News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]


The question is: are we in that crucial moment when the future of PO is being decided or not? Most interesting are the political analyses of Roman Giertych, a former minister in the government of Jaro, but now a stringent opponent to the concept of the "Fourth Republic", but who at present distances himself from both parties. In his latest interview to the Rzeczpospolita" daily, he advocates that the so-called reconstruction of the Tusk government should begin with the stepping down of... Tusk from the the post of the PM. Otherwise, he argues, PO risks to loose even more voters and if that happens it is very likely that in the end Jaro will become PM and Antoni Macierewicz may become Home Secretary. A certain rift within the PO party has begun to show itself with Jarosław Gowin's recent famous letter to the members of PO in which he pointed out - among other things - to the arrogance of some party barons (litting cigars with 50-zloty banknotes may serve as a certain symbol of things which he describes in them). All this was preceded by the successful calling off of Elbląg's PO mayor and city council (a constituency in which PO reached above-the-mean results in 2007 and 2011 elections), and the results of the by-election in Rybnik where the PiS candidate, Bronisław Piecha, gynaecologist, has won securing 28,48 % of votes.


Is it a new name for the so well-known here on the PF "Anglo-Australian Gang of Three"?

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]


And what does heterosexual or homosexual sex have to do with the title of the thread which is "PiS 33, PO 28 - survey shows"? I would understand it if either of the parties concerned reached 69 in a survey, but with only 28 or 33? Time to lit a cigar with a 50-zloty banknote now ...

Life / First communion - it's that time of year again in Poland! [109]


How did you know?


Is that how you knew it?

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]

It happened quite a long time ago. Everyone in Poland has nearly forgotten about it. Captain Wrona (in English: Crow) did this ... Anyway, well done captain!

Law / Polish Visa, Work Permit, Residency for Spouse of Polish Citizen [69]


Is your comment valuable or not? I'm sure it is since you wish them "a happy marriage"!


Agreed. I couldn't have put it in a more accurate way.


To make that comment even more valuable - in accordance with Oxon's idea - what makes it "not a simple process"?

Language / "No tak"; The Oddest Phrase In Polish For This American [75]


An interesting remark. I think I've often come across this expression while reading Sherlock Holmes, but it seems that at the end of the 18th century it was used in a rather normal sense.


You may feel well free to continue as such.For me, your Polish presents an interesting insight into how Polish or, in the broader sense, the foreign language may "operate" in the minds of those who are not native speakers of it. On the other hand, your almost every utterance in English has always seemed to me a sort of a carefully elaborated piece which is aimed at inspiring people to think of English as a language which has much deeper levels than those suggested by its thoroughly simplified basic grammar.

History / Poland's Roads in the 17th Century [19]


It was probably there where I once read the information on the extremely bad state of roads between Warsaw and Kiev towards which king Stanislas Poniatowski travelled to meet Cathrine II of Russia in a boat on the Dniepr river, the then Polish-Russian border river, in the 1780s. The wheel axes of the royal coach crashed twice during the journey under the monarch due to this deplorable state of roads.

The subject of the roads in the 17th century is strictly connected to the subject of the Royal Mail which was organized in Poland in 1588 on the orders of king Sigismundus Augustus. Prosper Prowana, an Italian in the king's service, became the first director of the institution. Then king Augustus II issued a bill in 1717 in which he outlined the trajectory of the postal routes in Poland and also the book of instructions. An interesting account of the Warsaw-Vilnius route across centuries can be found here (in Polish):

sok.sokolowpodl.pl/upload/file/Wielki_trakt_Warszawa-Wilno.pdf

The time of travel for mail between the two Polish Commonwealth capitals: Warsaw and Vilnius, was set for one week.


An excellent source, collecting accounts of foreign people visiting Poland, however referring to the 18th century, would be a two-volume book "Polska stanisławowska w oczach cudzoziemców" [Stanislas August's Poland in the eyes of foreigners], Warszawa 1963. That is the work I often came across as a source cited in different history books I have read.

History / Warsaw and Armies in 1939 Poland [4]

To know all this will require some detailed work. The 1939 campaign is well described in Polish books, but also - in the general sense at least, I think - in books available in English. If I were you, I would start by searching through the registers of soldiers who died in 1939, but what they are and if there are any such registers available on the internet, I am not sure as I am no specialist on the subject.

USA, Canada / American family moving to Poland - looking for advice! [44]


Though I'm not a teacher myself, I can see no point in that ridiculous statement. Knowing a language and teaching a language are two different things. One can be a native speaker of English and a very bad teacher of it; on the other hand a non-native speaker may not be mastering all the nuances of the language at the native speaker level, but be a very good teacher.


I hope you have devoted enough consideration to this problem and you are not displaying here what is commonly thought of as "typical French arrogance".

Language / "No tak"; The Oddest Phrase In Polish For This American [75]

According to the dictionary (Słownik języka polskiego; Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN):
no - partykuła o charakterze ekspresywnym
a) używana jako wzmocnienie trybu rozkazującego, niekiedy z odcieniem nalegania, perswazji : Siadajże no.
b) używana do nadawania ekspresji zdaniom lub ich częściom niezawierającym form trybu rozkazującego : No, to do widzenia!
c) potocznie równoważnik pytania, połączony zwykle z niecierpliwym oczekiwaniem na odpowiedź : Coś ci mam powiedzieć. - No? - spytał.

Genealogy / Who are the Poles? Balts, Germanics, or Sarmo-Sycthians? [19]

I think it will be much better for you to go back to your classroom rather than flooding the forum with your "experise" knowledge.

History / How I blew a 6 figure grant for my charity because of my appreciation of Polish history... [77]


As one cannot deny antisemitism in the pre-war Poland, and of course cannot deny several pogroms that took place in Poland immediately after the war, the "participation in the killing of the Jews" in the views of this New-Yorker seems to imply the participation of Poland in the state-organized, mass-scale industrial methods of killing Jewish people in concentration camps.later on referred to as "Holocaust". The term "Polish concentration camp" reflects pretty well the tendency for hiding the truth about those who had organized such methods of murdering people. Excuses that the authors meant the "geographical location" of those camps are simply worthless, and look particularly shameful when used by the Germans. Mixing the role of the German Nazi organizers with whoever collaborated with them in sending Jews into those camps, including those Polish people who did it during the war, is an abuse which is aimed entirely to blame the Polish since there is ultimately no mention of "German" or "Nazi" in the famous term "Polish concentration camp".

Language / Quick grammer question about "czasmi uczę studentów muzyki" [6]

"Uczę muzyki studentów" (different word order) will clear this ambiguity in full.

Saying "Uczę muzyki studentów muzyki" would be correct, clear and precise even if "muzyki" is said twice here.

"Students" is a noun in plural that means both male and female students when you refer to a mixed or gender-unspecified group of students. If you refer only to female students, you may also say "Uczę muzyki studentki muzyki". The noun "student" denotes a male student as well as a student in the general sense of the word, though when speaking of a female student, we will usually say: "Ona jest studentką muzyki/medycyny/archeologi/filologii angielskiej".

Language / Quick grammer question about "czasmi uczę studentów muzyki" [6]

It is in true fact ambigous (as you say), but the first thought of the native speaker would be "uczę studentów określonego przedmiotu -> muzyki, geografii, astronomii, pływania" rather than "nauczam/uczę studentów muzyki = uczę studentów kierunku 'muzyka' ". This ambiguity will disappear when you say: "uczę studentów muzyki pływania/podstaw informatyki".

Language / KTP - help with Polish abbreviation [7]

Though I'm Polish, I've never come across such an abbreviation. Without having a broader context, it's impossible, I'm afraid.

Language / KTP - help with Polish abbreviation [7]

Charles, don't be silly and stop spying on people.

Real Estate / The current property boom in Poland is a bubble [342]


Very well said. By the way, it has reminded me of the stories of ladies holding out for a perfect husband ...

Law / Bank accounts taxed by up to 10%. Can it happen in Poland? [150]

Wasn't it the Roosvelt administration which once passed the bill obliging the citizens of America to sell all the gold they own to the Federal Reserve?

Law / Bank accounts taxed by up to 10%. Can it happen in Poland? [150]

This is an unprecedented move never before having been applied in a debt-stricken eurozone country.

Brussels has started to test new methods of coping with the debt crisis. Bank deposits guarantee from now on seems to be a myth in the EU .

Law / Investing money in Poland - what are the best areas / ways to invest private money? [23]

Yeah, kebab seems to be a good choice for someone who wants to get "higer rates of return than for similar investments in Western Europe".

Life / Hey, Nice Airport Wrocław! Or! Day #1 for an American Ex-Pat in Poland. [128]


Welcome back! From what you've written, I guess you are American and you lived in Poland some time before now. But what 'Ferio Gaj' is, I haven't the slightest idea. Is it perhaps a new state that has successfully joined the Union recently?

History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]


APF,. the Russians (all along with US, Britain and France) gave the Poles this land, but that took an even greater part of Polish territory to themselves. You may as well see it as a robbery on Germany which technically was achieved by shifting Poland from east to west.

A robbery somewhat justified in the light of the support of the Germans who brought Herr Hitler to power in the result of a democratic election. And in the light of the zeal of the One-Thousand Year Reich to conquer and sweep away other nations, and in particular the Slavs, from the map of Europe.

UK, Ireland / UK weather is most unpleasant - for Poles too! [9]


You still don't give the real numbers. Supposing is supposing; it is not the exact figures ...


What I'm driving at is: You always blame the British government and British wheather. But what do you personally do to keep the modern invaders of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria out of Britain?

UK, Ireland / UK weather is most unpleasant - for Poles too! [9]


And ain't it true? Your government knows perfectly well what they are talking about since they are used to British wheather. And you should be appointed the Minister for the Weather, oxon!


Can you provide some overall figures to set the above statistics against the all-national volume of crime?

History / MICROCOSM: Portrait of a Central European City (history of Wrocław) [9]


The Germans seem to have convinced the world that Breslau had been German for ages before 1945. In reality, Breslau and the entire Silesia became German (Prussian) only as late as 1741 by getting it from Austria in the result of a war.

History / MICROCOSM: Portrait of a Central European City (history of Wrocław) [9]

I think I can agree with you: it is not a book for the general public though it seems it was meant to be such. I have the book, started to read it once, but gave up after having read a small passage. I have no personal links to Wrocław except that my two aunts who were born to a family that lived close to the Polish border with Germany before 1939 (thus not a very long distance from the town formerly known as Breslau) moved to it after 1945. Now that you've mentioned the book, I will try to get to the book once again.

The book by Norman Davies which may interest you is: Europe East and West, 336pp, Jonathan Cape, £20. Here's what the Guardian says about it ...


... and about his other books in an article of 11 November 2006:


guardian.co.uk/books/2006/nov/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview5

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]



How dare one call one's gracious Queen "pratty"? Shouldn't one be sent to the Tower of London for that?

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Though it seems plausible, I've always doubted such an etymology. The most remarkable example of a Slavic borrowing into English is the word "robot" taken after the title of a Czech novel. Technically it is a borrowing from Czech, but I think all other Slavic languages also know the word "robota" meaning "work/job" (at least Polish and Russian do),

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

We've been rehearsing the word "one" so far, now we are rehearsing the word "pratty". Nothing is left of the charming atmosphere of the forum of two years ago. Nothing even of the somewhat half-charming atmosphere we lived under Harry and his Nazi-Polish invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

One may even impress one's wife with one's improved education over a glass of beer in a pub which is in the vicinity of one's home.