History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


What does this have to do with anything? Poland did note decide about post-WW2 borders, any trade was impossible. At the time there were very few Lithuanians in Wilno and surroundings. Lithuanians made alliance with a de facto criminal organization and aided them in war against Poland, they should have known it wouldn't go without consequences if Poland won the war.



Intelligence is not the same as knowledge. You asked where else they should go to, but they went exactly to Soviet Union. The inhabitants of Wilno and the surroundings wanted to be a part of Poland, Lithuanians were the occupants after they entered the territory.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]

Lithuanians comprised 5-7% of the total population fo the area. Poles 58%. There were more Belarusians and Jews in the region than Lithuanians. Also, after Polish-Russian war Poland offered to make a plebiscite, which Lithuania refused for obvious reasons.


I'm not sure if you're serious. If you're not familiar with the subject, read a bit about it on wikipedia or something. Soviet Union = Russians = Bolsheviks (at the time at least)

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]

Lithuania entered the battlefield during Polish-Russian war and effectively aided Russians. The area was Polish before the Soviet invasion, Lithuania should have waited with negotiating with Bolsheviks until after the war with Poland was over. They happily claimed that territory, they shouldn't be surprised that we wanted it back.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


I wouldn't call it a blunder, given the circumstances and ethnicity of the region itself.

(Harry, please don't even bother. I already know your stance on the matter)


Our energy is so explosive it can't be limited to our narrow borders LOL

Love / I need advice: divorce and my rights as a father in Poland [165]

It seems a bit weird to me that at first you're ready to go to Poland for sake of your family, then you're willing to file a divorce a couple of hours later. As others said, fight for her if you still love her, but do so by standing up to her.

In case you do file for a divorce, what are the chances of you getting primary parent rights (sorrym I don't know the proper English terminology - I mean that you live with your daughter, the mother meets with her occasionally)? Does the fact that you have reliable income helps with that in UK?

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


Simply the economic dynamics... You started off nicely in 1990, but quickly stagnated. Poland after dealing with the fact that Russian market collapsed picked up the steam and has been more dynamic ever since. That's as good measure of energy as any.

tradingeconomics.com/germany/percent-change-in-gdp-at-constant-prices-imf-data.html

tradingeconomics.com/poland/percent-change-in-gdp-at-constant-prices-imf-data.html


They're Germans in disguise.


The most cowardy nation in the world? Nice model to follow, LOL


The point of the discussion at hand is to stomp over each other, not to reach some universal wisdom! :P

OK, I'm heading off to work.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


We looked worse in terms of infrastructure, but we were more energetic and crime was actually smaller. I wonder why your eastern German bros means the GDR days though. It seems you can't organise daily life by yourselves, you need some overlords or the country is overrun by crazy nazis (why are there still nazis in Germany?).


But who caused that? You German genocidal barbarians. Our superior culture would never spring a thought of exterminating other nations, much less actually turning it into reality. Germany needs Poland if only to have a moral model to follow.


Pay back for what you stole and destroyed (not those peanuts) and we might start talking about giving back western Poland.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]

1) that GrzegorzK's post iss a load of crap.
2) Poland wasn't saved or rescued, unlike in Germany there was active and ongoing underground resistance against Russian occupation - case in point we were the first who got rid of it

3) we were bigger losers in that war than Germany, in terms of demographics, culture and infrastructure


You never paid back for all the things you destroyed and stole during WW2. Handing money now is the only right thing to do.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


You keep saying that, but we never looked like Ukraine.
edit: and what would Germany be without the Marshall plan?


LOL wut? Poland became independent from Russians before DDR. In fact, DDR would still be under actual Russian occupation if not for the fall of communism triggered by Poles. Meanwhile Germany was peacefully and happily enjoying being ruled by a foreign country.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


Germany doesn't invest that heavily though. We're getting like €70B over a 7 year period, which is peanuts and a tiny percentage of our GDP. It's nice that we're getting those money, but it's not crucial. Meanwhile, western Germany pumped into eastern Germany hundreds of billion € after 1990 and look where it led to - to Ostalgia LOL. You Germans surely liked your Russian overlords.

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]


Nothing in nature remains the same and there are always ongoing processes (even in vacuum with no real, material particles), but the general characteristics of an atom never change. Discussing atoms internal characteristics makes sense only when they're experimentally distinguishable.


Who wrote and edited that text?

Anyway, it's incorrect. You have a picture right there explaining what happens. City light does not interfere with starlight. If you want to, I can explain both claim in greater detail. The use of interference in that sentence is unfortunate, the word noise (szum) would probably be better.

You OTOH put the word interference in brackets as if the physical phenomenom would explain why you see fewer or no stars in urban environments, which is flat out wrong.


Which is fine and I already conceded that the sound in także might as well be /g/. You were wrong on the particular matter of comparing speech sounds recognition with the way our senses work.


I believe efficient work with various databases would be useful pretty much anywhere. I'm sure if I knew specifics of one's I could point out how it'd be useful.

And for the sake of God, affect.

Language / Polish Conditional - if you would.. [24]


Isn't the correct English sentence "if you came, we would..."?

Anyway, there are a couple of ways to say that sentence:
"Gdybyś przyszedł, (po)opalalibyśmy się."
"Gdybyś przyszedł, byśmy się (po)opalali."
"Jeśli byś przyszedł, (po)opalalibyśmy się."
"Jeśli byś przyszedł, byśmy się (po)opalali."

I hope you know Polish good enough to analyza the sentences' structure and figure out a more general rule of creating such conditionals.

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]


I'm not sure you understand what "arbitrary" means. Even if you have numerical data, in order to classify it you still need some arbitrary criteria. Electromagnetic spectrum of a particular atom is always the same (in the same temperature), the /g/ sound is never the same, even if pronounced by the same person. Stating that Venus is Venus is not arbitrary though, as it's one unique object that remains fairly unchanged.

And yes, computer software has to make such arbitrary decisions, how much the registered sound differs from the database ideal sample and choose the closest one, then group them into words and so on. Is there even 100% (or 99%) reliable voice recognition software?


You had already done so.


I'm not rejecting "long established facts", I'm questioning one statement for which I haven't seen empirical proof.


Yes, I did. You said that you can't see Venus because of interference which is an incorrect statement.


You know that I was right and you don't want to admit it. Recognizing/discerning individual sounds in a language is a matter of experience, hearing them is not. Seeing stars is not a matter of experience (knowledge), knowing what they are is. The fact that inhabitants of big cities do not see stars is not a matter of experience!


So you're my long lost brother! :D


It proves that math courses aren't standard in linguistics.

Love / I need advice: divorce and my rights as a father in Poland [165]

So what are you going to do?

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]

Rampant speculation is rampant. Six CIA flights passed through Szymany, the rest about is pure speculation, nothing is documented or was ever even reported by the local people about suspicious places that could serve as a detention center. And believe me, people in small towns know everything about everything.

Love / I need advice: divorce and my rights as a father in Poland [165]

LOL how I would know? I don't even know her.

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


Rampant speculation.

Love / I need advice: divorce and my rights as a father in Poland [165]


It sound like a classic case of Madame Bovary. You have to do something about your situation, but I'm not sure bending to her will will improve things for your family. Maybe you should force her to get a job?

History / Poland's biggest historical blunder? [341]


What????


Poland ran a concentration camp... for Polish nationalists mostly. It's still sad and a clear case of breaking human rights, but it's not comparable to the camps organized by our direct (Germany, Russia, Ukraine) or less direct (Balkans) neighbours.

News / Ustroń: Another giant religious statue in Poland [26]

Świebodzin is my hometown and I'd like to add that the Christ's monument is entirely one man's initiative - a local priest here is kind of megalomaniac, he bought the ground and gathered all the funds. And honestly, no one cares about the old Church buildings and others structures, what's the big deal with the new ones? They'll become standard elements of landscape soon enough.

(BTW I'm not a catholic)

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]

Haha, that's not exactly phonetically written Polish, that's all possible misspellings put together, but no one would pronounce "trzydadź" :)

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]


Ńe moge trzytadź po polskó zbyd dopsze.
That's as far as one could go trying to misspell the sentence "Nie mogę czytać po polsku zbyt dobrze" (but would be misspelled and badly pronounced).


You argumentation here is very shady. Venus has its unique diameter, mass, spectral lines and their intensities that made this planet uniquely Venus. Classification of sounds in languages is by default a lot more arbitrary, given the criteria that are assumed. Our discussion wasn't "does Venus exist", but "is Pluto a planet" (is the sound in 'także' a 'g'?), which is arbitrary as some consider it a planet, some don't.


I did none of those things.


I never claimed to hear /k/


I can, but it takes significantly longer to read such text. I can also read all you wrote below and it also takes significantly longer.


It'd be nice to understand light interference before mentioning it as an example.


Our senses work on a logarithmic scale, ie. the background noise is the base of the logarithm, we don't notice anything below its intensity. It's not the experience that makes you not see star light (or similar noise), it's your brain that physiologically shuts off signals to keep you sane (ignoring also the fact that your eyes' lenses change diameters in various light conditions).

Meanwhile, trying to analyze "także", there's nothing that was automatically shut off - in an arbitrarty classification I considered it a different sound, apparently in established classifications it's the same sound.


"Some" being the key word. My sister studied etnolinguistics and had only one semester of logic (if we classify it as part of mathematics and not the reverse), which is laughable!

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]

You mean "no more phonetic", don't you? :)
There's no 1 to 1 correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, but if a native language speaker sees a Polish word for the first time, he'll pronounce it correctly, something that's impossible in English. If a native Polish speaker hears a word for the first time, he might spell it incorrectly (ignoring u/ó, ch/h, rz/ż).

Language / The differences between these words: Oni plywaja / plyna / biegaja /biegna /chodza /ida [18]

Lyzko, I don't think it's as clear cut as you seem to indicate. Let's take your example with the opera:
"Wczorajsza opera podobała mi się" means "I liked the opera yesterday", while "Wczorajsza opera spodobała mi się" indicates that you liked the opera but you probably hadn't expected to like it, therefore your state of mind was changed during the opera. I'd say tryb dokonany (perfective?) usually describes change of state of something (of the subject or the object or the implied object), tryb niedokonany (imperfective?) describes activity.

However, the distinction between tryb dokonany/niedokonany are only in past and future tenses, there's no such distinction in present tense (as it wouldn't make logical sense). In polish many activities are described by a set of two separate verbs, one that describes the action happening at the moment, the other describes the action occurring regularly (kind of like differences between present continuous and present simple in English).

Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]

I asked for an articulate post and when I finally got one, I didn't respond immediately. Sorry about that, I actually did write one before but Firefox crashed and didn't feel like write it down all over again. Since you great post deserve at least some appreciation, I'm writing it down again.

I'll have to give in and say that if phonetics experts say that's the same sound, I'll have to rely on it. But that's one big problems for me in general - it describes qualitatively, not quantitatively, which makes everything rely on blurry statements and authority, not on empirical data like normal exact science.


I know what many of those symbols correspond to (it was useful learning French), I don't know what the terms like "velar" or "pharyngelar" mean. And I certainly don't a have a couple of weeks of time to learn it LOL.


It's not hard to admit defeat as there's no battle in the first place, unless you treat a discussion as such, which tells more about you than anything else. Another thing I don't understand is why linguistics don't have several semesters of mathematics. It'd make much sense in that even a book like "A Hundred Years of Solitude" could be analyzed quantitatively (statistically) if you knew what data could be useful for your goals and how to extract it.

Off-Topic / How do Polish people operate? what makes them tick? [103]

*looks at message boards all over the world*
No, that's just a common human trait.

My biggest problem with Poles is the work ethics. Not that we don't work hard, but we often don't put our hearts into it and want to get things done quickly, not right, which often results in having to redo the same work again.

Language / Could a native Polish speaker give me all the rules for Polish pronunciation? [5]

Find a teacher or at least a native speaker via Skype.

Po polsku / Oda do Marysi [54]


Nie chcę wypominać, którego narodu rzetelność i niepazerność doprowadziła świat do światowego kryzysu gospodarczego, a który cwaniacki i leniwy naród przez ten kryzys przeszedł co najwyżej z lekką zadyszką.

Love / Goal: Meet a nice Polish girl! [60]


There are so few foreigners in Poland being non-caucasian is actually a big advantage. It's rare and exotic, therefore attractive for girls here.

Po polsku / Oda do Marysi [54]


No właśnie nie wiem dlaczego.

W dodatku:


Jak mamy łatwe życie, po co je zmieniać?