Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Rower, as in Rover (bicycle). You don't know the history of your own language well enough to see where the Polish word came from ;-p

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


As odd as "lunch", "weekend", "radio", "komputer", "rower", "tenis", or "afrykata" (that's from linguistics). Nevertheless, all these words and more are used every day and there is no viable Polish alternative! ;-p


Oh no he didn't, it was borrowed much earlier than that. I strongly suspect Kipling of using it more than once. But again, what part of this word looks or sounds English, pray tell?

And while you are at it, explain the Englishness of "robot" to me as well. :-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


1) What are "Polish attributes" in a recent borrowing? What are the English attributes of "pukka" for that matter?

2) You may have never heard it used because you probably don't mix that much with the people who would tend to use it - e.g. theatre actors, street artists, etc. As I said, the usage of this word is rather limited.

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


It is a Polish borrowing of an English word which has been used in Polish for many decades now in a very specific, narrow meaning, explained in detail in the link. You must learn to live with this knowledge ;-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


artinfo.pl/?pid=dictionary&id=40&lng=1

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]


Because it's a holiday, a free day for everyone. Buy your blessed food a day in advance and stop whining.

quit the petty arguments or your posts go in the bin. thank you.

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]


I look forward to reading your entertaining overviews of other world religions. Please do make the effort - I am rather bored today.

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]


No. I merely happen to understand that MY viewpoint is not necessarily the only one. Lots of people in PL are Catholic, it's their country and their religious holiday. OK? I don't share their beliefs but it's still my culture, background and heritage.

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]


I won't feed you, troll.

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]


You really do not have to be THAT disrespectful. If you are an atheist, fine - I am one myself. But that does not give you the right to be all patronising and condescending to those of us who happen to believe in the Lady in question. I resent your attitude.

Life / Poland and Shakespeare [23]


So what?

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Sorry about that, it's either me hitting the wrong "quote" button or the quote function going haywire ;-) Probably the former, though...

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


last minute - 3 syllables
ostatnia minuta - 6 syllables

all inclusive - 4 syllables
wszystko w cenie - arguably also 4 syllables, but much more awkward to say, esp. in a long sentence and when you're in a hurry ;-)

pełne wyżywienie - 6 syllables

Please realise that I'm not advocating taking whole phrases from one language into another because they're somehow inherently "better". What I'm saying is, if in a specific professional jargon a foreign phrase is shorter and easier to use (and also internationally understood - which is important here!), why not use it?

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


Do you see how they are one-for-one equivalents? I don't see that happening with oferta ostatnia minuta or wszystko w cenie - they are longer and don't exactly trip off the tongue. To be fair - I don't overly love the all inclusive last minute type jargon either, but as long as its use is limited to the tourism industry, I don't really care that much either.

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]


1) Compare the length. Oferta last minute - oferta bilety z ostatniej chwili. Awkward, huh?
2) It's not only "bilety" AFAIK. You can also get accommodation and other stuff last minute, right? How do you call that then?


Absolutely legitimate Polish :-)


Personally, I prefer the ironically polonised "kulaśny" - that's cool for ya! ;-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]

There is no Polish equivalent to the "last minute" notion - maybe if you find a nice Polish phrase which would describe "bilety albo zakwaterowanie kupowane w ostatniej chwili i dlatego o wiele taniej niż normalnie", you might be able to eliminate this borrowing. Please feel free to try. ;-p

Food / Counterfeit alcohol in Poland? [9]

Depends on what the "pow. 0,2l" stands for. If it stands for "powyżej" ("over") then I don't see a problem. Sorry, I have no idea what is normally written on the strip thingy, never checked... ;-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]

Check out "jestem hardcorem / hardkorem" on youtube. It's a classic by now. The T-shirts are a reflection of that ;-)

Work / The qualifications of a Polish doctor [10]

The place to go is: buwiwm.edu.pl/eu/public/eng/index.htm

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]

Well, I guess I do know, as I'd taught English at a state school myself, but I'd like to get some specifics from Delphi - it's easy to say things like "laughably low standards" without actually having the foggiest.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


So - what are they? I want to laugh along.

Travel / Poland-My 9-day experience [239]


Very true. Thanks for saying that - I wish more people would realise :-)

Travel / Poland-My 9-day experience [239]


Yeah, I think it would be a good idea to see a bit more of the country before saying:


Maybe if you ponder this statement you might understand why some people are a tad "riled up".

Language / Why 'działka'? [10]

Technically, a działka is NOT a summer house. It is a garden plot ("allotment" in the UK), a place to grow your fruit and veggies. At some point, some people started expanding their garden sheds into small houses, and some actually built second homes - but this is not legal unless you buy a działka with a building permit attached AFAIK.

So yes, calling it a plot of land is actually very accurate ;-)

Life / What are the things which cause culture shock in Poland? [164]


Yes, why not? Especially that we do have access to these mythical spices and condiments you speak of:

Food / WHY IN POLAND PEOPLE DON'T USE ICE? [142]


Actually, AC is unhealthy (though admittedly pleasant).

Food / Problem to find "cream" in Poland [23]


And to think that back around 1994 I had tons of Americans complaining to me that they couldn't find "sour cream" anywhere in Poland! ;-)

Food / WHY IN POLAND PEOPLE DON'T USE ICE? [142]


I don't buy that, neither do I buy the story about "older looking" Poles. Some people age faster than others, and unfortunately how quickly you deteriorate is hard-wired into your genes.

History / The Untold Battle of Britain [205]


I am totally not PC.


No, I want people to admit the truth instead of varnishing it with euphemisms like "sound military practice", "collateral damage" etc.

What's wrong with agreeing that yes, actually war is killing people and killing people is murder, whether ideologically justified or not. I know some wars are inevitable and self-defence is justified, and rightly so, but even when you kill in self-defence, you actually do murder someone's son, daughter, wife, husband, whatever, a human being anyway. I would still kill in self-defence if I had to, though.

History / The Untold Battle of Britain [205]


What's depressing is the fact that I spent quite a lot of time yesterday trying to make people on PF admit that war = murder, and they wouldn't. It's all water under the bridge now, anyway.