Love / SAYING "SORRY" TO A LADY RAISED IN POLAND FOR SOMETHING I SAID [17]

smellywelly,

it is surprising how easy it can be to offend some (Polish) people who you would think would understand our humour. Sometimes I've said the most innocent thing and it has been widly misinterpreted. Many Poles are very touchy about ideas of 'poor Poles', especially some who have had to go abroad to find work.

I think there's been a lot of good advice. Least said soonest mended.

Love / Should i wear this to a polish wedding or not? :) [27]

Samnslon,

Something confortable and pretty, slightly formal perhaps. Not too sex-bomb! make sure you're confortable in it and can dance as you might not have time to change before the reception... and they last forever.

Whatever you do, don't do the usual british thing of wolfing down all the food in the first five minutes. We Brits are conditioned to do that, however the Polish wedding lasts for over 12 hours (at least) of solid eating and drinking (I'm not kidding).Also, it is a total disgrace to expect people to buy their own drinks (like we do in Britain), and there will be magic wine and vodka bottles which seem to refill themselves (not kidding).

I once nearly died when I heard a couple of Irish guys pondering about whether to go to McD's before the reception. I had to warn them off the idea.

News / Brown's 'Bigotgate' and the debate about Poles [63]

What gets me about all this is that this woman was prepared to say this infront of a camera... and yet thinks she can't be criticised for her views. If it had been a flag waving member of BNP people would be demanding Brown had called him a bigot!

Come on, what was brown supposed to have done, said "Shut up you bigotted old cow! Bloody Irish name, Duffy. Loads of your lot came flocking over here too at one time!" in front of the media and press? Imagine the gleeful headlines the next day.

Can we imagine if someone had followed this lady home and recorded her saying, "Bloody Scottish git!", then it would be 'invasion of privacy'.

And all this 'oh, he's so two-faced!' Of course he is, he's a politician... it's part of the job description. Let's face it, next time any politician is in China, Russia, UAE etc for a trade discussion, do you think any of them are really going to give the hosts a grilling about human rights etc? No, they'll smile, shake hands and get the trade agreement. Gordon just did what politicians and normal people do.

News / Russian air traffic controllers ignored communication protocol of Polish pilots? [194]

How the heck could they have such an in-depth conversation and NOT understand Russian numbers. My wife heard an interview this morning with the pilot's boss, who said the guy spoke very fluent Russian.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


In my area that could improve your German. Old folks often talk german to foreigners...

News / Polish nightclub guard whacks off client's hand with saber [58]


That's why Postman Pat is banned in Japan. Public display of yakuza 'aspects' are illegal, like all over body tattoos and 4 fingers... Pat has 4 fingers.

News / Polish nightclub guard whacks off client's hand with saber [58]


That's what you really call 'getting a swift one off the wrist'.


I think 'handy' is the word, in this case.

News / Polish Mom claims daughter got pregnant from swimming in pool! [162]


We had a teacher at secondary school who told a story of a girl who, when she got pregnant swore she was a virgin. It was later found she had an intact hymen. That said, I suppose a committed sperm doesn't need to use the entire rocket ship if it has another launch pad... (whatever that means).

I wonder if the subsequent colour of the baby reinforces the case.

Maybe she should just check that it's really sun-cream she's rubbing on.

UK, Ireland / The Daily Mail - coverage of the Polish people [161]


Yeah (I did say "used to", and I'm not exactly a teenager myself). I wonder if in 50 years the swan story will still be going, or whether it'll have changed to another nationality/ethnicity.

UK, Ireland / The Daily Mail - coverage of the Polish people [161]


British Gypsies used to eat hedgehogs, allegedly.

Oh, and then there were these...
childofthe1980s.com/2009/01/15/hedgehog-flavoured-crisps

UK, Ireland / The Daily Mail - coverage of the Polish people [161]


It's funny how the article is written, and only cites "Poles" and "East Europeans" (no other nationality), and then the DM faithful shriek that nowhere in the article does it say Poles were eating the swans.

UK, Ireland / The Daily Mail - coverage of the Polish people [161]

Oh, the swans are back!

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260031/Immigrants-blamed-rape-river-swans-mutilated-fish-stocks-down.html?ITO=1708&referrer=yahoo

History / A rare Polish medal [14]


I thought the highest amount of neanderthal remains were in spain. Probably my mix up.

History / A rare Polish medal [14]

"For your freedom and ours"

on the back it says "except for the Spanish"

History / A rare Polish medal [14]

The Vikings discovered America first, and anyway, Columbus was Italian (and he got lost).

Fight against other countries? Franco got Hitler to do his dirty work and then decided not to play in the big one.

Life / Wojewódzki moral authority for people in Poland? [7]


It was funny on the international Idol contest, when KW told the Belgian singer he thought he was great, and Simon Cowell said something like, "If your only fan is that cretin from Poland, then you're in big trouble."

Life / Wojewódzki moral authority for people in Poland? [7]

The same Wojewódzki who likes wearing t-shirts and hats with the word 'Fu.ck" on them?
Seem to recall him wearing one on Mam Talent. Seemed a bit creepy, wearing it blatantly in front of little kids.

Mind you, I suppose he knows everyone's not so supercool as him and don't understand naughty foreign words.

Study / German v.s. Russian, language usefulness in Poland? [54]

A lot depends where you are. In mazury I found many people automatically spoke German to me when they realised I was a foreigner (even though I tried to speak Polish). In other areas I've found German used more often.

UK, Ireland / i used to work with a lot of polish door stewards who were all good friends [22]


There's already a Polish club in Glasgow, the Sikorski club, by Kelvin grove.

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]


Again, speculation. Where is a quote from her saying the shop-owner specifically said he didn't serve Britons?

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]


Has it ever occured to you that just perhaps, if she didn't know what she was trying to buy, it might have been alcohol? Redd's beer with apple flavour or other flavours, Ginger Beer (alcoholic). wiśniowka (cherry vodka). Might look like soft drinks.

Speculation again, but we never hear what she was trying to buy.


You know, that reminds me. A few months ago my 19 year old niece was refused sale of a DVD with a 15 certificate because she couldn't prove she was over 15. They wouldn't let her grandmother buy it in case she then bought it and gave it to her niece. This was in Asda. We originally thought it was because they really thought she was under 15... now, with the recent news about Asda's meat supplier only hiring Poles, we KNOW they wouldn't sell the DVD to her because she wasn't Polish!!!!!!!!

Work / Are you teaching English in Poland? [120]


Lucky guy, Seanus. The work dries up in Olsztyn, and the courses cost and pay less. Going to UK for a couple of months tax-free is the best option for some of us. Considering a DELTA just so I can consider DOS jobs etc.

As for BC, it's a joke. I had to seek their approval for work in Skopje one year. Then when I got the job it turned out they made no contribution to the wages or anything. They just like the look of it all.

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]


Like I said, of course it is speculation, but does she say the drink she wanted to try was a Polish drink? Where in the article doe the girl say the shopkeeper sai he had a policy of not serving English. Does it actually occur to you or your ilk that he might have asked her if she was English becaue she woldn't understand Polish if she wasn't.

Oh sorry, that'sall speculation, YOU know the whole truth

I'd rather speculate than just swallow the anti-Polish story, hook, and sinker. How many other stories look cut and dried on paper but then bits and pieces come seeping out?

Work / Are you teaching English in Poland? [120]


It's also a must if you decide to go abroad and work with places like BC affiliated schools, from what I hear. Likewise, if you want to do management in British summer schools when the work dries up during the summer... DELTA's a must (not got one, myself).

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]


Exactly. That's the point. We don't know and we don't have the whole facts. maybe she didn't want alcohol, but that doesn't mean that just because kids can get it elsewhere they might not try to get it in that shop.

By the same argument, kids have been buying and are able to buy soft drinks in all kinds of places... so why go to a Polish shop?

You are the one jumping on the band-wagon, saying it's all anti British. maybe she was part of a gang who'd been making anti Polish remarks, maybe she was just ugly... WE don't know.

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]


Maybe she thought the dumb polack wouldn't know the licensing laws and woud sell her something alcoholic cos he's like too stupid to read the label in english, innit? Right? Whatever?

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


Well, there have been cases where housing syndicates have suddenly leased out housing to firms to house Polish workers. It was done at the expense of locals who'd had their names down for a while and were due to move in. It resulted in anti-Polish feeling against the workers, even tho' it wasn't really their fault.

Work / Are you teaching English in Poland? [120]

Also, find out a little about British grammar/spelling/vocab, as many potential students might have been taught BritEng.

I remember a rather bemused American teacher, who was teaching students for Cambridge exams, asking, "Do you british REALLY have a difference between the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous?"

Law / Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not? [90]


Well even in UK they have a supervisor.

On the question of poverty and price, I lived in one of the roughest areas of Glasgow and there were several, well used laundromats (despite what Edinburghers might think).

History / just before the war the Polish/Ukrainian szlachta learned Ukrainian [243]


The thing is that many Bulgarians consider Macedonian a politicised dialect. They may refuse to speak it themselves, or acknowledge it. An American friend went to Bulgaria and tried to communicate in Macedonian and was iced, or received harsh comment from some people. The Greek government also says it is simply a Bulgarian dialect. Like I said, this all allows the negation of a recognition of a Macedonian ethnicity. I've read greek publications which state there is no Macedonian or Turkish minority in greece, just communities of Slavophone Greeks and Muslim Greeks.

Of course Macedonian politicians will use translators, because the struggle to have their linguistic variety recognised as a 'language' is central to their identity. To 'pretend they can't understand', isn't the point, it is more about forcing an unwilling party to recognise their right to speak in that medium and have it recognised as a legitimate form, rather than being forced to speak Bulgarian.

It all comes down to the old riddle: What's the difference between a language and a dialect? A language is a dialect with a bigger army.