Language / Why does Polish form of Nicholas (Mikołaj) begin with an M? [12]

Ziemusz stop being a silly sausage. It's not the misunderstanding or mispronunciation I object to. It's the inisistence of Poles that they are correct. Yes indeed people will insist that it is the native speaker who is wrong and not themselves. I make loads of mistakes in Polish and am delighted when someone bothers to correct me.


Yes, you learned that from me didn't you with my reference to Daniel O'Connell. One of the reasons for the decline of the language yes, but not the only one. See how you get on under eight hundred years of continuous occupation by the British in a country the size of Ireland and how much of your culture would remain. We did pretty well all things considered.

Language / Why does Polish form of Nicholas (Mikołaj) begin with an M? [12]


You know what they're like Smurf, the liberties they take. Have you heard about Babbington? Badminton to you and me. And cottage cheese according to someone I know (who has third level education) is 'cut a cheese' and is so named for the action of cutting the cheese with a knife.

Language / Why does Polish form of Nicholas (Mikołaj) begin with an M? [12]

Ha ha! Yeah the old Rooskies are good at getting things wrong. But in this case I'd say their spelling is closer to the original. Nicholas usually begins with an N I believe!

UK, Ireland / Polish candidate for London mayor to represent 2nd-class citzens [26]


It's not that simple but they certainly started the ball rolling and made a vital contribution as has been acknowledged in recent years.

The pioneering work of the Poles was done before the war and the code was altered and produced by the Germans in many different forms over the subsequent years, the cipher system being changed daily. The code had to be cracked repeatedly and one must bear in mind that a team of hundreds (including many nationalities) was involved in this.

bletchleypark.org.uk/content/hist/worldwartwo/enigma.rhtm

That doesn't detract from the brilliance of Alan Turing, an immensely gifted individual. Credit should be given where it's due. Turing was a genius, not merely a great mathematician. Even today in computing a true computing language is classified as 'Turing Complete'.

Language / Why does Polish form of Nicholas (Mikołaj) begin with an M? [12]

I think I get the basic idea. It would also explain why this form is found in certain other Slavic languages though not all. It's very interesting because it means as far as I understand it that the name was corrupted in the linguistic sense. The cheek of those Poles!



I thought it did but thinking about it, by that logic then how does one explain the name Nikodem? If they can pronounce Nikodem then why substitute the N for an M in another name of similar form?

Love / Do women in Poland change their surnames to a feminine form of their husbands' surnames? [40]

A Polish woman living in England would just use Adams. If she returned to Poland she'd have to continue to use Adams as that would be her official name on her existing documents eg passport, driving licence. But I don't know what would happen if she wanted to change it to a Policized form when her documents were due for renewal. Because of the weirdness of Polish grammar where peoples' names take grammatical cases in the same way as any other nouns, it is possible to apply those grammatical cases to English surnames and I've seen it done but that's not the same as changing the name itself from an English to a Polish form. Any Polish woman whom I know that married a British or Irish man just uses the same form as her husband.


That's an excellent point. You can't just choose a random ending for a name. The rules of Polish language have to apply.

Work / Brazilian in Poland needing help - ideas to find a job? [22]


That's impossible to answer really. If it's a job that involves shift work and you can work evenings and weekends, then yes. Maybe a call centre/customer service that requires English and Portuguese speakers? But when will you find time to study? To earn 2,500 after taxes you'll have to put in a fair few hours.


I don't have any personal experience of them but having looked on the good old internet (!) they are both respected, well established institutions and seem to have a very good reputation. I note that SGH has a joint MBA with the University of Quebec in Canada and Kozminski offers some masters programmes linked to a couple of English universities. English higher education is very strictly inspected and regulated so any Polish college working with them would have to reach the same standards of quality assurance.


Another one that's hard to answer! It depends on how many people are applying and how many places are available on the course. If there's competition for places then it would depend on the results you achieved in your Bachelors and your CV since then. But look, it's like this. If an applicant has a first class honours Bachelors that they got two years ago and they've spent those two years travelling or working in a random unrelated job they are less attractive than an applicant with second class honours who's spent the last two years working in the industry.

Feedback / Sad news today of the passing of a member of our site (Avalon) [16]

My sympathies on your loss Charlie. God rest his soul. I'll remember him and his family and friends in my prayers today.

Love / What should I do against racist family from Poland? (I am Turkish) [23]

Well he won't be dazzling anyone with his spelling, that's for sure, can't spell either in Polish or English, also needs instruction in the use of capitalisation. From his username it would appear that he knows how to polish scum. Never heard of it before, would that be with a floor polisher I wonder or an aerosol can and duster of some sort? How does one polish scum?? It must be something peculiar to whatever strange country he hails from.

Life / Information about sending items from a foreign country to Poland [10]

You're welcome Vanitex.

Love / What do you like most about Polish men? :) [51]

Terri, every man is like that at heart but if you want them to behave like a gentleman you have to behave like a lady......seriously though, you have to let men know that you expect them to open the door, carry your bags etc. When I was at art college I never set up my own easel or lugged my heavy portfolio around the place. The first week I watched the other girls struggling with these huge, heavy easels and I just thought, I'm not doing that so I looked around and announced 'Could someone give me a hand with this please?' And two or three fine young Irish lads stepped up to the plate. After that I never had to ask again.

Life / Information about sending items from a foreign country to Poland [10]

You'd be better off sending it via a courier like DHL. They'll advise you about any tax/customs issues. The item will arrive quicker and will definitely be delivered.

The Polish postal system can be unreliable unless you're using registered post and parcels have been known to be opened by customs and delayed or sometimes returned to the sender for no obvious reason.

I received a parcel from Ireland a few months ago (another EU country) which was sent by registered post but it had been opened and the contents repacked in a different box!! Also I never received any notification that the parcel was at the Post Office. It was only because I contacted the sender and then paid a visit to the PO to enquire if it had arrived that I got it at all. Most times I get my packages without a problem but as I say, you can't depend 100% on the postal service in Poland.

Language / Beginning to learn Polish- help? [29]

Which you learned from your hugely endowed Polish boyfriends. Troll, trolly, trollykins, troglodyte, how does thee troll, let me count the ways.......I'm willing to bet Dreamergirl is a bored twelve year old boy. Obviously he can only manage short sentences even in English so the prospect of managing anything better in Polish is unlikely.

Love / Polish men penis size [21]

I can't take credit for that one Roz, sadly. Harry Enfield, the Conjugal Rights sketch, you know those old black and white public information films. It's so funny. Can't find it on You Tube:(

Love / Polish men penis size [21]


Has the train arrived in Paddington Mrs Cholmondley-Warner? No, it's in Colchester - ouch!


And this has affected the size of their wedding tackle how exactly??

Law / Buying work visa for Poland [16]

That's a nice sum of money and she should be very careful how she invests it.

Firstly she needs to do her research about what city in Poland she intends to live in and whether there is a market for an expensive private nursery in some part of that town.

Secondly there are many rules and regulations, health and safety rules, ratio of staff to children etc when setting up a business involving the care of other people's children.

Thirdly, there are the costs not only of equipping it but of paying staff. Then there are hidden costs such as legal fees, translator for documents etc even if she speaks Polish she will be required to hire a translator for legal meetings etc.

Finally if she doesn't speak Polish how will she communicate with the parents of children in her nursery? She will need to find English speaking staff for obvious reasons (as otherwise how would she communicate with them) and she would then need them to act as interpreters for her with parents, rather awkward.

150,000 is as I say a nice little nest egg but it could be swallowed up very quickly with rents (she would also have to rent somewhere to live), set up costs, staffing, ongoing running costs. I really don't think she should risk it.

Law / Buying work visa for Poland [16]

Hi Fazal. I'm not Polish but I live in Poland and I'm an EU citizen. There are other posters who are more expert about these things than I am but I'm quite certain that one cannot legally 'buy' a work permit for any EU country.

As to job opportunities, was she thinking about teaching English or Arabic? I'm not sure what the market is for Arabic in the bigger cities but the English teaching is pretty well supplied in any major urban centres and there will be a lot of competition from native speakers. As for the nursery, starting up any business is never easy or cheap so it's a risk.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Roz, Jon, shall we don our pinnies, fold our arms, (have you got your curlers in??). Time to settle ourselves on the fence for a gossip methinks!

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Well now.....I heard that there is some truth in it but that he never actually appeared in court, simply paid the fine. He was quite young at the time and if it really happened,it was probably just a bit of a bi-curious incident. If he was really bi it must have been torture for him to save himself for the ladies alone all these years! I imagine that he would have indugled himself now and again and surely somebody would have gone to the gutter press with the details. Very hard to keep that stuff quiet, unless of course the press had their instructions from on high to keep quiet.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Oh my goodness. InPolska it's a joke lovey, based around the supposed way in which French people drop their 'aitches' and place the stress in a different place in the word to a native English speaker so happiness becomes 'appiness.

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]

Careful now! You'll be going off topic Roz - down with that sort of thing!

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]


That's very witty!

News / New 2016 poll. The attitudes of the Poles toward other nations [26]


No. It's up to the person who started the thread to reference their sources. If you were presenting a thesis in university would you tell the Prof to Google around in order to figure out your sources?? Well, yes from someone who asseses themselves as: 'estetically privileged' you quite possibly would. 'Hey baby, wanna get a look at my sources? J'ou know what you gotta do'.


They didn't include Brazilians because the person who created the poll had an agenda and Brazilians weren't part of it, any more than the Irish (yes I'm banging on about Ireland again..). I would think that it would make sense for such a poll to include Ireland seeing as around a quarter of a million Poles have made it their home and thus many more Poles in Poland have Irish connections now, have visited Ireland etc.

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]

So all this talk of holiday visas is just the usual hot air that people carry on with. The UK won't leave the EU. I believe some Brits think they can have their cake and eat it, be independent of pesky EU interference but negotiate some preferential deals for themselves where they keep some of the benefits of their past membership, as a 'friend' of the EU. But that's not likely to happen. In the modern world no European country can stand alone in that way. We've created a situation where we need each other. However, as you say InPolska, if they voted to leave it would be the end of the EU, so they will use that as a bargaining tool in getting some sort of little treats for themselves as an incentive to stay in!

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]



Where did you hear it?? I'm just wondering what were the regulations regarding travel within Europe before the existence of firstly the EEC and then the EU. Did people need visas then? I don't think they did. Of course Poland was a communist country then but I mean amongst the free nations of Europe, what was the story?

With so many people now travelling abroad at least twice a year, the processing of all those holiday visas would be quite a palaver especially if it was just for a short trip like a weekend break. It's not like the old days where a holiday abroad was a big deal. If there is any type of visa, I imagine it will be some sort of travel permit that allows travel to all EU countries and is valid for an extended period eg one year and can be renewed.

News / New 2016 poll. The attitudes of the Poles toward other nations [26]

What's the source of the poll?? Anyone could have knocked that up on their computer. And who exactly was polled? And how many? If there's one thing I can't abide it's those rubbish so-called polls/surveys 'we asked 100 people coming out of Biedronka what they think of ...........' Anyway, anyone who designs a poll which lists 'the Jews' should be ignored. Since Jews are of all nationalities surely they mean Israel?? What a load of old rubbish.

Life / Whats that thing when Polish people take a shot of vodka by locking arms and after saying first names? [20]


Swear like a trooper is the phrase you're looking for there.


Whaaaaat??? Mais non! Quelle horreur! Mais c'est impossible, c'est incroyable!!!
I think you'll find that the genealogical term 'a family of great antiquity' would fit the bill there.


Mmmm.


Yes, how the mighty have fallen. The impoverished scion of the aristocracy obliged to use her meagre language skills, the only weapon a 'lady' has with which to fight this cruel world. Do you have a washer/drier and a decent ironing board? You could always do an executive laundry service from home. At least it's clean, dry and warm, which is more than can be said for many jobs.

With emphasis of course on the executive, wot wif 'er bein' a great lady an' all..........

Anyway back to the topic. My husband's granny who is 90ish won't use the ty form with anyone other than blood family. One of her son-in-laws made the fatal error of dropping the Pani on Christmas Day in the heat of the festive moment..........not a happy ending.

Life / Whats that thing when Polish people take a shot of vodka by locking arms and after saying first names? [20]


It was the best butter. Any Lewis Carroll fans out there?

The winky faces are indeed a trial to the spirit, together with the exclamation marks!!!!!! Zut alors!!!!
And we're all more than weary of hearing about one's aristocratic connections.

Life / Whats that thing when Polish people take a shot of vodka by locking arms and after saying first names? [20]


Terri, I don't think you understood. I said that they, as in the person being addressed, would tell you if and when you can drop the Pan form. I was just pointing out that it doesn't have to be done with a ceremony involving linking and drinking!

In reality younger people (people under the age of thirty most definitely) tend to simply address each other informally from the outset and there are other factors difficult for an outsider to navigate, for example social class. Working class Poles will often address neighbours or slight acquaintances in the informal way if they feel the person is 'one of them' so to speak. In the workplace co-workers often don't use the Pan and Pani forms nowadays if they're at the same level as each other, but they may still use Pan/Pani for people senior to them. In multinational companies where English is the main language in common and different nationalities work together, Pan and Pani aren't generally used.