Food / Tata z mamą? 50-50 mixture of spiritus. [10]

I reckon it's called tata z mamą when no water is added. May be a regional thing limited to eastern Poland's Lublin region.

Food / Sauekraut and Peas served at Wigilia [15]

[Moved from]: Crunchy green pea salad; nice on the Wigilia table or any other time as well

This Polish salad (sałatka z zielonego groszku) is nice on the Wigilia table or any other time as welll.
Drain a tin of baby peas well. Add a finely chopped pickled cucumber (dill pickle) and 2-3 diced radishes and or spring onions. Lace wtih just enough mayonnaise to coat ingredients. Enjoy!

Genealogy / The Meaning and Origin of the Last name Czekaj [9]

Czekaj belongs to a small group of Polish surnames derived from the 2nd person singular imperative of different verbs. They include Biegaj (run), Gadaj (chat), Kuszaj (eat - from Russian), Koś (mow, harvest) and Stań (stand up - also in reference to an erection).

More common are surnames derived from the 3rd person singular past tense. These include: Przybył (literally: he has arrived), Świtało (day was breaking), Gwiazdała (she was whistling) and even Sikała (she was peeing).

Genealogy / Genealogy Klikowa, Tarnow, Poland - Pictures and Phone book [9]

A fair number of Gajdas (some 500) live in and around the town of Tarnów. The name probably originated as an occupational nick for a country piper.

GAJDA: piper or fiddler (homespun village musician)

Genealogy / last name I think its spelled mackinsky or mcakinasky [10]

What about Mączyński? In Angloland the diacritics would get lost and you'd get Maczynski.
To retain something close to the original pronunciation someone may have replaced the cz with a ch producing Machinski or maybe Mochinski. It would've originated as a toponymic nick from Mączne (Flourton, Mealville).

Genealogy / Slawinski / Slawinska - where did the last name Slawinski originate from? Slowinska [12]

There is no letter "v" in Polish, so Slavinski and Slovinski (the -ska ending is feminine) could not have been the original Polish spelling. Sometimes Polish immigrants changed the "w" to a "v" help the Anglos pronounce it correctly. However Czech and Slovak names as well as transilterated Cyrillic ones do have the ltter "v", eg Novak, Stravinsky, etc.

Genealogy / Slawinski / Slawinska - where did the last name Slawinski originate from? Slowinska [12]

Sławiński and Słowiński are two different names. Sławiński would have emerged as a toponymic ncik for someone form Sławin or Sławiny. Słowiński would have descirbed a Slovincian (Słowiniec), a member of a now extinct Pomeranian subgroup akin to the Kashubians.

The foods you mentioned are known throughout the Polish realm and cannot be used to track down your family's ancestral nest.
There are some 8,000 Słowińskis in Poland and nearly as many (7,800) Sławińskis.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]

Our GIs made it only as far east as the River Elbe. To the east of there the Soviets held sway.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]

I am not an historian, but neither have I ever heard of any British unit liberating Poland. The Russians also did not liberate it, they merely replaced the Nazi occupation with their own.

Genealogy / Looking for my father's family, Roman Rydel or possibly Rydelski [30]

Rydel is the generally accepted way of Polonising the German name Riedel (German ie usually becomes y in Polish).

Genealogy / Looking for my father's family, Roman Rydel or possibly Rydelski [30]

In Poland there are some 1,500 people surnamed Rydel and only some 230 using the Rydelski suirname which probably originated as a patronymic nick (Rydel's son).

A rydel is a garden spade.

Genealogy / Polish noble origins information [17]

I cannot help you as to when and under what circumstances your ancestors entered the ranks of the gentry, but the noble Skibniewskis were entitled to use the Ślepowron coat of arms. It was said to have come into being when a Hungarian knight bearing the Korwin coat of arms married into the Pobóg clan and added the Pobóg (cavalier’s cross-topped horseshoe) emblem to his own which became known as Ślepowron. It depicts a black crow holding a ring in its beak and perched upon a gold cavalier’s cross adorning the back of a standing silver horseshoe against a blue shield. Accordng to some legends, the origin of the Korwin crest goes back to the times of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. During the campaign against the Franks a Roman soldier named Valessius Messala Corvinius was challenged to a duel by the Frankish warrior of legendary strength. During their combat a black raven landed on Corvinius’ helmet and began furiously pecking the startled pagan who was easily defeated. Ślepowron is among the most popular Polish coats of arms and is used by 529 noble families.

Genealogy / Robert, bobka, stosh, iggy, kasia? - What is my name in Polish? [32]

Heather is wrzos in Polish but never used as a first name. Poles do not ordinarily name people after weeds or other plants (heather, holly, myrtle, ivy, jasmine, poppy, iris, willow, violet, petunia, fleur, magnolia, lily, camellia, daisy,etc.). Co kraj to obyczaj!

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

Is the symbol of European culture to be the guillotine or the cross? Aggressive French llaïcité in the past has included priests having their cassocks torn off in the streets. How about tearing the gold crosses off women's (and some men's) necks. It may have a religious significance to some and not just be a fashion symbol, so just to be on the safe side, off it comes!

Someone on PF said if Muslim scarves are banned in French schools, then crosses should be removed as well. But is it proper to strip youngsters of symbols their tradition holds dear, be they muslim, Judaeic or Christian?

The advent of aggressive secularism has parallelled the overall decline in public morality (shop-lifting, white-collar crime, family break-up, lying, calumny, drugs, vandalism, etc., so why deify and absolutise it to such an obsessive degree?!?

Food / Polish Duck Soup [117]

Anyone ever heard US-born Pol-Am kids calling czernina 'chocolate soup & bullets'? The bullets were the little dumplings in the soup.

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

A cross offends the child of a Finnish immigrant in school so it should be taken down even though 99% of Italians are Catholic?!
Well, Jehovah's Witnesses do not recognise national flags, symbols, oaths, etc. However, should a JW minority in school demand that the Polish, Canadian, American or whatever flag be removed from the classroom because they do not believe in its public display?

Or what about the vegetarian school kid? Does he or his parents have a right to demand burgers and bangers shouldn't be served in the school lunchroom because their very presence violates his rights?

What about homos who want Lesbian nuns and homo priests in the Catholic Church? What about the rights of the majority of Catholics who reject such innovations?

This boils down to majority and minority rights.
We lived in tabloidised times where the sensation-seeking media eagerly hype the noisy demands of tiny, vocal and influential minority elites, mainly of liberal, leftist or libertine persuasion, which are effectively terrorising the rest of society.

Life / How Polish are you? [74]

Only 76%. I thought it would have been higher.

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]

Merged:American Polonia in facts and figures

POLISH AMERICANS

STATES TOTAL POLISH POPULATION %100 OF TOTAL US

9,050,1223.3 % of national population

NEW YORK 958,893 10.6
ILLINOIS 946,241 10.5
MICHIGAN 900,335 9.9
PENNSYLVANIA 855,526 9.5
NEW JERSEY 591,347 6.5
CALIFORNIA 496,588 5.5
WISCONSIN 481,779 5.3
FLORIDA 430,138 4.8
OHIO 404,557 4.5
MASSACHUSETTS 349,998 3.9
CONNECTICUT 278,010 3.1
TEXAS 234,861 2.6
MINNESOTA 222,997 2.5
MARYLAND 186,312 2.1
INDIANA 164,587 1.8
ARIZONA 140,541 1.6
VIRGINIA 112,658 1.2
MISSOURI 104,460 1.2
COLORADO 97,420 1.1
IOWA 31,861 0.4

allied-media.com/ETHNICTV/polcensus.htm

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]

Great photos Śledź! Maybe next time round you'll also get to snap the big Polish Cultural Centre outside Milwaukee, Milwaukee's Polish Fest (billed as America's biggest Polish festival), and maybe the offices of Gwiazda Polarna newspaper and Point Brewery in Stevens Point. There is also Kraków, Wilno, Polonia and Pułaski Wisconsin and plenty of gravestones with Polish names thereon. The religious journal Miesięcznik Franciszkański is still being published, I believe, in Pułaski.

Language / FULL WYPAS, WYPASIONY, ZAJEBISTY? [20]

[Moved from]: zajebisty~zajedwabisty

To older Poles zajebisty has a crude and vulgar ring to it, but younger Poles claim nothing bad is intended. It's just a slang way of evaluating something in a positive light. If so, why has the euphemism zajedwabisty been thought up?

Genealogy / The surname Celinski and resources for Galician roots [17]

This is a surname of toponymic origin traceable to at least 10 localities in Poland called Celiny. It probably was derived from the feminine name Celina (Cecilia), so we 'might trnalsate it as Ceciliaville.

One of them is in the Lublin region whcih is closest to the Ruthenian area you mentioned.

Genealogy / GITLER... is it Polish surname? [30]

Where did you find out that Lepper was originally Loper?

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]

What about: Kto ją tam wie?! (Who knows what makes her tick?!)

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonia_w_Stanach_Zjednoczonych#Analiza_danych_spisu_powszechnego_w_2000

Percentage of self-declared Polish people amongt the state's population:
Procentowy udział ludności polonijnej w ogóle populacji stanów
· 01 Wisconsin 9,3%
· 02 Michigan 8,6%
· 03 Connecticut 8,3%
· 04 Illinois 7,5%
· 05 New Jersey 6,9%

Absolute numbers of self-declared Polonians
1. Nowy Jork (986 141)
2. Illinois (932 996)
3. Michigan (854 844)
4. Pensylwania (824 146)
5. New Jersey (576 473)
6. Wisconsin (497 726)
7. Kalifornia (491 325)
8. Ohio (433 016)
9. Floryda (429 691)
10. Massachusetts (323 210)

NOTE: These figures may change after the 2010 census.

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]

This is based on US census self-declaration, ie answers to the qeustion: What is your ethnic background? Remember, demographcially and culturally southern Illinois is more like the south than the midwest . When I find the data, I will post it.

Life / Animal Rights Movements in Poland [56]

I haven't heard of a RSPCA in Poland, but big cities do oeprate a Straż dla Zwierząt (Animal Guard) -- check on Google.

Life / Polish clothing - Polish folk costumes [28]

Check out: raymond@polartcenter.com The Polish Art Center of Michigan dispenses info and advice on the subject of Polish folklore, reigonal attire, etc.

Genealogy / POLISH NOBILITY NAMES IN -SKIi [82]

Owning a peasant farm or smallholding was not that same as a landowning noble. Wźjtowicz means the village mayor's son.
Any Polish name can be held by a Jew. Some but not all had typcially Jewish names like Szapiro, Margolis, Lubartower or Lubartowski, Posner or Poznański...