Life / Political correctness in Poland [210]

The problem with such images is that they unwittingly reinforce already ingrained stereotypes about black people!

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Quite right.

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Well, all I can say is I betcha most Parisians don't know that the iconically French "bistro" is actually of Russian origin:-)

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Thanks, maf!. Only glad he didn't mean an "f" instead of a "c".
lol

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

"Cucked"?? "Cuckold", perhaps, as in the concept of a kept man, gigolo, or an unfortunate relation who sponges off of their more financially successful family members? How does this description apply to France, Dirk?

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Were not the canals aka sewers of Paris not originally designed by a Polish engineer?
Yes, wincig, Chopin surely was a Pole in his indefatigable spirit. Why then is he known as
"dusza polskiego narodu" (the soul of the Polish nation - l'ane de la nation polonaise), and not
the soul of France?

I was merely pointing out his mixed parentage, that's all:-)

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Chopin aka Szopen straddles both cultures; claimed by France (after all his father Nicolas) as well as Poland (Polish mother, born in Zelazowa Wola).
:-)

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

"Wordy" perhaps, because Polish too doesn't believe in excessive compounding as does, for instance, German!
Some monstrosity bent on lingual punishment such BUNDESAUSBILDUNGSFOERDERUNGSGESETZAENDERUNGEN (Changes To The Educational Assistance Act) would be nigh impossible in any Slavic language:-)

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

Yes, I now think I realize why Poles find Czech childlike. As children typically can't pronounce the "sz"-sound, for example, and since in Polish such sounds are quite numerous, somebody who doesn't seem to say those sounds, might appear to sound "childlike", because there's the impression that somehow their mouths are able to produce them, almost as if their speech is underdeveloped.

Well, a possible reason at any rate:-)

Whoops, typo! I meant ".....that somehow their mouths AREN'T able to produce them....."
Sorry

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

Again, try some time to "pukat" on a Russian's door and watch them hold their nosesLOL

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

Thanks so much, Bobo!
Nice of you.

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

I find it kinda neat too the way in certain of those languages, what is normal everyday usage in one, could sound laughably bookish or just plain old-fashioned in another (....not to even get back to my favorite topic of "false friends"). For example, I once can remember hearing, that the normal, everyday Polish "mowic" for "to speak" also has a distant Ukrainian calque, but the same word in Polish, if used in Ukrainian, might sound as though the Ukrainian speaker were talking through a time warpLOL

Any link you know of which highlights this topic a little?
I'd appreciate it!

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

For whatever it's worth, a number of Poles have told me that to their ears, certain other Slavic languages, especially Croatian, sound practically
like "baby talk"LOL

Maybe the lack of nasals along with those typically Polish sibilants, sounds somehow less developed or the like, I'm not sure.
However, those same people maintain that Czech is their closest-sounding language:-)

Life / Any good Polish movies that are not drama/ war ?? [21]

I'd check out that movie, Pawian! "Kret" was even more riveting, although I didn't mention it because it is technically a drama, therefore

not the original poster's criteria for more mainstream entertainment videos.

Life / Any good Polish movies that are not drama/ war ?? [21]

Probably you haven't because, as another poster once pointed out, but I being too slow to pick up on the correction, the film's proper title should read "ZmrUz oczy"LOL

Indeed, I watched this directly from a friend of ours who brought it back from Poland as a sort of anniversary gift. Therefore, it had no subtitles, and so, I was translating it for my wife who doesn't understand Polish, yet is interested in foreign cinema:-)

A nice and needed change from WWII stuff and a tense hunt through the Polish countryside, as the young boy traces the events leading up to the opening scenes.

Life / Any good Polish movies that are not drama/ war ?? [21]

Anybody here seen "Zmroz oczy"? As I recall, it was a mystery story with a rather involved plot, but I think it involved what we in the States call a cold case. Curious as to feedback:-)

Life / Any good Polish movies that are not drama/ war ?? [21]

I recently saw "Rozdrodze Café", made round about the mid-'00, and enjoyed it very much:-) It explored sexual relationships quite candidly, I must say.

Especially nice to see the (in-)famous hand 'kiss' among millenials from fairly middle-class backgrounds and not only the province of either the very old or high-ranking dignitary types!

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

Boy, haven't heard "Wasserpolacken" in umpteen years:-)

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

Plastic as opposed to "Plaster" Pole, yes?

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

I don't hold it against you, kaprys, as I hope you don't hold it against me for being who and what I am (..whatever that is)!

:-)

Language / How many words does it take to be fluent in (the Polish) language? [21]

Exactly!

Although, Zlatko, be careful of many words in related languages which might appear to look the same way written (even pronounced), yet have embarrassingly different meanings, cf. for example Polish "pukac" (to knock) vs. Russian "pukat' " (to fart), Polish "szukac" (to search, look for) vs. Czech "sukac" (to fornicate) etc.

LOL

Work / Non administrative jobs in Poland? [7]

Any serious position, in Poland or elsewhere, with the commensurate salary to match, requires naturally not only a rock solid ability
in English, but also German, possibly French, or at least one other major EU language!

There will always be exceptions, of course.

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

"Forgetting" one's native tongue when speaking or writing in another language is nigh unto impossible, save for those true
bilinguals who literally grew up side by side with a second language along with their first language aka language spoken
at home, in classroom instruction at school!

While there are lots of people who claim to be "fluent" bilinguals in English, particularly in The Netherlands or the Scandinavian countries
(excluding of course Finland), from my experience over many years, both abroad as well as in even the advanced ESL-classroom, this is
normally not the case. Admittedly, a few will come close to their goal, and yet, unless they fit the above criteria for total bilingualism, it remains

most often a laudable, yet unattainable, dream:-)

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

My experience of most Polish-Americans, German-Americans as well, is that they often speak what my Polish teacher (originally from Lemberg before it
was Polonized to Lwow!) blithely termed "Kuchelpolnisch", literally "kitchen Polish".

This is in no way meant to denigrate second, certainly third or even fourth generations of Polish or German speakers, but usually in the latter communities

here in the US, anyway, the ancestral language of the 'Old Country' is the first to go.

Sad as it is to confess, the average Polish-American I've encountered can barely get through "Super Express", as low-level a tabloid as either the NY Post or the

the Daily News. Show 'em "Rzeczpospolita" or "Tygodnik Powszechny" and they'd throw up their hands and pack it all inLOL

Same for German-Americans. No pun intended, but an edition of "DER SPIEGEL" or "DIE ZEIT" is all Greek to them.

Hispanics are a different story! They cultivate their language at home, and speak it fluently well into adulthood without fear or shame.
Once when I brought back a copy of "El Pais" after a business trip to Spain some years back, a Dominican-American colleague of mine looked

at it and could actually read it without a dictionary.

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

@kaprys,
The test of a person's intelligence is that when presented with limitless evidence to the contrary of what they've been self-inoculated to believe,

they alter, if not willingly, their previous incorrect position and concede error.

You've royally failed the test!

@Rich,

Is there a positive stereotype.....?

None to my certain knowledge:-)

UK, Ireland / Polish traffickers in the UK jailed for enslaving hundreds of their own people [58]

Ruling class?? Germans??!

Near as I can tell, they haven't had a Royal Family since the last Kaiser was exiled to Holland, round about 1918 or so.

please back to the topic of this thread

History / Why is Poland such an American boot licker? [60]

Your words needn't be simpler, merely more sensical!

Furthermore, how are Progressive Liberals consciously seeking to "destroy the White Man"??! This
beggars common sense.

History / Why is Poland such an American boot licker? [60]

@Johnny, you and Dirk are living in the wrong country! Somehow, Nazi Germany would seem to have fit you like a T.
:-)

History / Why is Poland such an American boot licker? [60]

Can't quite believe you're actually trying to justify the Holocaust, Dirk.
Your logic is non-existent, to say the very least.

A meglomaniac madman [democraticallyLOL] comes to power, threatens to destroy among others, the Jewish people,
already an unprecedentedly horrible assertion, and you say, "Well guys, he gave you a chance to move to Madagascar!"
You must not be operating with a full deck, mister.

News / Polish Primate condemns EU's anti-Christianity [29]

Rather like trust or love, really. You can't see 'em, yet you know they're there:-)