News / Poland gets a little bigger:) [82]

Our dear Harry, telling others that they speak like children, is a big child himself. The Polish government taking part in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 did not act as a sovereign party. Please go and read a history book, Harry.

In my view, the Polish invasion of Zaolzie in 1938 was a knife in the back of the neighbour, regardless of any earlier circumstances surrounding the division of the Principality of Cieszyn.

News / Poland gets a little bigger:) [82]

The problem of Zaolzie is a song of the past. In the (circa) 1910 census about 80 per cent of its population declared Polish as their native language. After the WWI, a joint Polish-Czech Commission was set up and agreed on the line dividing the Polish and Czech parts of the territory of the former Principality of Cieszyn which was much more favorable to Poland than was the later state border. But then the government in Prague did not recognize this agreement, and having found Poland military engaged in the war with the Bolshevik Russia, ordered its forces to move in beyond the agreed line, up to the river Olza. This new line became a state border, but then the Polish government forced Czechoslovakia to cede Zaolzie to Poland in 1938 in the face of her difficult position against Hitler and the Third Reich. That was undoubtedly a 'knife in the back' of our neighbour, and no one should have any doubt about it. In 1945 the communist government of Poland offered to exchage Zaolzie for the Kotlina Kłodzka region in the newly acquired from Germany Silesia province to settle the dispute once and for ever. Unfortunately though, the then communist Czechoslovakian government demanded some one third of the territory of Silesia in exchange, the demand that was turned down by the Warsaw government.

At present, about 10 per cent of the Zaolzie population only claim to be Polish. Now Zaolzie sometimes sends us over pop artists like Halina Mlynkova who are able to sing in perfect Polish, but who decide to retain their original Czech surnames.

Language / Etymology of samochod and other related automotive words [12]


It would be interesting to compare the vocabulary of the car in Polish and Czech. I don't know Czech, but, as usual, some Czech terms might sound funny to the native speaker of Polish. One of such terms is "vozidlo" which means "samochód", or "letadlo" which means "samolot". The common Polish terms for 'car' are also 'wóz' or 'auto'. The slang words for it are 'bryka' or 'fura'. Most vocabulary referring to the car seems to be of Polish origin: skrzynia biegów (gearbox), podwozie, bagażnik, kierownica, kierunkowskaz, but 'karoseria' seems to be of French origin (carrosserie = body of a car).

News / Zloty exchange rates - is this just speculation? [87]


First, I wonder why you calculate the annual devaluation rate of the Zloty with the accuracy of the second decimal point (224.52%), yet you asign your dollar/zloty ratio not a too precise value of "almost 3.30" ? Which is this famous University of Statistics and Mathematics that has taught you to be so imprecise in one thing against being so exact in the other?

Second, the present rate of the Zloty against the Dollar has gone down to 3,0452, so it may effectively ruin your calculation of 18.71% loss in a month, I am afraid.

Could you please calculate the new exact monthly and yearly devaluation rates of the Zloty?

Law / WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE EURO CURRENCY TO POLAND? [101]


Why shoudn't we? In accountancy and the financial world in general there are lots of instruments to measure someone's credibility and their accuracy in reporting. If the highly-paid EU officials don't want to apply these instruments, take everything as plain truth, and let countries lie to them, why shouldn't we ask them: what are you paid for? what is your role? what is your responsibility as a central banker of the common currency?

News / Zloty exchange rates - is this just speculation? [87]


You must know the story of a guy who wanted to throw himself out of the widow of a tall office building in London as a result of a stock market crash, but while he was struggling with the double glazing, the market recovered !?

... and the Zloty at the moment is up at 4,81 from yesterday's closing at 4,92. On the way to recovery?

News / Zloty exchange rates - is this just speculation? [87]


Very true! It's nothing when you win in one bet. It's still nothing when you win in five bets out of ten. It's good when you win in eight or nine bets out of ten.


To be good in investing you have to stick to self-discipline, not to your emotions. So they say!

News / Zloty exchange rates - is this just speculation? [87]

Then, if this assumption is true, we should talk of a strenghtening Pound rather than of a weakening Zloty, as the Pound would appreciate against all other curriencies, not the Zloty alone.

I don't believe in the theory of the artificially weak Pound. It is still too major a currency to be kept artificially low for so long. In other words, the economic prospects for the UK are judged rather "modest" by the markets, so they do not think high of the Pound. Do you think the Tory Party back in government will change the judgement of these prospects dramatically? And what if Nick Clegg wins, will it be equally good for the Pound as the victory of David Cameron?

Just for the matter of record: the British Pound is valued at 4,50 Zloty today, the Euro at 3.91, and the US Dollar at 2,94.

News / Zloty exchange rates - is this just speculation? [87]

From what I've read in the Polish press, the Zloty has weakened following the Euro dropping as a result of the aggreviating crisis in Greece.

The Greek drama currently being staged on the financial scene suggests that other EU currencies may be seen in line with the strength of the common currency.

Part of the Greek troop may soon be moving to Portugal and Italy and Spain to help prepare the national versions of the play, so there stands a good chance for the tickets in euros for this not-so-"classical" performance to get cheaper still. Some even say the UK authorities would be quite happy to invite the Greek troop to stage their famous piece in The West End.

News / Polish, non-speakers told to bring interpreters to municpal buildings [7]

The article quoted is very critical of the practice in that office and says the newspaper contacted the superior of the clerks who just could not believe that such a notice was put up there, in a place where they also should deal with foreign people.

Life / Why do Silesians call people from Warsaw "Gorole"? [15]


It may be the case. In the language of Cieszyn Silesians, the term "gorole" may mean exactly what it means in standard Polish (górale), as opposite to the language of the rest of Upper Silesia. Cieszyn Silesia had been separated from the Prussian part of Upper Silesia from 1741 until 1919 as a part belonging to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Even before 1741 Cieszyn Silesia was a seperate entity known as the Principality of Cieszyn.

Life / Why do Silesians call people from Warsaw "Gorole"? [15]

The Silesians call "gorole" the rest of people of Poland other than themselves, the native people of Upper Silesia. For themselves they will use the name "hanysy".

The use of "gorole" by Silesians should not be confounded with the use of "górale" in standard Polish in which it will mean "highlanders".

Language / oparty o/na? [6]


On the other hand, there exists the expression "w oparciu o ...", one in which you should never replace the preposition "o" with the preposition "na". Thus, the above sentences using this expression will be:

1. Sąd podjął decyzję w oparciu o opinie ławników.
2. Nasze prognozy zostały opracowane w oparciu o wyniki ankiet.

This could be a source of possible confusion in the language of native speakers.

News / Russian air traffic controllers ignored communication protocol of Polish pilots? [194]


If the pilot refuses, he takes the risk of landing. But then you cannot say to the pilot, as you said they did,


to stay up or go to another airport. And I'm not telling the control tower is to blamed for the crash, possibly another type of plane with the same pilot could have avoided the crash, but that is pure speculation. None of the people here are experts, including the Polish TV cited by Evalina, we should simply wait for the outcomes of the investigation.

News / Russian air traffic controllers ignored communication protocol of Polish pilots? [194]

So warning pilots means telling them of the risk of landing. Byt then you cannot say: Didn't I tell them not to land? You only can say: I warned them of the risk of landing, and these two are completely different things.

News / Russian air traffic controllers ignored communication protocol of Polish pilots? [194]


You can't warn a pilot not to land. You close the airport to tell people to not land. When the airport is open, it is like telling you: you are allowed to land, if you judge your plane able to land.

Have you ever stopped your car in front of a bridge where they warn you: "We advise you not to go beyond this point. This bridge may collapse!" ? You get another message instead: STOP! THIS BRIDGE IS CLOSED!

News / Are there interests that Poland share with Russia? [50]


But the Americans bought Alaska of the Russian Empire in 1867, even before the discovery of gold deposits there, despite it not being a warm an sunny land, but a deserted hole full of Eskimo people and Indians! No prospects of gold digging in the Kaliningradskaja Oblast?

News / Are there interests that Poland share with Russia? [50]


If the Germans wanted to buy one, two or more islands of Greece recently, why shouldn't they want to buy the Kaliningradskaja Oblast from Russia?

News / Are there interests that Poland share with Russia? [50]

Geo-strategic interests? I think we have economic ones, we buy their gas which they sell us, for example. But if we had any geo-strategic interests with Russia, they would immediately say to us: "Kuritsa nie ptitsa, Polsza nie zagranitsa", and as we don't want to form part of the Russian empire again, we would say "No, thank you".

Language / Getting the wrong ending of a word - do Polish still understand? [25]

Out of pure curosity. I wonder what the reaction of the seller could be, if Alice asked him this question using the dual number which became extinct in the second half of the 18th century: Poproszę dwie jabłce.

History / Lord Conway's rule and Poland in 1772 [35]

No, I haven't. What's the title of the book?

History / Lord Conway's rule and Poland in 1772 [35]


Nearly 20 years later there happened something that could have spared Poland the fate of partitions. Wiliam Pitt the Younger wanted to curb Russia's strengh assuring at the same time safety to Turkey and Poland in order to restore the balance of power in Europe. So England, Prussia and Holland in coallition demanded that Russia signed a peace treaty with Turkey with the status quo ante, but Catherine II refused saying Rusia must keep at least Oczaków and the lands towards the Dniestr river that she conquered on Turkey in 1788.

British ambassador in St. Petersburgh, Lord Whitworth, was convinced that time had come to force Catherine II to concessions. But England could only challange Russia if she could have assured timber supply for building her ships from another source than Russia. That other source of timber could only be Poland.

Poland would have been a beter trading partner to Britain than Russia (Britain's trade deficit with Russia was nearly one million pounds a year) as Poland imported a lot more of English produce, and a lot of Russian goods were originally from the eastern part of the Polish Cmmonwealth, shipped through the Russian port of Riga. William Pitt carried on talks on the issue with Franciszek Bukaty, the Polish ambassador in London, and with Michał Ogiński, the Polish representative in Hague. Any trade agreement between England and Poland implied the participation of Prussia, however, but Prussia, knowing its strong stance in the deal, let their partners know that they would cooperate only if Poland concedes the city of Gdańsk and the city of Toruń to them. In other words, the entire plan of Wiliam Pitt the Younger to curb Russia, to which plan he won Sweden, Turkey, Danmark and Holland, was based on the assumed ceding of Gdańsk and Toruń by Poland to Prussia.

(to be continued)

Life / Why Poles are so crazy about their country? [55]


... and be sure the child was Macedonian, too.

Life / Why Poles are so crazy about their country? [55]

In 800 years time, the US may not even exist, so the US Americans may not have the chance to have complexes ...

News / Can a Polish person give up EU handouts? [15]

Greece is cheating, Bulgaria is cheating, now they say that even France is cheating (although France merrily admits herself it that she's been cheating - Mon Dieu, quelle bonne volonté pour la part de la France!). But then they all, those awful foreigners, who come to the PF will tell everyone that it is Poland who is cheating! Then Greg, the brave Polish patriot, will come along and - as his humble gesture to posterity - will proudly reject all the money being offered to Poland by the EU. And yes, Greg will be right - if we aren't getting any money, we will not be able to fraud it. But I myself would object, I think we are entitled to this money as compansation for the damage inclicted on us during the WWII by some presently EU countries (Germany), or for not delivering us the promised help against Germany by some other presently EU countries (Britain and France). But then Harry will inevitably step in and say that Poland as utter cowards during that WWII is not entitled to any compensation. If Seanus reads all this and kindly confirms that Harry has a good point here, Harry and Greg will be able to say at last "United We Stand!"

Real Estate / How are Poland's properties priced? [51]


Actually, I was refering to the information published in the Polish quality daily Rzeczpospolita, which - I'm pretty sure - quoted American sources on that. As I'm not a subscriber to the online version of the paper, I'll pass these American sources to you, as soon as I find my printed copy.

Describing this information as "idiotic" reflects your enormous disbelief in the breadth and depth of the property crisis in the US rather than in the actual facts. Bidding one dollar for a house means that the banker says "this house here is worth nothing to me". Such a price is the "dress code" for the houses whose owners have gone to live under the bridge leaving the houses to the bank as they are no longer able to pay their mortgages for which they were not eligible from the very beginning at all.

Life / Why Poles are so crazy about their country? [55]

He's proud because he was an AK partyzant.

Language / The usage of "dwoje" [11]


To see how the numerals dwoje, troje, czworo, pięcioro etc. are used, compare the translations into Polish of the following two English expressions:

"The Sign of Four" (the title of a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes) is translated into Polish as "Znak Czterech" (four men being involved in the title plot).

The 'Gang of Four' (the name given to a leftist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials) is translated into Polish as 'Banda Czworga' (they were not all men, but one of its members was a woman, Mao Zedong's last wife Jiang Qing).

Law / Kaczyński doubts the Euro currency will survive [49]


It sounds familiar in the sense that Brussels has waken up from its winter sleep (you can check for yourself that winter is over and spring is around). Unfortunately though, when Brussels slept, the Greek bear together with one of the American grizzlies, Goldman Sachs, decided to rob Brussels of its honey pots during that winter time. Now Brussels is back at its senses, but being half-asleep after waking up from its long dreams of grandeur, mistakes the Polish bear for the Greek bear.

Real Estate / How are Poland's properties priced? [51]


No, it isn't worth investing in Polska. If I were you, I would just go to the Detroit area and buy as many houses valued at 1 dollar each as I could afford ...