News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]

Do you think it would change anything if the President was elected directly in the States? People know who they're voting for anyway.

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]

A senator. We have a Senate too. But the President is elected directly by the voters, not through any electoral body.

Life / Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures [390]

English is now obligatory from the age of 6, throughout the elementary and secondary education, and there are optional classes in many preschools too. In secondary schools (both gimnazjum and liceum) it's two languages - English plus another one, most often it's German, French or Spanish. Russian is not so popular nowadays although some schools still have it. So it's English from the age of 6 and then English + another language from the age of 12.

Some elementary schools have another language classes, besides the compulsory English, but it's optional and depends on the school.


prohumanum.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/raport-men-jezyki.pdf
this one is from 2005, and here you have 2010:
test.ore.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=387:powszechno-nauczania-jzykw-obcych-w-roku-szkolnym-2009-2010&id=33:raporty

News / A new AWS (Poland Solidarity Movement)? [54]


It's true that we badly need a solid, center-right, economically-oriented party whose prime objective would be to facilitate small and medium sized local business, even if just as a counterbalance to PO, but Jaro is the last person to build it. PIS originally had the potential to become this kind of force but since then Kaczyński has managed to drive all intelligent and reasonable members away. Do not kid yourself, this man is a populist nut and given a choice between economic sensibility and hysterical rhetorics he's always going to yield towards the unions and Rydzyk's pensioners. And you might be right to blame him as without him the right center might have a chance to consolidate into something more sensible than the PIS of today. As it is, he's just a destructive force, luring those who might create an intelligent and competent opposition to PO and then throwing them to extreme populist positions.

I could vote for a right-centered, business-oriented party and it could do a hell of a lot of good to PO too if they had to compete with another competent force. But I'm never going to vote for anything led by Kaczyński. Not in this lifetime. And a large part of the 70% probably feel the same.

Love / Why don't Polish women treat education seriously for themselves? [130]


Kondzior, how much entry fee do I need to pay to see you with my own eyes? And where exactly are you exhibited?

Language / Polish word "no". Is it a slang word? [22]

There was an old joke about a policeman instructing his colleague that only the uneducated people say "no" while the educated ones use "tak".

The colleague then asks him: "And which one do you use?"
"Tak".
"That means that you're educated?"
"No".

Genealogy / Farther born in Poland and i.m looking for his birth place; Szczoczarz name information [7]


Did he change his name as soon as he settled down in another country? :)

News / The consequences of a PiS electoral victory [22]

you mean the capital K? :)

News / The consequences of a PiS electoral victory [22]


Luckily, that's impossible.

Language / Polish word "no". Is it a slang word? [22]

The best illustration on the use of "no" has been included in the exchange between Zazulka and me. Unfortunately, it has been binned, so please look in Random.

And no, it's not true that only uneducated simpletons use the word. Overuse, maybe, but phrases like "no i co?" are part of the general language and are used by everybody.

Language / oko / oczy? [4]

For the organ of sight, the plural is always oczy. Oka is used for the liquid fat on the surface of a soup (oka na rosole):


oczu is commonly used. oczów, ócz - these are correct but sound archaic, like in 19th c poetry.
ók - no such form. it's ok (nie lubię ok na rosole)


oczami - common use
oczyma - rarer, but correct
okami - for the things on the rosół

News / Rest in Peace Anna Walentynowicz or is it...?! [63]


Inside the ugly red Russian coffins there could be sealed metal, military-type ones - which seems highly probable, considering how butchered the corpses were.
Or the whole red thing could be put into the Polish coffin. The Polish coffins seemed bigger to me.


She's PO so anything goes. Since when does it have to be logical?

Language / Name in Polish (woman's name Jean) [10]

Could be Janina.

Travel / Traveling around Poland - our photo stories with very personal commentary [225]

The Nadole map looks quite similar to the Warsaw subway map ;)
Ulicówka, in the north of Poland? I thought this type of villages was more characteristic to central Poland. But apparently I was mistaken.

Law / Child Alimony in Poland - 1700 PLN? [74]

Maybe in Britain. In Poland there's no 20% limit. And mother's income is irrelevant if she's the one providing everyday care of the child.

Law / Child Alimony in Poland - 1700 PLN? [74]


for what? you're kidding, right?

Language / Polish words with consecutive identical letters? [17]


You're right, as usual :) Somehow I didn't think of these compounds.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]


Sorry, Pawian, no furniture made of particle board can be regarded as quality furniture. And Black Red White have all their stuff made of that.

Law / Child Alimony in Poland - 1700 PLN? [74]


AFAIK the father's income it is crucial in determining the amount of childcare payment, the rule being that the child should not suffer financially because of the parents' separation and should have the same or similar living standard as it would have living with its father. Therefore, if the father has a considerable income, the child is entitled to better clothing, schooling, vacations etc., so the amount can spread from as little as 500 zł to 5 000 zł in some cases. I'm neither a lawyer nor a single mother but that's what I've always heard and read here.

Food / Pierogi Dough [30]


That's because St. Jacek travelled a lot, evangelizing and setting up new Dominican monasteries. One of his journeys took him to Kiev (Kiev Rus), where he acquired a recipe for cheese and potato pierogi and later brought it to Poland. Hence, the variation is called ruskie pierogi, sometimes translated as Russian pierogi, although it should be Rus or Ruthenian.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Hyacinth

Language / Polish words with consecutive identical letters? [17]

Some more examples: dzienny, codzienny, poranny, ścienny,
oddźwięk, oddanie,
dżdżownica
mełłem, mełłeś etc. (past tense from mleć - to mill)

also with vowels, usually as an effect of declination:
Maria - Marii
Warmia - Warmii
epidemia - epidemii

There's no oo, uu, yy, aa, ee in Polish words, the only one that I can think of is zoologia - a borrowing.
As far as consonants go, ł, k, n, s, w, z, d, cz and dż can double.

Language / Polish words with consecutive identical letters? [17]

There are some words with double consonants, mostly it's a result of morphological processes where a prefix or suffix added to the stem ends or begins with the same consonant as the stem:

manna, panna, sanna, wanna, konny, ranny, poronny - na and ny are suffixes
miękki (soft) - mięk + ki
wwiercać, zziębnąć, zzuć, poddać, oddać, oddalić, wwieźć, poddać, naddać - w, z, od, pod, nad are prefixes

Kołłątaj, Radziwiłł, Jagiełło - these are names of Eastern (Lithuanian) origin

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Kołłątaj

And of course there are borrowings: ballada, mokka (mocca), or, as you've mentioned, thriller.

Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]



Here's why:


magiczny-lublin.pl/ciekawostki/symbole-herb-lublina.php

I'll try to translate the outline of the story later.


Isn't it Sukiennice in Kraków?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

A spider or a frog?

Food / Where can I get free yeast to bake with in Poland? [11]


Glad you've found it! Now that you know what to look for, you should be able to spot it in most shops :)

BTW, have you ever tried to make rye bread, or sourdough bread of any type? Takes a little time to develop your own sourdough, but it makes great bread too and it keeps longer than the yeast-grown kind.

Here's my favourite recipe site (there's a translation button - not perfect, but intelligible):
mojewypieki.com/kategoria/chleby-na-drozdzach
mojewypieki.com/kategoria/chleby-na-zakwasie

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]


That's definitely a winner :)

Life / Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures [390]


but then, where does he get his ideas from? Has the Daily Mail recently bothered to describe the atmosphere of shops in Poland?

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]

Buy a good loose leaf Assam and brew it in a pot.
No paper bag stuff can match it.

(I'm not British though, and I take my tea black, so you may just as well ignore my comment ;)

Life / Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures [390]


so you've been to Poland?

Life / Poland and every aspect..... Please help me learn and understand the realities? [108]

P3, it's very hard to answer questions which are too general, it would be much easier if they were more specific. "Tell me about early Piasts" is like "tell me about the forming of the USA", whole books have been written about it. The period covers about 400 years and there were lots of them.