Me no know. All Englishmen look alike!'

Genealogy / Walczak / Strzeszynski / Swiec family members [12]

STRZESZYŃSKI: no known c-o-a

WALCZAK: no known c-o-a

Language / Czego, Czemu, Co, Kto, Jak, Dlaczego? [64]

O CO PANU CHODZI?: In many cases might be translated as 'What's your point?' or 'What's your problem?'

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?: In some contexts might be 'Co Pan chce przez to powiedzieć?', 'W jakim sensie?' or even 'W czym rzecz?' (although some regard the latter as an intolerable russicism: w cziom dieło?)

USA, Canada / Polish Restaurant in Orange County, California [12]

Polka Deli
The Best Polish Deli
in Orange County California
Polish Traditional Deli Products
Sausage, meat cuts, pierogi
Stuffed cabbage
Polish bread and cakes
Imported from Poland
Candies, cookies and chocolate
Great Polish beer,
wine and spirits
Newspapers and magazines,
Cosmetics
1710 Tustin Ave - Orange, CA
Tel/Fax (714) 974-8276
Mon to Fri - 10 – 6, Sat 10 - 4