Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

"Glodny jak wilk" is the only such expression of that type which I know. Sure there are others. More a saying really, than an idiom, but nonetheless holds true:

"Gdzie kucharek szesc, tam nie ma co jesc" = Too many cooks spoil the broth (Lit. "Where the cooks are six, there is nothing left to eat.")

:-))

Travel / Help with a travel plan to Poland [72]

Hi, Renier!

Sounds like an ambitious road trip. Might also be a not half bad idea to pick up a bit of basic Polish before embarking on your trip:-) Outside of major urban areas and specifically tourist-class hotels, English won't get you that far. Just a thought.

Have a good time,

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

Thanks again, Chemikiem:-) Not easy having to post nearly all off the top of one's head most of the time. No excuse for incorrect phrasing though!

Language / Help with idiomatic translation ... [48]

All I know is that "gajo" means "foreigner" or "outsider" aka anyone who's not Romany.

UK, Ireland / Why Irish women are so rude and judgemental towards foreign women? [40]

To the Irish has often been attributed a powerful quick and fierce temper, much compared to a summer storm, full of violent fury at the start, gradually leveling off and displaying an almost disarming calm when all is over As with most, if not all, stereotypes, there is in my experience more than a kernel of truth in such an assertion.

Be careful though not to caricature the Irish! The last thing with which the average well-educated, traveled, middle-class Irish wish to be associated ( as Ireland too, going the way of the Continent is slowly "diversifying") these days is for women to be compared with a feisty, spit fire Maureen O'Hara type right out of 'The Quiet Man' or for men to be (still) viewed as two-fisted drunks and brawlers:-)

Most have yet to recover from Dr. Johnson's entry in his dictionary definition of the potato as "a tub'rous growth, a vegetable eaten principally by pigs and Irish".

Prejudice cuts both ways as well.

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

Krakow nie byl zbudowlany na jednym dniu = Rome wasn't built in a day

Seem to recall hearing the sentence "On jest dobrym gosciem...", which I always thought meant "He's a good egg", or the like. Perhaps it was meant literally in Polish and I simply interpreted it as idiomatic:-)

Genealogy / Trying to find a town called Kadyz. [13]

True, only the orthographic similarity is what caught my attention:-)

Language / Help with idiomatic translation ... [48]

..even a *****/"kurwa", at least in the UK.

Real Estate / American whinging and whining when buying or renting property in Poland [30]

I agree with you, Joker! Your comments in response to mine suggest we are indeed on the same page here.

Language / Help with idiomatic translation ... [48]

"stock" = zrodlo aka source or origin

:-)

Language / Help with idiomatic translation ... [48]

@Wulkan,

Like so much Polish word stock.

Genealogy / Trying to find a town called Kadyz. [13]

"Kadyz" might easily be confused by the innocent layperson with the "Cadiz" in Spain, no?

Real Estate / American whinging and whining when buying or renting property in Poland [30]

Frankly, I think as Joker, that it cuts both ways!

I know soooo many Poles, Russians, Albanians who've recently arrived in the States, yet do little other than to bemoan the lack of similarity with their home country.

"English is too hard" is commonly heard, while amongst one another, they speak NOTHING but their mother tongue.

When my grandfolks arrived in the US, nearly a century ago, even at home (according to my granddad anyway) my relatives tried hard to speak nothing but English with one another, comical-sounding as it doubtless did:-)

Language / Help with idiomatic translation ... [48]

To depart for just a moment, Polish "sufit" must therefore also be related to the like-meaning Italian equivalent "soffito".

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

How about "Mowmy prosto z mostu" = Let's talk turkey aka Let's get down to business. or "Tak czy owak" = One way or [the] other.

Actually, the former translates more towards "Let's level with each other." Apologies for the mistranslation:-)

News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

This is of course, the Christian conception, Johnny!

There's more than one faith, as well as more than one point of view:-)
On that note, a Merry Christmas to you and a Happy Festivus to the rest of us.

News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

You're probably right on the mark there, Dirk.

Life / Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th? [87]

Yes, this is so! In Germany for example, gifts are always exchanged on Christmas Eve, NOT in Christmas Day as is done here in the States. In Norway, typically fish rather than goose or whatnot, is the main dish eaten on Christmas Day:-)

Language / Declining a number. Polish declination grammar. [7]

Numeralia in Polish were a positive nightmare for me in the beginning, much I suppose are our myriad tenses for Poles and others:-)

Still now, when I'm posting numbers here in Polish, certainly if writing a formal e-mail to Poland, I'm not ashamed to admit that I continue to have to consult my Szober "Gramatyka jezyka polskiego" for reliable assistance, or my Swan!

News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

Thanks for your reply, Dirk! Suspected as much, to be frank. As Texas once wanted to secede from the rest of the US, so too Poland seems to want to remain separate from the rest of the EU:-)

News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

The Poles do indeed remain a stubbornly proud and fiercely independent people, that's for sure! That conservativism has certainly protected them thus far against the slings and arrows of outrageous multiculturalism which has bombarded the entire continent, often at the expense of social peace.

What's the humane solution? Unfortunately, I can't say.

Texans are similar to an extent, wouldn't you say?

Life / Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th? [87]

Most informative, DominicB! As a linguist, always appreciated:-)

Life / Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th? [87]

Interesting. DominicB. I would have thought, being as we use the term in English, that a "vigil" is almost like lying in wait until the moment at which the Saviour finally comes aka "Advent", no?

Life / Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th? [87]

Wonder whether or not "Wigilia" derives from the Latin word for "vigil", as in awaiting something which hasn't yet arrived.

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]

Precisely my point, Chemikiem! I readily and gladly acknowledge such errors in Polish. Rarely though when in Poland, and never once here on PF, have I experienced the reverse:-) Often, I'll gently re-cast a sentence or two, perhaps alter a word, and will catch bloody hell for it, whilst I'm supposed to sit back and take rather unkind correction from my Polish interlocutor.

Not exactly a two-way street now, is it?

News / No Jews allowed! Latest anti-semitic outrage out of Poland [21]

Reminds me of Niemoeller: "When the Nazis came for the Catholics, I wasn't a Catholic and so said nothing. When they came for the Jews, I'm not Jewish, and so I said nothing, when the came for the homosexuals, I wasn't a homosexual and so I said nothing, but then they came for me, there was nobody to speak up."

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]

RIght again, gumishu! But as I say, with "practice" comes the occasional need for correction of the language in question being practiced.

@Wulkan, if you think that certain of our Polish sentences positively "hurt" your ears, try listening to yourselves in English sometime. It's nothing to be proud of, I can tell you that much, nothing a little modesty couldn't easily cure:-)

News / No Jews allowed! Latest anti-semitic outrage out of Poland [21]

Prejudice is always rank and affects us all, from whichever side it rears its ugly head and to whomever its directed, be it the English example against Poles or this present instance of anti-Jewish hostility on the part of Polish gentiles. While feelings of rancor, even hate, are all too human, either their overt or even covert expression have no place in society, public discourse etc.

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]

AMEN, gumi! Few truer words have ever been spoken here on PF:-) Bottle that thought.

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]

@Pernumba, try correcting THEIR mistakes when they start (unsolicited) correcting yours:-) They make plenty as well, believe me.

@Ironside,

The more things change, there more they stay the same!