History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


In some sections of the media it's a permanent sezon ogórkowygetting the credulous all hot and bothered over nothing. And then it ends up on here.

I'd be interested how many of the people who've posted on here have actually seen the painting as well as being familiar enough with Matejko's oevre to compare it with anything.

Related: Panorama Racławicka -- what does it refer to?

Check this link: panoramaraclawicka.pl/pl/ciekawostki.html

History / Question about land of former Poland/modern Belarus [11]


The various institutions of Lwow (such as they remained after the wartime massacres) and of Wroclaw have a certain degree of continuity.

Travel / Fastest way to get from Warsaw Airport to Lodz central on Monday at noon. [42]

A bus (175) from right outside the Arrivals Hall of the airport. Buy a ticket from the machine (in English) and don't forget to cancel it.

Get off at Warszawa Centralna (the central station opposite the huge Marriot Hotel).

Buy a ticket to Lodz Fabryczna (make sure you ask for that station). Your uni should have provided directions from there. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how cheap train travel is here.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Why not look at it in real life?


I googled him, and no, I can't.


You'd be surprised.


Makes sense, however I'd say that the main reason they're hosting it is Poland's image.

Work / What is a good salary in Wroclaw? (coordinator position for an IT company) [27]

Exactly, it wouldn't be worth a special car journey just for that. Nevertheless, the petrol stations just the other side of the Ukrainian border have wooden ramps to reverse up. To make sure you can get as much in the tank as possible!

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Plain? Classy. That's why it sells.


Why not check it out?


So trashy popculture.


The ones who can afford a week away and the huge cost of ticket are likely to have all sorts of interests.

Language / Why are Happy Easter & Merry Christmas the same in Polish [26]


Very normal. Happy is good for both. Merry has an old meaning involving parties (and alcohol). "Merry meet".

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


So do some of the things that the UK exports. People still buy them. And the Boleslawiec range is bigger than you might think.


So much was exported.


Nothing exceptional. Followers rather than leaders.


Tee shirts and other touristy trash sells by the bucketload to the young and undiscriminating. I'm not sure who Simon Cowell is, but the other two examples you give are available on tee shirts. What I see in the shops around the world are expensive foodstuffs and posh shoes.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]

Exactly. And it's well worth mentioning that the thread title doesn't say which political spectrum; the politics of which country...

Somehow I've a feeling that the Pol-Ams here assume automatically it's US politics. and the politics of the US and the politics of Poland are a whole different paradigm.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]


Why would somebody be jealous of Pol-Ams? For what?

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]

Very likely. Personally I think Delph has a very good point. As do I on the nature of political identity.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]

It's actually a relevant point. What impact does having a tenuous connection to a foreign country have on political identity in a place very far (in every sense) from that country.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]

I'm not sure about the first and last, but the Centrum Czeskie Towaru (excuse me if the koncowki are wrong - I've got a crunching hangover) on Marszalkowska sells plenty of crystal. And Czech glassware has been in the shops in the UK for years. Skoda cars and Bata shoes are fairly universal too.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]


Exactly. How anyone can place themselves on a 'political spectrum' on the basis of a culture that they know very little about and wouldn't much like if they experienced it beggars belief.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


And there were plenty of clothing exports to the UK and elsewhere. Biba wasn't one of them. BTW, Krakus was an established brand back then.


Lots. But very much at the bottom end of the market.


On the whole they dress well. Poles haven't yet created a positive impression about the way they dress in the UK. Unfortunately I've only heard negative comments.


Britain exports enough already - easily enough to obviate the need for a small shop.

For Polish products, what about Boleslawiec pottery. Not the kitsch stuff, but some of the better designs. Denby from the UK sells quite well across the Atlantic (in fact it's their main market) - Boleslawiec could imitate this.

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


Exactly.


There are bloody great ten ton monuments around the place to the various victories over Russia, plus history books in every library. To suggest that a particular painting with less than mass appeal is somehow being censored is sadly delusional.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]


Perhaps when they'd stopped laughing. It's amazing that there are people who describe themselves as Polish and as several posts in this thread imply, base their political and social identity on that while at the same time they are clueless as to how people think or behave in Poland.

It's as if some of those people resent the fact that it is a living, changing, dynamic country and not stuck in the pierog-eating days that their grandmother's stories were about.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Sweet, but available already and who would buy? I'd add that every region in Europe has some folk art that is 'unique', the UK more than most.


As an alternative to Biedermaier it's nice, but what makes you think other countries don't have the same or better?


Some was good, but again other places had good furniture too.


Actually I do know it. My home in Warsaw is full of the stuff. I just don't think it's special enough to bring a return after promoting it. Everywhere else in Europe was making furniture too.


WTF? Go and have a look n a hypermarket at British products and figure out why the export figures are what they are.


No dearie. Biba wasn't a Polish shop. It was a briefly fashionable clothes shop (with one branch) who's part-owner happened to have come from Poland. Plenty of tourists but most of the country never set foot in the place nor was there much from Poland on the racks - most was designed in-house by British designers. I remember going to the restaurant there when I was a kid - a lovely place but one that went bust. The Polish clothes that were on sale in stores around the country were a very different kettle of fish. Nasty polyester jackets etc - that image unfortunately remains. On top of that Poles are very visible in the UK and you can't market a country as chic for fashion when people see its citizens in the street every day dressed dowdily and especially when they spend time moaning about how poor and grey and hard to live in Poland is!


Perhaps he should. It would be easier to get the footfall.
Personally I would think about selling Polish linen. Not by any means unique but good quality and easily marketable. Some of the glassware too, but not the tasteless stuff that is sold in PL. Make it for the market it will be sold in.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


People have heard of it. For decades. That makes things a lot easier. Even centuries of Swedish style, given the fad for Gustavian decor a few years back. Poland doesn't have anything unique in that way. And if people are going to buy something new, why Polish? Why not Russian or Czech?


There are British and French brands in supermarkets around the world. Poland does not have the same association with quality or the same established brands. Do you remember those Polish clothes that used to be in British shops back in the seventies and eighties?

UK, Ireland / Polish Doctor in UK discriminiated and bullied against gets millions. [28]


Read the details of the case before mouthing off.And at th e same time why not learn about the employment tribunal system - the case is still at a relatively early stage.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Perhaps, but is it possible?


That sort of thing was big 20 years ago.


I quite like that sort of stuff myself, but does it have mass appeal?


Likewise.

Like it or not, the perception of Poland around Europe is predicated by mass emigration which does not suggest chic.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Have you actually been to Poland in order to see what part of their image be exportable? No, thought not. Or know first-hand how the million recent migrants are perceived in the UK? Another no? That's right.

As I said, sexy and cool isn't part of anyone's perception.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]


This thread isn't about Polish people. It's about Americans. Poles in America do not have the vote unless they become citizens and the last generation to do that en-masse have mostly passed away.


More of the silliness we've quickly come to expect from you. Basing your identity of some relative who emigrated a century ago is no way of living in the present.

UK, Ireland / Polish Doctor in UK discriminiated and bullied against gets millions. [28]

I suspect there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye. Let's hope the ridiculous judgment is overturned in appeal (which it almost certainly will be) and the money is used for lifesaving operations.

Would you like to tell your kid that he or she has to stay on dialysis for another year because some overseas doctor has taken the hospital's entire budget because her feelings were hurt...

Law / Credit card fees vs. Cost of Using Cash in Poland [15]

Nothing more infuriating than a studenty kid making a small purchase with plastic. Virtual money.


Credit means it isn't actually yours. You are getting into debt that has to be and will be repaid with interest.

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


No, it isn't. It is in the stacks at Muzeum Narodowy. If you so desperately want it to be hung on the wall, perhaps you'd like to enlighten us as to which painting should be removed to make way for it. I'm sure you're a frequent visitor to aleje J.

UK, Ireland / Is the UK referred to as the Islands in Polish media back home? [62]


I bet you had to look that up. The Antipodes of Poland are actually in the South Pacific. The Antipodes as a phrase are a way of referring to Australia and New Zealand in UK English.

And 'the islands are a way of referring to the British Isles in Polish. Google it, why dontcha? (in Polish of course).


Get a life.

USA, Canada / Where do most Polish-Americans identify on the political spectrum? [142]

Better to be who you are than try to be who your great-granny was.

News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]


Really? See many Poles, do you? In Europe we actually see the real thing. And though there are some virtues in what we see, sexy and cool are not among them.

Life / Why are Polish people so obsessed with race? [160]

I look around me and don't see any group 'on a pedestal'. It's only in your mind.