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Posts by Paulina  

Joined: 31 Jan 2008 / Female ♀
Warnings: 1 - Q		 Last Post: 30 Oct 2024
Threads: Total: 16 / In This Archive: 6
Posts: Total: 4338 / In This Archive: 1009 		From: Poland
Speaks Polish?: yes

Displayed posts: 1015 / page 24 of 34
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Paulina   
25 Jan 2011
Life / Some Poles have fine houses [68]

BTW,love those old wooden country houses,so sweet.

Me too :)

If you really want to go back a few years then you should pay a visit to here:

And here:
mwk.com.pl/spacer/index.html
Follow the green arrows, click on them and have a walk with your speakers turned on (the music is pleasant and fits the place, I think) :)
Paulina   
25 Jan 2011
History / Poland obliged to make war reparations to Austria and Germany after WWI. Why? [119]

Adam Zamoyski is descended from the Polish magnates who ruled Zamost.

And from another famous magnate family - Czartoryscy (his mother was Elżbieta Czartoryska and he's the Chairman of the Board of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czartoryski_family
Paulina   
16 Jan 2011
Language / Is My Painting Title Correct In Polish? [23]

Thank you Paulina.

No problem :)

To make it short you can write "600-letnia piosenka".

Good point! And it's easier to write this than "sześćsetletnia" ;)
Paulina   
16 Jan 2011
Language / Is My Painting Title Correct In Polish? [23]

"The 600 Year Old Song"

"Sześćsetletnia piosenka"

Also in English I would say "The 600 Year Old Song by Tony Johansen" What is the Polish way of saying that a painting is "by" a particular artist?

"Sześćsetletnia piosenka" autorstwa Tony'ego (Toniego?) Johansena.

Or:

"Sześćsetletnia piosenka"
Autor: Tony Johansen

("Autor" means "author")
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

The Church has as much power as people give to it, right?
It's not just that. People here are making fun of Catholic religion too.
And I don't think you're right that "the vast majority of people on here are happy with the Catholic church existing". I'd say the PF members are just wating for and wishing the Church to disappear - they actually wrote it in some other thread some time ago...
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

No, I don't think so. A lot of threads are filled with racist rants of trolls, arguments of the same members (usually Polish-American right-wingers vs. European liberals) and photos of girls in bikinis. That's how I see this forum.

Oh, I forgot about strong anti-Catholic (and anti-religious) sentiments here, intolerance, nasty comments, some kind of obsession... I was quite surprised by this when I started to read PF - after all this was coming from the Western people who were always shown in Poland as role models as far as tolerance is concerned.

Yes, this is how I see this forum...
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Still trying to figure out what you'd want out of the forum.

I already wrote - nothing.

Not history, not practical information about everyday life, not the off topic stuff...maybe just keep it to the language & grammar section?

I didn't write any of this.
You wrote that Polish-Americans should learn more about contemporary Poland, I misunderstood - I thought you meant that they should learn it from this forum, so I wrote that the stuff that is practical for expats and tourists won't say much about Poland.

About history - I thought that by writing "What would you want the forum to be? Historical about the great triumphs of Polish kings long dead?" you're implying I'm some "hurrapatriot" who'd like to see only positive posts about Poland.

I have nothing against history lol
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I think you misunderstood what I meant. I just meant that people that want to identify with Poland should come to Poland and learn about Poland first hand.

Yes, I misunderstood :) I thought you meant this forum lol
Still, not everybody has a possibility of living here for some time, I guess.

As to the forum, all things Polish right? I think it follows it's mission statement pretty well.

lol

There are quite a few "locals" that aren't too keen on interracial dating either.

Who?
And does it mean southern and jarnowa can hijack a thread with their ranting? I guess it does mean this here on PF.

What would you want the forum to be?

I don't want it to be anything. I don't like this place.

Historical about the great triumphs of Polish kings long dead?

You mistake me for someone else perhaps - I'm not a right-winger lol

Close down the relationship section?

No, I want to see Western men for what they really are :)

no mixing for Poles with non whites is what i meant

Yet another racist... Oh well...
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

how to find a teaching job down south

advice for a lady moving over from the UK and wanting to teach

Such advisory threads are useful for people who are going to live here and are looking for work. So you'll find out how to find a teaching job. Not much...

where the largest polish communities are in the UK

And what does it have to do with contemporary Poland? lol

paki/polki marriage sagas

Oh yes, terribly useful for people of Polish origin who want to know something about Poland lol

starting a private kindergarten (and about the preschooling situation in general)

So, again, starting a business and shool related topic.

staple, "favorite vodka" thread

"knowledge of a couple of foods" acha...

a guy writing about living in Mazury

Where is this thread??? :O

best pol/eng dictionary

That's useful, but still no contemporary Poland...

a discussion on whether poles and irish folks are related

lol Well, that's... um... interesting topic xD but... Contemporary Poland?

an online polish book store in the UK that ripped a couple of people off

Online Polish book store in... the UK? Contemporary Poland, anyone?

Polish festivals in NE

NE... And what about... yes...! contemporary Poland :)

someone asking about a car part

A very practical thread for someone who lives in Poland but not for someone abroad who wants to find out something about contemporary Poland ;)

meaning of your polish last name thread

Yes, that's an interesting thread for people with Polish names. But what will they learn about contemporary Poland from this thread?

staple "beautiful polish women" thread

Oh, don't get me started...

best exchange rate

Useful for someone who will go to Poland, but... does it say anything about contemporary Poland?

question about polish citizenship

Again, useful for someone who wants to get Polish citizenship, most likely an expat living in Poland or someone from outside the EU who wants to live in the EU...

The threads which can say something about Poland:

the smoking ban
a guy writing about living in Mazury
a post about a guy getting beat up by racists
charity shops in PL
how the religious establishment in poland feels about atheists
smolensk thread
is $xxx enough to live in XXX

And honestly I don't know how much this "something" is...
For example, this thread:
I got beaten and kicks in my face just cuz i dont look polish - page 6
...has been hijacked by southern and jarnowa ranting about Polish women dating "coloured" people (and they do that again and again and again in different threads...).

Maybe you're seeing what you want to see?

No, I don't think so. A lot of threads are filled with racist rants of trolls, arguments of the same members (usually Polish-American right-wingers vs. European liberals) and photos of girls in bikinis. That's how I see this forum.

If you see it in a different way... Well... As I wrote before: good luck... lol
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Silesian "Slavic"? Errr.... the speakers of Schlesisch might have something to say about that! There's quite the German minority in Poland!

Then why Silesian language is considered a Slavic language? o_O

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_language

But I agree that Ukrainians and Lithuanians aren't Polish lol
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I think it would do those people well to learn a bit about contemporary Poland. What it is now, not what they want it to be. Yup, that's my vote, more contemporary knowledge about day to day life over here.

I don't think this forum is a good source to learn about Poland. You can learn here that Polish women are cheap sluts, they shouldn't date "third worlders", Polish men are ugly, Poles have big noses and Poland is crap :)

But good luck with that lol
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

No matter if Poles mixed more or less - if one comes from Poland or his/her ancestors came from Poland he or she can say that she/he is Polish or has Polish roots. The same with the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Germans or whoever - they can say they have Irish, Italian, Chinese, German roots.

What is wrong with that?
Does it hurt you in any way?

We don't have a problem with that just don't add non indigenous European blood into the melting pot, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Wha...?
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Yup. Brody's father is of Polish-Jewish descent, his mother was born in Hungary and was a daughter of a Hungarian father and a Czech Jewish mother.

Also Ben Kingsley looks "Jewish" and he played Itzhak Stern in "Schindler's List" (but he's of Hindu origin - and he played Gandhi too :)).
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Yeah, I've seen the film "Predators" (lol) and at the beginning when they were dropped to this alien planet the moment I saw one actor I thought "He's going to be a Russian" and, yup, he was :) And he is a Russian in reality too :)

And why Adrien Brody played a Jew in "The Pianist"?
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

That's the problem with the bloodline view. Europe is incredibly mixed. Semites share the same bloodline, but are different ethnically due to traditions and culture.

I used to watch Fashion TV and guess which model is from which country. I could quite often differentiate between girls from Scandinavia, Slavic girls, American girls, Latino girls/girls from the South of Europe/Spain, etc.. I can often spot Russians even in films. I've heard that Ukrainians are the most tall, slim and most often blond with blue eyes among all Slavs. I could see when I was in France and Italy that the French have a bit darker complexion and hair than Poles and Italians are even more "darker". It's not that mixed, especially in Poland. Poles in Poland would still more often marry other Poles.

Anyway, feel free to be what you want.

Thank you! At last...

Identifying with a particular race, ethnicity, tribe, nation is kind of ridiculous anyway.

To you. But to others it may not be "ridiculous". And as far they're not hurting anybody with this identifying and it's not connected with hating others I don't see anything wrong with this. What's really ridiculous, I think, is denying the fact that those Poles can identify themselves with the ethnic group to which they belong to.

Lots of neat traditions to follow that don't require a label. Meh.

Yup, but is it a reason to deny others the right to identify themselves with Polish ethnic group or feel some connection to Poland?
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I know one German who's ancestors moved to Poland (near £ódź, I think) in something like 18th century if I remember correctly (a long time ago, anyway), but part of his family moved to Germany after WWII. I've never seen him describing himself as a Pole, only as a German, although he writes (and probably speaks too) perfect, native-like Polish, knows quite a lot about Polish history, he'd like to move from Berlin to Wrocław, and I think his mother is Polish...
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Citizenship is a direct identifier to your tribe.

What? What identifier? If you write about tribe, not society, then blood is the identifier, not citizenship.

By giving that up and deciding to live in a new culture, would you be leaving that ethnicity?

No, ethnicity is about genes lol

Firstly, I don't live in the US lol
Secondly, I thought we were talking about Poles who were born in Poland and moved to another country (conscious choice, remember?).
As for "the eights and sixteenths" who don't speak the language, don't know of the history of Poland - I doubt that they would feel some connection to Poland, to be honest. But if they do - that's cool, it's up to them.

You mentioned Chopin. Naturalized US citizens must renounce their allegiance to Poland, French citizens don't have too...

Again - so?

wasn't he a dual citizen through birth?

As far as I know - no, but I may be wrong.

Society and common traditions most certainly are.

Not necessarily, especially in such a melting pot as the US.

Race vs ethnicity.

What?

If you are a naturalized US citizen, you have renounced your allegiance to Poland. You have promised to take up arms against enemies, whoever that might be.

That would be a problem only if Poland and the US were at war. This never happened in our entire history, quite the opposite. And Poles are aware of that.

By deciding to move your life into another country with different traditions, you are in practice forking your ethnicity.

Of course not.
Traditions aren't the same thing as ethnicity. Ethnicity = genes.

Fair enough...even though your mountain folk seem to identify pretty heavily with their region,

What does it have to do with anything? Do you think that I would suddenly cease to identify myself with my region if I left to Warsaw or some other country?

I would still sing:

"Ach, kieleckie jakie cudne
gdzie jest taki drugi kraj
tu przeżyjesz chwile cudne tu
przeżyjesz życia raj.

Jakże nie kochać tej ziemi
gdy serce do niej się rwie.
Wszystko tu swojskie i bliskie.
I tutaj wracasz, bo gdzie?"

LOL

My aunt moved to Wrocław, but she still sings this song when we all go for a walk during holidays in the countryside where my grandma lives ;)

but I probably won't understand.

It looks like you don't...
You don't feel any connection to your country of origin, to its people?

PS, all naturalized US citizens are foreigners in Poland.

The same is with Poles who were forcibly moved to the Soviet Union and didn't manage to regain Polish citizenship. So, those are only papers to me.
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

In the oath, you are stating that you are no longer part of the Polish citizenry, but instead you've decided to become an American. It's really that easy. You might still continue with Polish traditions, but you're no longer Polish. Your children will be born as American, not Polish.

Again... Citizenship isn't the same as ethnicity. Ethnically they're Polish.

So some people want to be identified as ethnically Polish, but not nationally Polish?

pl.bab.la/slownik/angielski-polski/ethnicity

Chopin didn't renounce his citizenship.

So?

And ethnicity is a mixed bag that changes. It's not something that is stagnant and stays the same forever. A conscious decision is made by an immigrant to join another society.

Society isn't the same as ethnic group.

Right, so you don't really care about what you swore, you just did it for the papers. That's fair enough, some of us do see something wrong with it.

Who? Me? I didn't swear anything lol
What I means is - when someone swears allegiance to some country it doesn't mean automatically that he/she renounces his/her ethnicity. Do you understand?
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Roots are just a question of how far back you want to go. Many times, those roots are nothing more than names on a piece of paper.

For some people a name is enough and I have no problem with that. It's their choice how far they want to go back.

Identification with a nation also seems differ based on the country. Most Italians will identify themselves based on where they're from first, and then work their way up to "Italy", same goes for Germans, French, Spanish...

That's why I'm saying that as foreigners you have no say in this matter, because apparently you don't understand.

Dunno, as far as renouncing Polish citizenship though, that seems pretty straightforward in that one no longer wants to be identified as Polish.

Renouncing Polish citizenship doesn't automatically mean that someone doesn't want to be identified as Polish. That's only in your head. You have no idea what those people feel or think and you have no right to say whether they want to be identified as ethnically Polish or not, as you simply don't know.

Many, many Poles have family members abroad, we have a long history of emigration. Do you think that Poles won't see their own family as Poles?

Do you think that for Poles Chopin ceased to be Polish and a Polish patriot when he became a citizen of France?

But hey, people that renounce their allegiance to Poland are making a conscious decision to no longer be Polish.

Again, you can't change your ethnicity by changing citizenship. It's biology, genes. Your eyes won't suddenly change from blue to green or brown if you become a citizen of another country.

and swearing to no longer officially identify themselves as Polish.

I don't care about "officially", I care what's in people's minds and hearts.

Being Polish is not only about papers... You foreigners are weird...
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

I realize that, that is what I always hear from my relatives who travel to Poland. Notice I called them PF members and nothing else :)

Then you don't have to be bothered by what they think. They have no say in this matter, as they are foreigners, not Poles.

I think that he is actually talking more the idea which some posters here have that black people, Jewish people, Asian people etc can never be Polish.

Who is "he"?

If your rule were to hold true, black/Asian/Jewish people and the like would be able to be Polish!

If we're talking about ethnicity then all you have to do is to have one Polish parent, for example:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandra_Szwed

If we're talking about something else, then I think it's up to the foreigner living in Poland who he/she wants to be or considers himself/herself to be.

It is not for you, convex or American judges to decide who is Polish and who's not Polish.
You won't change your ethnicity by changing citizenship. It's biology, genes. Your eyes won't suddenly change from blue to green or brown if you become a citizen of another country lol

I think it'd be a bit ridiculous to call myself Italian based on that :)

You don't have any Italian roots so this comparison is ridiculous.
Paulina   
14 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Things that Polish-American should know about Poland. [168]

Most nationalities cherish and encourage exchanges with their expats no matter how they emigrated, how many generations ago, etc.

We do that too (Poles, that is).

Here on PF on the other hand we have several members who must have graduated from Dr. Mengele's "Pure Race Pole" labs, a disturbing and very illogical fixation on "I'm better than you are" ideology.

Delphiandomine and Harry aren't Polish.
Paulina   
12 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]

Being Polish means one has certain rights and does not have others.

Being Polish is far more than that, Harry.
Don't you think it's a bit arrogant, while not being Polish yourself, to say what it means to be Polish? I'm not telling you whether you are or aren't a... who are you, anyway?

And, again, patriotism and citizenship aren't the same things as ethnicity.
Paulina   
12 Jan 2011
USA, Canada / Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)? [161]

Perhaps because they do not wish to have rights which are not available to them. Perhaps real Poles accept the lack of rights they have in foreign countries because those are simply the rights which Poles have in those countries and those people are Poles!

Wha...?

No, but swearing that one will perform military service against one's country does make one a traitor (unless one can claim that one is actually agreeing to perform such service in defense of one's country, which is not a claim that you can make).

You're confusing patriotism with ethnicity.
Paulina   
11 Jan 2011
News / Polish cleaner blows the lid on 'dirty' Germans [124]

burping, farting at the table

lol But that's a general German thing as far as I've noticed ;)

Probably rather more trustworthy than the woman who witheld half her wages or the judge who kept confiscated mariajuana plants!

And all those Germans who employ those people illegally :P

how much of it is really true - we will probably never know.

Yup, yet you assume the worst about this woman even without reading the book.

But chances are that she colored her stories quite abit..to sell some more.
It's like with sex, the dirtier the higher the pay.

She seems some kind of a w*hore. First doing everything for money, even if she hates it and
afterwards spelling the secrets for some more money! Even using a pseudonym instead of her name.
How trustworthy do you think she is?

As trustworthy as foreigners writing here on this forum about Poles behind their backs, using screen names instead of their real first names and surnames? :)

My guess is that if Harry published a book about Poland and Poles "spelling their secrets" he would be applauded here...

Somehow to invoke german "dirtyness" using the adventures of some polish house cleaner....
After all...the job of a hous cleaner is to clean the house of dirt, isn't it?

There's this stereotype of Germans being überclean and orderly :) I remember that I've found all the lawns in Austria and Germany inhumanly even and trimmed - all looking exactly the same and the same with houses - at least on the outside. The cleanliness was almost creepy :) So it's quite heartening to know that Germans are... people too, after all ;)))