History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

Probably because every point you've made invites that. As we've established, the word has been part of the English language for centuries, so yes, you were wrong.

History / Polish Officer in NATO, Col. Ryszard Kukliński. [145]

Of course if an order is legal and moral one has to follow it to the letter.

News / Exorcist monthly goes on sale in Poland [17]

So you don't favour choice in matters of belief and spiritual practice?

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

"Alien vibes"?

Do elaborate....

UK, Ireland / Poles becoming British subjects [39]

As a Belgian citizen you probably wouldn't get any benefit from one unless you wanted to go to certain former British colonies and even then the passport thing only applies to a feW of them. Most countries have a list of nationalities who can get a visa on arrival, who dont need a visa or who are entitled to certain advantageous categories of visa. Citizens of the UK (and Belgium) usually do quite well out of this. So do Polish citizens (in comparison with, say, Nigerians) however the list doesn't always include Poland.

I have to travel quite a lot for work and it is quite convenient in some countries to sail through passport control while Russians, Americans, Chinese, Indians etc are queuing twenty-deep at chaotic visa booths with handfuls of photographs and forms and never the right amount of local currency.

Travel / How quickly does the sun set in Poland? [12]

The sun sets quite slowly here compared with, say, southern Europe. You mentioned you'd been to the UK - it is similar to the UK due to being on a similar latitude. Warsaw and other big cities have huge air pollution so the sunsets are sometimes quite spectacular!

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

If you couldn't care less, why did you post?

It would make a lot of sense to come right out with what you actually mean rather than making obtuse posts.

Real Estate / Septic systems in Poland [11]

I'm not sure about the cost, but a septic tank is normal now. A cess pit is not. The very phrase reminds me of a friend who uses the term


.

Not elegant.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

On a roll indeed. I remember being impressed that the word was printed in several languages on the front. I think I saved it but god knows what happened to it.

Btw, a quick look on the Internet suggests the word's been around in English since 1837 (or 1658 depending on details). I wonder if it was used pre-war in the posher places in Warsaw?

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


Actually it very much exists in English, however we aren't talking about English. The word has been current in the UK for far longer and came into common use in a different way.


I remember seeing it Poznan in the late 80s along with speizekarte.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

Unfortunately the French sound doesn't exist in Polish so people come out with an uncomfortable approximation.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

And of course it totally ignores the point that DNA isn't the same as ethnicity, nationality or culture.

I notice he's avoiding the very muddy area of Gazeta Polska's financial backing.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

I googled that and it looks like nonsense. What do you imagine or pretend to imagine it has to do with immigration to Poland or 'race theory'?

History / Janusz Korczak Year in Poland - a genuine Polish hero versus the namiotists [20]

Surely not, since Dr Korczak didn't practise that particular religion (he was a keen Theosophist, popular in Poland at the time) and was a true Polish patriot. Quite a complex person. I was lucky enough to meet a lady, now dead, who'd known him back in the 1930's. He sounds a complex character.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

In many ways it's academic, since Gazeta Polska has a minuscule circulation - akin to a small local newspaper and a fraction of that of Gazeta Wyborcza, which Poles evidently prefer.

It would be nice though if people who falsely claim mysterious things about Gazeta Wyborcza's entirely transparent ownership structure would turn their scrutiny to publications that are rather murkier in ownership.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

So either you believe in scientific racism or you don't.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

Exactly. Basically writing an outrageous lie and then running away from it. The irony is that GW's ownership is perfectly transparent. Agora S.A. Is a publicly traded company that anyone can buy into whereas the favourite Polish newspapers of the guy who posted the racially motivated lie are not so transparent - indeed the editor of Gazeta Polska not long ago refused to name certain of his backers.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

Very wrong. If you believe in scientific racism, perhaps you'd like to defend the theory.

By the way, I can (as can we all) describe my race in one word. Human.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

It's very very rare now but still exists. I use it, but mainly because I don't lie the way the word 'menu' is pronounced in Polish. The kind of places that have a 'jadlospis' tend to be the same kind of folksy joints that in England would have a 'bill of fare'.

News / 1.3% birth rate = Poland's slow death [221]

Ultimately yes, however we have to actually get to that point in human development before the population explosion kills us all.

History / Janusz Korczak Year in Poland - a genuine Polish hero versus the namiotists [20]

It's very sad that a thread about Dr Korczak, a true hero and one if the greatest Poles of the Twentieth Century who gave his life to stay with the children in his charge (and he was a remarkable guy anyway, even before the war) should be hijacked by extreme right wing individuals who would denigrate his achievements and bravery, people who are the very opposite of all he stood for.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

Looks are not race, nor can DNA tests determine how a person looks. You are confusing race and culture.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

And on what biological insights do you base your theory? How do you square your theory with the current understanding of taxonomy? What phenotypal and morphological basis do you claim? How does this fit in with birth rates in one part of the world rather than another?

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

You might like to think so, however we are all the same. Human beings.

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

Again wrong as per usual. You're confusing human geography with race. There is only one race; the human race.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Is it to stop two small animals from making love while one of them's on heat?

Off-Topic / Loading a photo of Poland from your mobile/cell phone takes 30 seconds, come on! [86]

Quite pretty really - are they for biofuels?

By the way, your guess that the picture I posted was a Podlasian wooden church was very close but not quite right. It's somewhere that's used rather more often....

Life / Poland needs more immigrants and their children - which nationalities are the best? [518]

The obvious needs no elaboration, even for someone like yourself.

Travel / Bored foreigner in Warsaw, any advice? [13]

There's always that big video games place downstairs in the basement - that might appeal to an 18 year old...

News / 1.3% birth rate = Poland's slow death [221]

+1

If anything there are far too many of us. We are growing in number and soon the world will be dangerously overpopulated.