Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]


What got me was when they asked if I wanted coffee 'po turecku' which is what they called the old PRL method (dump grounds in a glass (in a wire frame) and then pour boiling water over it). About as Turkish as bacon bits... An alternate name was 'po naszemu' (our way).

I actually got to where I could drink coffe made that way.... I can't say I ever really enjoyed it much (though I really like real Turkish/Greek coffee).

In other news... is the term "white coffee" used in the US now? I only rarely drank coffee when I lived there but I don't remember that phrase being used I only learned it in the mid 90s from British TV...

News / Legal opposition threatened by Poland's regime [19]

A friend (grew up in the PRL) recently opined that TVP is now worse than in the PRL. Back then, the reasoning goes, no one really believed in what they were saying, while the propagandists in charge now actually really do seem to believe the nonsense they peddle...

Again, though the existence of free and independent broadcasters is a large improvement, it's just sad that they're so needed right now.

Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]


Or a standardized portion.... (a drink could be one swig from someone else's drinking vessel)


Not in GAE [general american english] (you _can_ distinguish them when you want to, but in everyday usage it's not necessary at all while the distinction is kind of mandatory in Polish) This iconic TV item is always called "Archie Bunker's chair"....

/ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-2006-10060

I've even heard people refer to recliners as 'chairs'

content.blueport.com/ProductImages/0/349147.jpg


There's no single system in English (American semantics are independent of other varieties). For my American linguistic intuition a mug needs to be about 12 centimeters tall and/or about 10 across... (and you can drink beer or have soup from it) I might call filiżanka a teacup but again, I'd normally just say cup...


The general point is that languages constantly fluctuate between essential and elective levels of precision and that these levels break down differently between Polish and English (esp GAE which tends to broader more general classes than does Polish).

Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]


Polish is much pickier about maintaining certain distinctions than English is (especially American English)

krzesło - fotel (both would usually just be 'chair' in the US)

czereśnia - wiśnia (both 'cherry' in most usage)

filiżanka - kubek (usually 'cup' in the US)

even kolczyk - klips ([pierced] earring - clip on, both usually 'earring' in the US)

Where I'm from (warm weather place) even jacket and coat are often used interchangeably

Polish learners of English have trouble with this (and anglophone learners of Polish find it hard to always make the differences).

Work / Does any one know how much film editors make in Poland? [7]


What makes you think that anyone in media wans to hire someone who doesn't speak Polish (and is very poor in English)?

Go elsewhere, there's nothing for you in Poland...

Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]

I'll just also add that I've never had coffee in a mug (bad translation of 'kubek'). In American English mugs are bigger and thicker than cups (kubki)
and more designed for larger amounts of liquid than is the usual case for coffee or for soup.

News / The first PiS led government in 2005 lasted just over 2 years in Poland. [129]


I've read that the mentally unstable like mangling people's names or simply refuse to use their real names.... why do you suppose that is? W was infamous for that, mangling people's names or giving them unwanted nicknames.... I think it's about a deep seated refusal to acknowledgement the humanity of people with whom they disagree...

Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]


Why are they in a lab? Maybe part of it is that filiżanka implies a saucer underneath? Who drinks coffee like that on a regular basis? Maybe with guests and cake but in the morning? I imagine most people use kubek...

American English wouldn't normally distinguish betweenf filiżanka and kubek using cup for both, not sure about British usage.

News / The first PiS led government in 2005 lasted just over 2 years in Poland. [129]


The Atlantic Slave Trade, was not primarily a US undertaking, remember only about 6% of Africans enslaved by that actually ended up in the US (where treatement was far better than in other places where slaves were essentially worked to death).

The current media climate treats slavery as something dreamed up by white americans but it was actually more marginal in the US compared to other countries (and was on the way to dwindling and dying it until the cotton gin made large scale cotton production feasible).

News / Polish Bishop criticises Smolensk cult [12]


As an iron clad supporter of free speech I certainly think they should be allowed to continue as long as they want (within the bounds of the law = can't prevent others from gathering at the same time) and actually hope they do as it certainly doesn't help PiS but merely reinforces its image as the crazy conservative conspiracy party...

A lot of the Smolensk cult of martyrdom is basically JK trying to expatiate his guilty feelings for planning the who ill advised venture and trying to find someone else to blame for his brother's death beside himself...

Polonia / Learning Polish in Amsterdam [19]


Exactly where it is on the Indo-European family tree. Of the national languages, Dutch is the closest relation to the Germanic languages of the British Isles* (though Frisian is a little closer than Dutch).

*if you count Scots as a separate language

Love / Different relationship... can it work with Pakistani girl and Polish guy? [129]


That is not a reccomendation.... (and is possibly why so much of the muslim world lags behind others in areas related to education, social and economic development).


that I can agree with

Language / Polish Past Tense [47]


It's my understanding that tą is considered acceptable in everyday speech but tę is preferred in more formal speech and in all but the most informal writing.

more or less what they say here:

sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/te-czy-ta;2227.html

jezykowedylematy.pl/2011/03/ta-sama-czy-te-sama

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


In GAE (General American English, at last my version thereof) whom only appears after prepositions in relative clauses

Those are the unelected technocrats of whom I was speaking earlier....

Simple prepositions take 'who'.

"By whom are those people respected" sounds very ę ą (not in a good way either, like using 'one' instead of I)

Language / Proper Polish translation of "my love" [18]


but the OP was writing about a miscarriage....

and kochana is an adjective so it doesn't have vocative case so no -o

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


.... by WHOOO???????

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


This is as good an introduction as any:

youtube.com/watch?v=0eVN8gQKnwg&t=914s

Warning: He's very.... indirect and you sort of have to know what he's saying to get it. He gets to state evoltuion at around 14.30

Also, worth knowing: He claims that almost all of the 20th century was a single struggle (erupting in different places at different times) about economic systems - fascism - communism - capitalism (which capitalism finally, decisively, won). Changes of state models tend to be accompanied by large wars, a current strategy to try to avoid this (during the transition to the market state) is to keep a number of smaller conflicts going that never quite go away and never quite simmer over, sort of a collective safety valve. This is a strategy worked out in the US back in the 1990s and is still being followed.

You can disagree with him but he's the kind of thinker that has the ear of a lot of western leaders.


Very good question...

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]

What's unusual is Jewish support for large scale immigration by rabid anti-semites

jpost.com/Opinion/Muslim-immigration-and-European-Jewry-419337

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


Okay, the proposed improved translation isn't any better than the first, they both deny any primacy to the set of of traditional French norms, rule of law and secular institutions and french language are just some of the ingredients in a place on the map called, by pure historical chance, France.

What most people don't want to realize is that this is a way that elites wall themselves off from society and wash their hands of any traditional government obligations toward the citizenry...

This is Macron saying that governments exist to interact with other governments, not to serve the population.

Read/listen to Phillip Bobbit (not the most straigthforward guy out there but he lays it out pretty well) governments are backing away from the nation state model and going to leave citizens to educate and ajudicate differences to themselves

old order: the government justifies its power by improving the lives of citizens (nation state)

new order: the government justifies its existence by providing "opportunities" (market state) and if most of the population is in no position take advantage then it's not the government's fault or job to help them

it's a model that works well for the already well off and those who can think and network with lightning speed and who are not bothered with traditional bonds of loyalty, it totally sucks for everybody else

It's not a model that appeals to most Poles who have not had the chance to develop a strong nation state (War, communism...) but it's one that western Europe wants to impose on Poland so that the minority of Poles who can flourish in the market state can do so.

Once you know this, every disagreement between Poland and Hungary and western Europe makes perfect sense.

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


Why would they want a seat at a table at the table with a country with no culture or art (Macron's own words)?

Language / Proper Polish translation of "my love" [18]

I'm not sure if miscarriages are really LOL material.... did you read the fist post?

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]

Not convinced... go back and look at the young voters, what this might mean is that there's a more extreme nationalist somewhere in the wings that won't make the same mistakes Le Pen did...

Language / Proper Polish translation of "my love" [18]

If this is in commemoration of more than one lost pregnancy then "kochane moje" would be better (or "moje kochane")?

I actually like that better than moja miłości but I'm not a native speaker

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


Not so sure about that, Le Pen's biggest support came from younger voters, the ones who are about to be royally screvved by Macon's financialist policies...

Language / Proper Polish translation of "my love" [18]


Actually what I was thinking : )

Don't make any decisions yet (as it can take a couple of weeks for the best option to emerge)


But the example he gave is vocative (wołacz) so that should be moja miłości except does anyone use vocative for that?

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


Don't be silly. PiS can't even keep Hungary as a friend.... (see anti-Tusk jihad failure).

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


It's not exactly like Le Pen was a friend of Poland. Poland has no friends at present in the West, partly this is due to the west and partly due to Poland. But that's the situation at present. Better realize what it is than have pleasant delusions....

Language / Proper Polish translation of "my love" [18]


What's the Arabic phrase (with a literal translation) that would help. I'm assuming it's not habibi....

My non=native intuitions suggest that kochanie is all wrong but I'm not sure what would be right without more info on just precisely what it is that you want it to say...

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


Not really, it's a tragedy that France was reduced to this choice..... the ethno-religious tensions aren't going to subside because Macron has no policies that even come close to addressing them.

When bad stuff happens (and it will, it's baked into the system right now) it will be the fault of those in favor of short term fixes rather than addressing the systemic problems

Europe is building up to a very large ethno-religious conflict and Macron's victory just brings that closer....

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]


oh dear.... you really think that?