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Posts by sobieski  

Joined: 1 Jun 2008 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 20 Jun 2015
Threads: Total: 106 / In This Archive: 78
Posts: Total: 2111 / In This Archive: 1623 		From: Poland, Warsaw
Speaks Polish?: Good
Interests: Polish culture and history, cooking

Displayed posts: 1701 / page 43 of 57
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sobieski   
22 Jun 2011
News / Germany provoke Poland using Silesian question. Poland's attitude ? [124]

no, i wouldn`t suggest open war. You must comprehend Germans as former Serbs

You mean that the warm people of Aachen, Cochem, Koblenz, Monschau...whose accents...outlook to life are the same as us Flemish would be somewhere resemble your genocidal outlook? Would you tell that the Maria Laach monastery has anything in common with your concentration camps?
sobieski   
21 Jun 2011
Life / Forged parking ticket received in Poland [33]

Forging a parking ticket? That is really silly, not to say idiotic. In Warsaw you pay like 3 PLN per hour.
Ever heard of a "civic society" ?
I hope they put a stamp in your passport "Refused".
sobieski   
20 Jun 2011
News / Lithuanian ambassador 'Poles not loyal citizens' [63]

let's use the proper name of the nazi statelet

As to pretending the NSZ was a proper resistance movement? Not mentioning the Świętokrzyżka brigade?
And why pretending the "Kresy" were "Polish", when they were in fact the nearest thing Poland had which could be called colonies?
sobieski   
18 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

I don't think it was freely open for all locals to cross.

The Mieroszów-Golińsk one was open for sure. Passed there myself in 1989. There was at that time a railway crossing (international), car crossing (international) and a pedestrian crossing (local).
sobieski   
17 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

We Mazovian call Greater Poles "pyry" (potatoes),

I thought this applies to "Poznańskie Piry" ? In my native Flanders almost every village has a by-name given by the next village. And these days nobody, except for the local schoolteacher has an idea where it comes from. Not considering the cities even :)

Not that I would expect a redneck to understand this.
sobieski   
17 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

By the way, what is the origin of the "pepiki" byword for the Czechs? Does it have a special meaning? Where does it come from?

From what I know, it is not a malicious thing.
A lot of countries call their neighbors names, so I was wondering.... And what Poles call for example Slovaks?
We Flemish for example call the Dutch "cheese-heads" :))))
sobieski   
17 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

it is hard for a native Pole to master Danish

For that matter it is hard for us Flemish to master Swedish as well. I did have a Swedish girlfriend way back...decided to take Swedish evening classes...but boy what a hard language to master (even when it is Germanic just as ours). I mean learning German for me is far more easy (despite the annoying use of all these cases, we Flemish left that behind us somewhere in the Middle Ages :) ).
sobieski   
16 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

The USA is the ATM, Poland is the home.

Is there any reason why we Europeans would like to come to your country? I can think of nothing.
Culture and history? You have to be joking.... You were living in trees when Michelangelo was drinking beers and negotiating his contract with the popes.

I thought China is the ATM of you yanks these days?
sobieski   
16 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

If a person says "bynajmniej" instead of "przynajmniej" it only denotes the person is either from countryside or ill-educated.

That is a bit as in the UK I guess. In my native Flanders your accent in general "betrays" from where you come (to the very village you come from). Not your social class.
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

Language such as Silesian is full of local dialects (Ruda Śląska Silesian speaks differently form Pszczyna Silesian)

And that is something which is to me as a Fleming completely recognizable.
I know that in Antwerp for example before WW II there were even dialect differences between some city districts.
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

This thread becomes really entertaining :)
And most meaningful the usual suspects are not answering :). Still I have no answer to my initial question....
Anyway a thread inside a thread... In my native Flanders (and also in Wallonia as far as I know) every village has its own variant of the local dialect. For example I can easily place somebody from my neighborhood by his accent and the words he is using. Do dialects exist in Poland on a local level?
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

:))))
There is an expression in English - cannot remember which one - that if you communicate in a language which is very close to yours (Dutch as to Flemish for example), you think you understand certain words (written the same)...but they mean something different.

Polish also has such examples. Maybe somebody could enlighten me :)
I do not agree with the minority / majority theory though. Polish and Czech were never in that relation and neither Polish/Slovak.
Polish/Ukrainian could be another matter, maybe.
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Polish and other West Slavonic languages and "pozor vlak" :) [48]

This is a continuation from another thread....Non-political please :)
I always assume that native speakers in one language group understand for a big part their neighbors "across the border".
For example we Flemish (especially my brothers on the eastern border / we Antwerp guys are a different nation :) ) do understand our German Rhineland brothers quite well if they speak their PlattDeutsch dialect. Logically if you think we go back together like 1500 years.

But why is it that Poles understand Slovak and Ukrainian much better as Czech? Slovak I could understand, being a West-Slavonic language. But Ukrainian, being an Eastern Slavonic language. Strangely I have to admit that I through my (far from perfect) Polish also understand Slovak and Ukrainian quite well. There has to be an explanation for that.

And what about the other regional (and West Slavonic) languages... Góral, Sorb, Kashub, Silesian... (and the now extinct Mazurian)
Interesting. Including "pozor vlak" :)
Seems to me that "beer" sounds about the same everywhere in East and Central Europe :) Which is a relief somehow during the holidays :)
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

OK Flemish versus German....let us say that in 80% you can find a close resemblance. "tief' and "diep" is a good example. But this goes back to the common source 1500 years ago.Same for "dorp" and "dorf" for example. You could say that the remaining 20% is heavily influenced by French.

I guess between Czech and Polish it could be the same...
Although I know that Poles understand Slovak and Ukrainian much better as Czech. Maybe the Polish native speakers on this forum could confirm/ dispute this ?

In this case the relationship with Slovak I would understand - being West Slavonic. But Ukrainian is an East Slavonic language.
(we Flemish do understand the German Rhinelanders, but hardly the Swedes for example).
I guess nobody on the forum speaks Sorb or Silesian/Kashubian. Would be interesting to get a view from that side as well.
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Travel / Cycling on the footpath in Warsaw - not permitted? [4]

Well... Often you have as a cyclist no choice at all. Warsaw drivers have a murderous disregard for any cyclist foolishly using the road. I prefer the asphalt to the wobbly sidewalks but I do not want to get killed. And I am trying to avoid the people on foot :)
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Funny thing is, there are three versions of the Czech language: "High" Czech, clinically pure, spoken officially; "popular" Czech involving words from other languages, e.g., German, Polish or... English, spoken in the streets; and "folk" Czech, consisting of local dialects, such as the lingo of Beskyd (Beskidy) highlanders.

What about the differences between Moravian for example and High Czech? Is that like between High and Low German ?
High German I learned in school (3 years of torture - sorry BB :) - but I mastered it). Low German - is something I readily understand being Flemish.

For me it was always funny trying to understand Czech through my (non native) Polish :)
Never forget that sign on a railway crossing "pozor vlak!" :)))). There my Polish did not help me at all :)

As concerns the Beskidy Highlanders - my wife is a Polish Góralka - they share their language (not dialect) with the Polish Górale.

Interesting all these complications on a small scale :) Does not make Europe just great ?
sobieski   
15 Jun 2011
Travel / Cycling on the footpath in Warsaw - not permitted? [4]

I recently read somewhere (In Your Pocket I think) that cycling on the footpath in Warsaw is not permitted - I mean when there is no designated bike path. Is this true? I am using my bike here almost everyday and until now no policeman ever stopped me on such occasions, but still....
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

I asked around and people agree. They say it is funny, contains only diminutives, it is "a mockery of a language for adults".
This claim is not offensive to Czech people (cause who doesn't like children, right?).

You are pathetic. Sarah Palin in disguise?
I know you rednecks can hardly count to three...but for what it is worth...
Czech is together with Slovak and Sorbic a West Slavonic language. The Czechs were civilized when you rednecks were still living in some trees drinking bud.
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
Life / The day Poland ran out of artists. [40]

Exactly. I am waiting for the day that in Eurovision Poland will be represented by somebody from Luxembourg :)))
Or maybe Celine Dione could be tempted, although she does not seem to be the NSZ namiotist type....
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

Carp. Every fish to be eaten is killed some time, but carp itself is good and delicate.

I know, every nation has its specialties :).
There is a French expression (and Belgian cuisine is related to French). The Brits murder their food twice. Once when they slaughter it and second time when they cook it :))))

By the way "French" fries are a Belgian institution (and no the flimsy McDo alternative).
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
News / U.S., Poland sign military aviation accord [24]

sobieski:
What countries do to be able to get to the US without a visa. Pathetic.

Yes I'm 100% sure that's the reason. Maybe, a stronger US military presenc

No. The Poles would do anything to get "the Beast" on their streets again. Whereas most Western Europeans think differently.
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

Still after living in Poland all these years, a few things baffle me:
- Galaretka z octem
- Sałatka z śmietanem (who combines sour cream and salad ????
- Karp (dreadful,and why they cannot let these fish live ?)
sobieski   
14 Jun 2011
Life / The day Poland ran out of artists. [40]

I am just waiting for the first NSZ smolenkists rearing their head :)
That said, Celine Dion represented already and Luxembourg and Switzerland on Eurovision :)