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

Unlike today’s highly truncated and ethnically homogenous Poland, prior to the late-18th-century partitions by Russia, Prussia and Austria, the sprawling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had for centuries been one of Europe’s largest land empires. It bordered on Turkey, straddled the continent from the Black Sea in the south to the Baltic up north and included today’s Ukraine, Belarus and parts of Russia. Besides Poles and Lithuanians, its population included Ruthenians (Ukrainians and Belarussians), Germans, Jews, Armenians, Moldavians, Latvians, Turks, Tartars, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and others. That had led to a fair amount of cultural cross-fertilization, intermarriage and linguistic sharing.

News / What do we think about the plans for parity in Polish politics. [11]

It's funny that the Środas, Jarugas, Szczukas and other feminist EQALITY seekers concentrate solely on parity in parliamant and greedily eye executive posts and other high-paying fat-cat jobs, but clam up when it comes to parity in the ranks of dustmen, sewer workers, street sweepers, ditch diggers, asbestos workers and other socially useful jobs, where there is a severe womanpower shortage. I guess it's like in Orwell's 'Animal Farm', where everyone was equal, but some were more equal than others.

Genealogy / Lubicz Family [8]

Crow -- your penchant for finding a common Serb denominator in everything reminds me of an ancedote which supposedly circulated round the time of World War One. The Nobel Prize committee had announced an essay contest on the subject of the elephant in which different nations competed. The Frenchman wrote an essay entitled 'L'éléphant et ses amours', the German penned a treatise entitled "Die Elephantenphilosophie und ihr Verhältnis zu den Wissenschaftlichen Problemen des Transzendentalismus'. The Englishman wrote: 'The Elephants I have shot', the American submitted an essay titled 'The Elephant and how to make it bigger and better', and the Pole wrote: 'Słoń a sprawa polska'.

Genealogy / Lubicz Family [8]

The Lubicz coat of arms goes back to the Middle Ages, when the army of King Kazimierz had been ambushed by a powerful force of pagan Prussians. A knight named Lubicz (bearing the Pobóg coat of arms) led a troop of his own soldiers against the enemy with such ferocity that he sent them fleeing for safety. In recognition of his splendid service, Kazimierz rewarded him with numerous possessions. He also added another cavalier’s cross to his Pobóg crest, which depicted a standing golden horseshoe topped with a cavalier’s cross on a blue shield, removed the hound from the crest, and renamed the modified coat of arms after the brave knight. This heraldic device is shared by 710 Polish noble families.

Genealogy / Anyone here from the UK? Looking for a Pristow [6]

PRZYSTAWSKI: toponymic nick for inabitnat of the village fo Przystawka in the Podlasie region.

Genealogy / Search for ancestors: LULA last name [5]

LULA: The noun “lula” once meant a baby’s cradle, whilst the verb “lulać” means to rock a baby to sleep. The refrain “luli-luli-laj” is found in many Polish lullabyes. The now archaic term “luleja” was once used to indicate a slowpoke or dawdler. “Lula” also once meant a smoking pipe, especially its diminutive form “lulka”. Also, there are localities in Poland named Lulin and Lulinek (both in westeern Poland’s Wielkopolska region) which also could have generated the Lula nickname or something similar.

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

PULCIŃSKI: Pulchinski does not exist in Polish and represents an attempt at phonetically respelling Pulciński for the benefuit of potential Anglo-manglers in the USA. It probably originated as a toponymic nick from Pulczynów, Pulki or Pulsze. The Polciński spelling also exists, but both names are extremely rare.

KITZMANN: German or Yiddish; in dialectic German a Kitz was a kid (baby goat) or fawn (baby deer). There is an unrelated noun Kitzel meaning urge, desire, etc. A Kitzler is a clitoris. How those terms could be linked up with “mann” is a good question.

Life / Polish stereotypes of other nationalities!? [472]

Jan 16, 10, 19:07 - Thread attached on merging:
How do Poles ridicule other nationalities?

What are the common stereotypes held by Poles about other nationalities that are the basis of ethnic jokes and ridicule? For instance:
German order-minded (Ordnung muss sein)
Scots - mean
Russian - primitive, ignorant, backward (Russian women attending balls in nightgowns stolen from Poles after the war; Russian soldaty wearing several wristwatches 'czasy' stolen from Poles)

Czechs - cowards, Jews - crafty, etc., etc.
What about French, Italians, Brits, Americans et al?

Food / WHAT DID YOU EAT FOR POLISH EASTER TODAY? [45]

Anybody eat biały barszcz biłgorajski at their święcone? It contains ham, sausage, hard-cooked eggs, curd cheese, horseradish, sour cream and stale ryebread cubes and is flavoured with garlic and marjoram. This is a must in my family.

Food / WHAT DID YOU EAT FOR POLISH EASTER TODAY? [45]

Jan 16, 10, 22:52 - Thread attached on merging:
Polish Easter fare?

When you thunk of the Polish Easter comfort foods of your childhood, what comes
to mind? What were the absolute 'musts' on your family's Easter table? Do you still enjoy any of them at present?

Life / Best-looking Polish post-war celebs.... [12]

Any gals out there have any opinion on Polish male celebs: Kammel, Pazura, Zamachowski, Linda, Podkościelny, Deląg, Wojewódzki, Radek Sikorski, Andrzej Olechowski, Donald Tusk. Zbigneiw Ziobro, that post-commie bloke Olejniczak or others??

News / IPN apologises to Adam Michnik [15]

Michnik's biological father Aron Schechter may not have been convicted of espionage, but he was definitely a subversive operating in Stalin's Comintern-linked Polish Communist Party and subsidiaries in Belarus and Ukraine whose goal was to undermine independent Poland. Michnik's mother was a writer of Stalinist textbooks in the postwar period whose purpose was to brainwash and Sovietise Polish schoolchildren. And Michnik's brother is a Stalinist desk-top murderer with blood on his hands, a fugitive from justice to this day hiding out in Sweden. Michnik comes from a truly 'fajna rodzinka'!

Life / What I miss and don't miss about Poland [64]

Anecdotal examples can be found to support any theory, but again -- talk to the teachers. Check with educators, sociologists, law-enforcement experts, etc. Do you really beleive kids always brought knives, guns and drugs to school?

Magdusia et all who claim nothigns has changed, check out: telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/6685249/Children-becoming-aggressive-younger.html

The rise in disruption and aggression means it is becoming harder to teach primary pupils, according to the ATL president, Lesley Ward, who has appealed for parents to support teachers' efforts to improve children's behaviour.

The findings appear to confirm the fear that children have too much power in the classroom.
The Government sought to address this by recent legislation that means from September 2010 teachers will have a legal right to physically search pupils' bags for drugs, alcohol and stolen goods. Currently teachers can only search pupils for knives and other weapons by frisking them or by airport-style metal detectors.

Genealogy / Anyone with the last name of Stemkowski or Obloj? [3]

STEMKOWSKI: most likely originally Stępowski, toponymic nick for an inhabitant iof Stępów or Stępowo

OB£ÓJ: uncertain -- possibyl derived from the adj. obły = oval, for insatnce an egg-shaped humpty-dumptyesque person??? Without the 'ł', an obój is a musical instrument (oboe).

CORRECTION: The previous entry should read:
STEMKOWSKI: most likely originally Stępkowski, toponymic nick for an inhabitant of Stępków.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Haste makes waste!

Life / What I miss and don't miss about Poland [64]

To Magdusia: Are you really so horse-blinkered? Talk to any teacher who has taught for the past 20-25 years in the US, Canada and probably also the UK, and for sure in Poland, and they will tell you that kids are becoming nastier, more aggressive, foul-mouthed and harder to handle than ever. We can thrash out the presumed causes, but the reality is what it is.

And yes, there are good and bad days. They can be unruly and vicious or more unruly and vicious, depending on their mood.

Life / What I miss and don't miss about Poland [64]

Have you ever visited a large traditional Polish family, esp. in small-town Poland as an American guest (Wujek z Chicago, Ciocia z Pensylwanii, &c.)? Admittedly it may have to do with the still existing American mystique, but the families I have visited as a Polonian and what I have heard from other Pol-Ams bears out the impression of well-behaved kids. Maybe it's a just an act and deep down they are the same kind of swiney slimeballs as their Brit or Yank opposite numbers.

Life / What I miss and don't miss about Poland [64]

Young Polish Small girls aged 4-14, maybe above, all instinctively umieją dygać. (I never could master it myself.)

Language / I need some encouragement from Polish language speakers! [30]

Thta's a good question. What is the English plural of grosz? Grosze, groszy? Does the 2 to 4 = nominative and 5 & above = genetive rule apply to English? I have even occasionally seen groschen (from German) used.

With PLN it's easier: one złoty, 2,3,4 ,5, etc. złotys or złots for short.

Life / What I miss and don't miss about Poland [64]

Polish Americans I have talked to following visits to Poland usually say they miss the things they do not have at home in the good ol' USA. Some examples:

HOSPITALITY: Many say Polish hospitality is legendary. If you tell an Anglo you've already had lunch or are on a diet or some such, he will probably drop it right then and there. But the Pole will say: well, try just a little, and surely you'll want to sample Ciocia Jadzia's sernik, and one nip won't hurt you. Conversely, the Poles have a saying about Anglo-American hospitality: ‘Nalał po kieliszku wódki, resztę schował do lodówki!’

POLITENESS: Coming as they do from Bratland USA, visitng Pol-Ams can't get over how polite and well-behaved the kids are. They know how to greet visitors, bow or curtsey and are mostly seen but not heard. (I wonder if 10 years from now they will say the same after Poland’s young people have been brain-washed with an additional decade of MTV-style selfish-slob culture indoctrination?!) Polish grown-ups too are more polite, Before and after a dance they kiss their female partner's hands, always say 'Smacznego' if they walk in on someone eating, and always greet females first. Some pushy American macho type may thrust out his hand when meeting a group of Polish relatives who ignore him until after they've greeted all the females in the party first.

PIETY: The sight of full churches is a pleasant change from the American norm, especially the sight of teenagers, young married with babies in prams and other younger folk attending Sunday Mass, queuing up outside confessionals, receiving Holy Communion and going on pilgrimages.

FOOD: Many say in Poland they have relived many of the aromas and flavours of their long-gone childhood in the old Polish neighbourhoods of Cleveland, Chicago, Pitssburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, New York, etc. The bite-down (zagrycha) style of Polish home entertainment also appeals to many. ‘In America we just go to a bar and drink and it’s cheaper to get snookered on an empty stomach,’ is a common remark.

ARCHITETURAL TREAURES: Coming as they do from a country, where the few old historic buildings (town halls, schools, even churches) are regularly torn down to make way for car parks, shopping malls and other such pedestrian purposes, the sight of painstakingly preserved castles, cathedrals and other architectural relics is something many miss.

SCENERY: The mountains of south Poland, together with the folk culture they embody, are a favourite of many Pol-Ams flatlanders who stock up on local folkcrafts and pictures of the craggy, snow-topped Tatras. Inlanders love the Baltic beaches and cliffs and most everybody enjoys such wilderness areas as the Puszcza Białowiejska and the Bieszczady.

UNIQUE CASES: There are always plenty of unique-case scenarios which fit in none of the above and reflect the interests and yearnings of individual Polonian visitors.

Language / I need some encouragement from Polish language speakers! [30]

Over the years I have taught Polish to English speakers and English to Polish speakers and have found that the best way to qucikly acquire the basics of practical speech is not to worry about declensions or conjugations but to try to pick up things the way a small child does -- in segments. So don't think about cię being the accusative of ty or kocham being 1st person singular of kochać. Through repetition learn that 'Kocham cię' means 'I love you'. Full stop! And 'Jutro dam ci pięć funtów' = 'I'll give you 5 quid tomorrow'. Sure, you may wonder why someone said cztery funty (not funtów), but simply accept it, repeat it and let it sink in. Once you have acquired a number of common phrases you'll be on your way to effectively speaking rudimentary Polish and have something to buiild on. Anyway, that's my 3 groszy worth.

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

The Anglicisaiion of Polish did not start with the fall of the Iron Curtian. Also before the war there were many borrowings. The field of sport, technical inventions and dog breeds are prime examples.

Genealogy / Polish and Eastern European Name mutilation [7]

D-MITKOWICZ: patronymic nick 'son of Dmitr'i (a popular name in eastern Slavdom). This name has a great many different forms has generated numerous derivatives (diminutives, patronymic nicks). Dźmitkowicz would have been derived from one of the many hypocoristic (endearing pet) forms of Dmitri -- Dźmitko. The palatalised dź suggests that the name had been filtered through Polish.

Language / że & iż [16]

BTW obywatel was also borrowed form the Czechs. According to Polish word-forming convention it should have been obywaciel like nauczyciel, przyjaciel, etc.

Food / Polish Herring Appetizer [21]

Mayo takes the sharp edge off sour cream. When using pickled herring, which is already on the tart side, this combo mellows the flavour. The ratio is whatever you fabncy: 50-50, 40-60, 30-70, or even mostly one with only a dollop of the other.

Language / ów its meaning [11]

It is an emphatic demonstrative pronoun meaning that. However it is on the lofty side, perhaps a bit archaic and rarely encountered in colloquial specch.

Eg: Pamiętam ów dzień, kiedy...( I rememebr that day, when...)

Genealogy / Has anybody heard of Pobra name in Poland? [6]

No-one surnamed Pobra or Podra in Poland at present, but the root is found in such names as Pobram, Pobran, Pobralski, Podraszka, Podraski and othrrs.

Language / Polish keyboard 214 is best [34]

With Polish 214 you need not switch between English, Polish and German settings because its all there engraved on the keytops. The German umlaut and ß, all the symbols needed to type English and other languages ($, € , @, ç é, etc.) are right there in front of you. The Polish letters require no alt+letter or double typing (ee to get ę), just a single key stroke. The fact that retailers have been pushing the American keyboard on Poles for their own commercial reasons is a completely separate story. (Why stock different keyboards when it's more convenient to stock just one?!).

But in terms of speed and convenience, nothing beats POLISH 214!
BTW, do most Austrian computer users use the American keyboard or a German-language one?