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Posts by jon357  

Joined: 15 Mar 2012 / Male ♂
Last Post: 10 Jul 2025
Threads: Total: 73 / In This Archive: 51
Posts: Total: 24631 / In This Archive: 10045
From: In the Heart of Darkness
Speaks Polish?: Tak

Displayed posts: 10096 / page 336 of 337
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jon357   
12 Apr 2012
News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

Who is a more powerful figure the President or the Prime minister?

Very much the Prime Minister. The President has a very limited role, although a recent one tried to exceed that role on a number of occasions.
jon357   
10 Apr 2012
History / Which countries are Polands friends, which are Polands enemies? [75]

if the British hadn't handed Poland to the Russians on a golden plate

I'd go further than that and say that the decision was a joint one between the USA and the USSR - Britain had little or no say in the matter.

& allowed Polish living standards to remain the same for 50 years

Polish living standards were pretty dreadful even before the war and improved considerably under the PRL.

Well, a British friend of mine who has lived about 20 years in Poland and teaches at the local university (and took his doctorate in Poland) recently had to suffer a door-to-door salesman shouting "Polska dla polaków" in his face because he refused to buy a new door.

Pretty well a normal Poland story.
jon357   
9 Apr 2012
Food / Anyone try Polish spirytus straight? [6]

Have any of you ever got talked into downing a nip of undiluted spirytus (

Yes, I've drunk it neat quite often. My Ukrainan lodger was partial and I sometimes joined him, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Nasty stuff.
jon357   
7 Apr 2012
Language / How similar are Polish and Romanian languages? [75]

It was considered (along with Polish and Romanian) to be an official language, however many of the pre-war settlers had already learnt (or were already learning) Hebrew and the local Jewish population as well as the North African and Asian Jews didn't speak Yiddish at all.
jon357   
6 Apr 2012
News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of conservative right wing PiS, vowed

Does anyone, anywhere, believe one word this guy says?

Zbigniew Ziobro, leader of a newly formed conservative right wing party, Solidarna Polska, former member of PiS, announced he is going to run.

Thereby guaranteeing a win for PO.

"Wstarczy cztery Ziobra, a Polska bedzie dobra..."
jon357   
6 Apr 2012
Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

Public opinion is being formed based on what google searches her parents conducted.

That and the ravings of the tabloid press and radio talkhosts.

I was shocked to hear that a mother suspected of killing her baby (the Baby Madzia case) cannot be forced to take a lie-detector test.

Because they're nonsense - only a few countries in the world (including yours) have anything to do with them. They aren't trusted in Europe.

Or is it really all about corrupt judges and pricey lawyers in cahoots with prosecutors on the take and police who also want their cut.

No, it isn't.
jon357   
5 Apr 2012
Travel / From Warsaw to Bialystok on a bike [12]

You really scared me off a bit going for E67. Dead cyclist along the road? Sounds as it's a pretty common thing...

Don't even think about it. That road is bad enough if you're in a car.

it is much better to choose CR88 via Zagościniec, Chrzęsne, Morzyczyn Włóki and Mystki-Rzym:

This is very sound advice.
jon357   
5 Apr 2012
Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

The government wants only 'friendly' stations to be there.

It's a little bit more complicated than that. Trwam will still be available afterwards, for those who want to watch it - though I expect their spamming the airwaves in Warsaw a few years ago by illegally manipulating the frequency they went out at wouldn't count in their favour.

There are close to 2 million signatures so far in a petition

Interesting how many regular viewers they actually have.
jon357   
31 Mar 2012
Food / what is zrazy? [16]

I think the name comes from the shape - that and the fact they're stuffed. I've had both beef and pork zrazy - more often beef now I think about it Carina in Warsaw used to them with turkey, which was unusual.
jon357   
31 Mar 2012
Food / what is zrazy? [16]

what is zrazy?

Very close to beef olives, except they usually make them with pork.
jon357   
31 Mar 2012
Life / Do trailer park people exist in Poland? [18]

They've started importing old trailers to live in. There's a few places round Warsaw which are small-scale trailer parks.
jon357   
29 Mar 2012
Life / Do trailer park people exist in Poland? [18]

The closest thing to trailer trash in Poland is the rural super-poor, often on the former collective farms, people who would rather buy a bottle of bimber than bread for their kids.
jon357   
23 Mar 2012
Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

do you smoke crack? there is nothing of the sort.

Exactly. Polish apartment prices are holding up. In Warsaw they're still quite high.
jon357   
23 Mar 2012
History / History of European and Poland's anti-semitism [192]

Are you sure it wasn't malicious joke?? Of course Poles know chałka is traditionally Jewish

No, sadly it wasn't a joke.This particular Poles was a villager with very low cultural and educational interests - he didn't know it was a Jewish recipe. I've heard the word Jewish used that way a few times including to describe the parking arrangements in my street.
jon357   
23 Mar 2012
History / History of European and Poland's anti-semitism [192]

If all anti-semitism is is believing the sterotypes used to judge if one is an anti-semite or not as it does in that report, it may be one of the most trivial issues around. 20% of Brits are anti-semitic? Come on...I've had conversations about every religion and most ethnicities, but really who is bothered

That's pretty well true.I still hear some bizarre things here in Warsaw though. Not long ago, I referred to Chalka as Jewish bread (which it is) and the response was "It's not Jewish, there's nothing wrong with it".

I think northerners drink too much ale, love ferrets and go on about their crushed manufacturing jobs market too much. I am not anti-north of England and would never wish any ill upon them...bloody northerners!.

Hey it's not so bad now, but 30 years ago a northern accent was a real barrier to career advancement in some fields in London - and even now people think one is somehow less sophisticated. We should have a northern anti-defamation league.
jon357   
23 Mar 2012
History / History of European and Poland's anti-semitism [192]

that find increasingly difficult to justify their own existence

This week's sad events in France suggest that day of peace and happiness hasn't arrived yet.
jon357   
22 Mar 2012
News / Drunken Brit beats up young Polish policewoman [62]

I don't think they are more law abiding.The figures don't take into account the gravity of the crimes. Nor are there accurate figures for the number of Poles in the UK.

I suspect any crimes committed by UK citizens (excluding those who identify as Poles for family reasons) in Poland are of a far less serious nature and are far fewer as a percentage of residents.
jon357   
22 Mar 2012
Work / BEWARE of K&S Krakowska Szkoła Języków Obcych!! [41]

And I still think the thread is fishy. Not just because of guest posters pretending to be native speakers but also because of saying they hadn't been paid for months but for some reason were still working there. Plus similar posts, no doubt from the same individuals, on different fora none of which the right ones. It just doesn't add up.