Life / Polish pride. PL stickers, flags and the white eagle! Where does our obsession come from? [79]

So, were you born in Poland?

News / Weekend of carnage as 41 people lose their lives on Poland's roads [44]


To be fair, it's not hard to work out - the nice thing here is that when the limit is different to "normal", then the limit only applies to the nearest junction - so you get constant reminders of the lower limit in force. There's really no need to have speed limit reminders - if you don't see signs, then there's a blanket limit.


Standard practice in Europe - the priority sign is always there before the junction. If you don't see it, then you're not paying attention.


I had a bit of fun with one moron who decided to park his car in the most unimaginably stupid place in a car park. I stood there, looking at his car, while he got out - he walked off, but kept turning back to find me eyeing up his car. He was clearly absolutely paranoid that I was going to do something, so I wonder if it actually made him think?

News / Weekend of carnage as 41 people lose their lives on Poland's roads [44]

That's exactly it - they need to back it up with some serious teeth. If they're suspended, then the car should be taken too for the period of the suspension just to rachet up the pain a little. If it's a company car, even better - it'll be interesting to see what their boss says to "er, guv, the car's been taken for two weeks" :)

(and if they're caught driving while suspended, it should be instant licence revocation with at least a short prison sentence. I notice that a lot of the bad driving here is actually done by morons with reasonably good cars!)

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]


Ah, the usual - Scottish by nationality, but British by citizenship.

An interesting question is whether or not there's a separate Scottish ethnicity - my view is that there isn't, personally - we are a different nation, sure - but ethnically? I doubt there's much difference there, apart from language.

News / Weekend of carnage as 41 people lose their lives on Poland's roads [44]


And the only way that it's going to change is when they enforce it with some steel behind them. Fines aren't enough - it needs to be instant suspensions for things such as running red lights on purpose and dangerous overtaking.


Technically, that's one of the worst things that can be done on the roads here - I think it's an instant 10 points? But the truth is that as I say above - it needs to be instant licence suspension for a short period to put a stop to such behaviour.

Driving standards are so unbelievably low in Poland, it's unreal - yet the testing procedure is very robust. It's all due to the lack of enforcement and laughably weak punishment. Fine someone 500zl and give them 5 points - they're going to laugh at you as soon as you're gone. Suspend their licence automatically for 2 weeks - no laughing now, eh?

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]


Hmm, Fuzzy...how come you don't claim yourself to be one?

Law / Urząd Skarbowy, I paid too little on my last PIT? [26]

As I recall, if you overpay, they'll just credit it against your account until the end of the year - the only issue is that you need to make sure that the overpayment is accounted for properly.

Being late is dodgy though, but I guess they aren't going to be too bothered about one late payment of a couple of days!

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


You're the idiot if you can't work out that someone who came from Russia/Prussia/Austra-Hungary didn't come from Poland, but rather one of those three countries. They might have been Polish, but they certainly didn't come from Poland unless they were born before the partitions!

(just a point : all these Polish-Americans talk about how proud their ancestors were of Poland, yet many of them left in the first days of the 2nd Republic...so proud, that they abandoned their country when their country needed them!)

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]

So - when did the people in question emigrate? Was it during the partitions or not? If it was, then they didn't come from Poland - end of story. The country didn't exist!


Did you even read what I said? The chances of you being ethnically 100% Polish isn't very likely - if you knew the history of the country that you claim to be from, you'd know fine well that Poland was a melting pot and that many people who lived in Poland weren't actually Polish at all. Can you trace your lineage right back to the founding of the Piast dynasty? No? Then you can't claim to be 100% Polish, especially when Poland-Lithuania was home to so many different ethnicities!

Well, the fact that you weren't even taught about Poland says how Polish you really are! Or more accurately - it says how un-Polish you actually are and how you really are just a plain old American.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


I'm saying that DNA analysis for ethnicity isn't exactly proven yet. They can obviously narrow it down to a certain degree - but anyone that claims that they can distinguish between the DNA of Poles and (for instance) Kashubians are frankly liars. Heck, from what I know, there was a lot of mixed marriages between Ukranians and Poles in Galicia - and I doubt DNA testing would be able to point this out.

So - how many Polish Americans can trace their family history back as being 100% TRUE POLISH right back to the founding of the Piast dynasty? That means no Germans, No Jews, no Lemkos, no Ukranians, no Kashubians, no Russians, no Ruthenians, no Czechs, no Slovaks, nothing. Just Poles. Not very likely, is it?


Thanks :)

Heck, many of them keep saying "my grand grandparents came from Poland in 1911" or similar...er...no...they didn't...

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


And then you say...


Hmm.


I prefer to stick to facts - that barely anyone in Poland and certainly not mongrel Polonia can trace back solely Polish blood (and solely Polish, not Lemko, Kashubian, Silesian or any other ethnicity that lived in Poland through the last 1000 years) to the start of the Piast dynasty. Come on, look at modern day Poland - there are Roma, Lemkos, Kashubians, Germans, Ukranians and more - all with Polish passports. Are they Polish?


See above. Rather unlikely that someone can trace 100% PURE POLISH BLOOD back to 966, isn't it? Especially when mongrel Polonia are all off marrying Americans, Brits et al.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


Exactly. It is very unlikely that many of them can trace Polish blood (and only Polish, nothing else) right back through to the founding of the Piast dynasty - it's almost certain that there will be Lithuanian, Belarussian, Ruthenian, Russian, Ukranian and more mixed in there. I don't expect any of them to know this, but seeing as Poland was a "safe haven" for many different ethnic minorities at one point, it would seem rather unlikely that they are "100% TRUE POLISH" like they claim to be.

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]


Or maybe, the smartest thing to do is leave it there while PiS's opinion poll ratings slide? The whole "cross war" thing has been nothing but good for PO as a whole.

Genealogy / Mixed-Blood Poles in America (Do we count?) [118]


If you can't speak the language and know next to nothing about the country apart from what you read on a few (badly advised) websites, you aren't part of that countries heritage. Trust me, no-one in Poland considers 3rd/4th generation Polonia to be Polish - in fact, most people here are ashamed of the fact that they are going around, calling themselves TRUE POLES when the only word they know is "busha".

If you want to be Polish and you are at least 3rd generation Polonia - then you need to learn the language, move to Poland for a few years and really get a grasp of what it means to be Polish. Calling your grandparents "busha and dza dza" doesn't make you Polish at all - it makes you a Plastic Pole if anything.


They're American too. From what I know, many Native Americans are proud to be Americans - even if they haven't been treated especially well throughout the years.

I wonder how many of the Polonia would choose Poland over America?

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]

The problem is that most American Polonia have no concept of what they might actually be ethnically. It's highly unlikely that many of the American Polonia are actually genetically 100% Polish, especially as many of them are descended from Poles who came from the Eastern part - which was a complete melting pot for so long.

That's why I get irritated with the 100% TRUE POLISH crowd - because many of them don't have a clue.

Genealogy / Mixed-Blood Poles in America (Do we count?) [118]

Depends if they're black, white, yellow, green.

Still American, though.

Genealogy / Mixed-Blood Poles in America (Do we count?) [118]

Half Mexican, perhaps - but still American if they spend their whole life in America and live as Americans do.

A child born to parents who were born in America is American.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


They're still not Polish, because they won't have spent any significant time here. If they move here and live the rest of their days here, then maybe, just maybe, they can be Polish. But otherwise? No.

And no, spending a week in Krakow doesn't make them Polish either, nor does teaching ESL for a year.

Real Estate / PLN 2,500 the going rate for an apartment in Poland [210]

You still can't afford to buy?

I'm still wondering when you're going to tell Avalon about these 2000zl/sqm apartments in Krakow - I've agreed with him that I'll buy a share, too.

Genealogy / Mixed-Blood Poles in America (Do we count?) [118]


You're about as Polish as I am - ie, not at all.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


It's because the American Polonia are idiotic to the point of hysteria about it. Look at for instance, the British Polonia from post-WW2. That generation has more or less successfully integrated - and while there's plenty of Polish names about, the grandchildren consider themselves to be British, not Polish. They accept that they come from Poland originally, but they don't go on constantly about it - they are British to all practical extents. Really, I can't say a bad word about the post-WW2 British Polonia.

Then you get the American Polonia, who are frankly idiots. They consider themselves to be Polish, yet they don't speak the language, nor do they have any interest in the country. They vote for people like Jaroslaw Kaczynski based on what's reported in the English press - and they constantly preach about how great it is to be Polish - yet they're about as Polish as I am - ie, not at all. The worst thing is that they have a very ...hmm, sentimental view of what Poland should be - and they get upset when they visit places like Krakow and discover that it's no different to any other place. Many of them are longing for Poland to be just how it was in "Busha's time". The fact they even use words like "Busha" tells you about them!

Then there's the fact that many of them can't even pronounce their name properly - I'm sorry, but you can't claim to be Polish if you can't even say your last name properly. Then you get the fact that many of them claim that their great-grandparents came from Poland - yet when you listen to them, you discover that they emigrated before 1920. Most of them have absolutely no concept that Poland didn't exist for 120 years or so.

But then again, what can you expect from the descendants of very poor Poles from the turn of the 20th century?

News / Poland's budget problems = Polish funerals [27]


As far as I gather, they'll issue a European Arrest Warrant if the person fails to comply with the court order. In practice though, I guess they go after the parents of the person who has fled first - if they're resident in Poland.

UK, Ireland / Changing my UK driving license to Polish one [13]


Yes, they can't issue fixed penalties to non-British licences.

But it changes nothing - they can issue fixed penalties (well, technically, on-the-spot fines are deposits towards the fine when it gets heard in court - conveniently, the court will always issue a fine to be equal to the "deposit") in Poland to non-Polish licences, so what the DVLA says means nothing, except confirming that EU licences don't have to be exchanged.

News / Poland's budget problems = Polish funerals [27]


They're very good - it's probably one of the very few things where Poland is much better than the UK.

News / When money dies,blame the Poles. [32]


As I recall, there are some funny tax laws about just when your liability stops for Polish income tax - and there are definitely rules on who you can gift money to (and how much) without being taxed on it.


American citizens *have* to pay tax on their entire income, regardless of where in the world it was earnt. It's lunacy and entirely fitting for America ;)

History / Poland - Scotland, the untold story... [75]


Cheers for those links- and yes, I'm another one in a long line of Aberdonians who came here :)

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]

Still more than Kasia takes home, though!

Law / Investors/Entrepreneurs.. Steer Clear of Poland. [77]


Can't say it better than that.

Also : people never complain when things are going well.

Travel / Traveling on a TLK (Tanie Linie Kolejowe) - where to buy tickets? [13]

Ah, come on, the most expensive TLK fare I found was less than 100zl ;)

Travel / Traveling on a TLK (Tanie Linie Kolejowe) - where to buy tickets? [13]


There are reservations in 1st class and in certain 2nd class trains - but I'm not sure if there are actually any trains where reservation is actually compulsory. Even 1st class isn't reservation compulsory, just optional.


Not usually, but always.


But be warned that the quality can be diabolical ;)