Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]


Start some threads on new topics and see for yourself.

I was considering starting a new thread on the upcoming 60th anniversay of the Poznan uprising (1956) an extraordinarily important event in modern Polish (and central and eastern european) history but it would probably get shunted off to something else, so why bother?

Clearly the mods don't want interesting discussions on a variety of topics....

Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]

The dumb quotation policy is not even the worst of it.

I can think of a few current event threads I wouldn't mind starting, but I'm not going to because some mod will just move the discussion to an already existing thread, even if there's no real connection (or the topic deserves its own thread).

Why bother trying to initiate discussion if the mods are just going to do their best to shut it down?

Life / Poland after one year of living here [105]


I'm pretty sure we (foreign long term residents) have all been through rough patches, especially in the first couple of years. Fortunately mine didn't last too long. But there's no avoiding them completely. Just recognizing them for what they are (real and sucky but temporary) can be half the battle of getting through them.

And there's no reason to expect that any foreigner living long term in another country is free of them but that's kind of off topic.

Life / Poland after one year of living here [105]

It's clear the OP is pretty unhappy here and I can sympathize to some extent. When living in a different country the collective downs tend to gather and the person either learns how to dispell them or gives up and moves away (or simply sinks into depression).

Not knowing the town he's living in I can't offer specifics but some generalities.

- No. They don't hate you, but people in Poland don't especially value unmotivated friendly behavior and don't bother with a lot of superficial politeness. The good news is you don't have to be any more polite to them than they are to you. Feel free to talk back and raise your voice (wihtout completely losing your temper). If you can hold your own in an argument people will like you a lot more (odd but true).

- Do you have any hobbies or special interests? There are probably Polish people with similar interests and they can probably be found on line. If you don't have a hobby or special interest start browsing around on line looking for one. Even if you're not that interested in the beginning it can lead to making social contacts in real life. Your written Polish will get a work out but that's a side benefit. On line might not be that satisfying in the beginning but could lead to meat space friendships.

- Speak frankly with your wife about how her social contacts and relatives are not enough for you. She might not have any idea since most Polish people (like most continentals ) tend to have narrow social circles (and a philosophy that family is always better than friends). Ask her if she would be happy dealing with no one but your family and friends. Empathy tends not to be a Polish strength but the prospect of you becoming a skype daddy husband might make her more flexible about you needing to establish some kind of extra-family social life.

Good luck, I'll write more as I think of it....

Life / In Poland, are women and girls obligated to wear head scarves in church? [36]


Of course, all the middle eastern religions have weird rules about head/hair covering (among the weirdest are the satmar orthodox jews where women wear wigs and are encouraged to spy on each other to make sure they keep their heads shaven). There are also crazy christian fundamentalists who believe in hair covering, but fortunately they're a small minority ignored by the more sensible majority (for the time being at least).

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

I'm hoping for a Brexit so that the EU can be saved. The leadership (technocrats who understand nothing of history or human nature) is horribly out of touch and needs a slap in the face to bring them back to some semblance of reality.

If the Brexit fails, then expect anti-government insurgencies in some EU countries.... when?

Over/under line - 5 years?

Life / In Poland, are women and girls obligated to wear head scarves in church? [36]


No. The rule definitely used to be that were supposed to cover their head.

from the grandfather of all knowledge:

"The requirement that women cover their heads in church was introduced as a universal law for the Latin Rite of the Church for the first time in 1917 ...

... It was not specifically addressed in the 1983 revision of the Code, which declared the 1917 Code abrogated"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_headcovering#Historic_Catholic_practice

At present almost no women in Poland cover their head in church (from what I've seen*). I remember at the funeral of JPII most of the women present (including foreign dignitaries) had some kind of covering, mostly semi-transparent lace.

*I'm not a believer so I don't make it to church much, though I sometimes do go for various reasons, and I'm in a larger more western oriented city

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

The French model and the German model seem to work better overall....

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


Have you? The odds are against the majority being net contributors to public finances.... Numbers are what they are.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]

For someone who presumes to tell everybody else how they should approach certain issues, you don't know very much, do you?

The statistic I could find was that 75% of muslim women in the UK are unemployed (presumably just counting those of working age).

Please post more favorable statistics.... if you can find them.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


And they're not part of public life. The Amish traditionally don't even accept things like welfare or social security. Their situation is simply not comparable to benefit sponges in western Europe.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


Maybe among reclusive religious communties who do not participate in mainstream life like the Amish or some Orthodox Jews, it's simply not part of traditional American culture. Where families sit together in church and there is not even informal gender segregation at public events.

Life / In Poland, are women and girls obligated to wear head scarves in church? [36]

No. Most (almost all?) women in Poland do not make any effort to cover their hair in church.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]

What kind of crappy culture makes men in front and women in back a "habit"? Vile.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]

He just ignores evidence that doesn't support his worldview.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


source?

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


I'm very sure that this is just fine to the resident invite-the-worlders here and they can't wait for there to be enough muslims in Poland for similar gender segregation to take place. The reason for this is.... they want to congratulate themselves for being tolerant because they have pleasant superficial conversations with (male) gender segregators who seem like really nice guys.

News / Poland marching for life and family [132]


And you have to find a doctor willing to perform an abortion which is not always easy, even in the above cases.

News / Good-change government raising minimum wage in Poland, cutting SB pensions [213]


I have no problem with reducing SB pensions but minimum wage laws never work the way those who propose them hope they will.

If those in PiS want to take some geography lessons, they might start with Greece and Venezuela to see where unrealistic economic policies tend to end up....

(or they could look at 1970s Poland which had exactly the same problem, a government promising goodies with money that wasn't there).

Pomożecie?

Law / Poland's Citizenship application - "Uzasadnienie" - what to write in this section? [12]


that doesn't narrow it down much, there's a lof of hejterzy here....

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


A non-binding referendum. Any result that displeases the party leadership will be worked around. I think the idea that there will be early elections with both parties having continued EU membership as a key party plank is likely. I'm sure the UKIP would gain voters in such a situation but not enough to seriously affect the result.

The trend in modern 'democracy' in both the UK and US is to keep the form (elections) while watering down the content of what can voted on. I honestly don't know which party Cameron represents without looking it up or consciously working it out (the crazy leftist who wants purges, must be labour so I guess Cameron is the other?)

If the result is a very tiny 'remain' victory then it will be treated as a mandate that must never be question again. If the result is a 'leave' victory and the government ignores it then.... (the bigger the victory the more harm will be done but not very quickly).

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


If both major parties agree to ignore the wishes of a voting majority then yes, they'd probably get away with it.

What often happens in two party systems is that those running both parties agree with each other against the majority of the population. Immigration in the US is a good example. The leadership of both parties wants large scale low-skilled immigration forever (for different reasons) and the majority of the population who are against this can't do much about it. Politicians for years have known that immigration-restriction would gather large support form voters but Trump is the first to actually make use of that knowledge.

In Poland, this is less an issue because ideology is still alive (which has its good points and its bad points). The good is that voters have clearer choices (Poles voting for PiS know that the economy is going to take a hit, those voting for PO know that it's not going to hand out goodies to the poor). The bad is.... most everything else.

Language / "TO" or "ONO" / "i je je"? [20]


I heard the claim, in a lecture by a Polish linguistics professor, that most of the time the difference between ten and tamten etc doesn't really depend on distance (if you look at actual usage) but more on difference.

That is, ten/ta etc are used for first thing you refer to and tamten/tamta etc refer more to something different, not necessarily further away.

He used the example of a couple of books (on the desk in front of him) "Ta książka ..." and then turning to the other "A tamta ....." (this is impossible in English, the only way to distinguish them is by giving the second an extra level of stress: "This book....." followed by "But THIS one..."

Once alerted to this usage I began noticing it, though if you ask most Poles they just say it's only about distance (native speakers of any language who don't know linguistics and/or who haven't engaged in deeper analysis of their language are generally not very good at describing the system they use everyday).

News / Monthly Smolensk Commemorations in Poland! [34]

MODERATORS!!!! YOU SUCK DONKEYS!!!! THIS THREAD IS NOT PRIMARILY ABOUT FVCKING SMOLENSK, IT'S ABOUT THE POZNAŃ JUNE REBELLION! UNMERGE THE THREAD.

WHY ARE YOU SO EAGER TO CARRY MACIEREWICZ'S WATER? ..... BUNCH OF PIS-ITES!

News / Monthly Smolensk Commemorations in Poland! [34]

They should be commemorated within reason at the appropriate times and places.

I perceive no reason to do so at a commemoration of a completely unrelated event. What does Poznan 56 have to do with Smolensk?

Would you want the victims of the Kielce progrom commemorated at an event devoted to the Warsaw uprising?

News / Monthly Smolensk Commemorations in Poland! [34]

Merged: Poznan 1956 commemoration to include ...... Smolensk???

With Macierewicz the crazy never stops, the ministry of defense has made reading the list of Smolensk victims a pre-condition of participation of the 60 year anniversary of the Poznan uprising - the first grass roots rebellion against communism.

codziennypoznan.pl/artykul/2016-06-09/poznanski-czerwiec-z-przepychankami-i-katastrofa-smolenska-w-tle-jaskowiak-pisze-do-macierewicza

But when you vote for crazy, don't be surprised if you get lots and lots of crazy.

ps imho Macierewicz is crazy, mentally ill, unfit for public office and an active menace to the defense of the country

News / PM Szydło support a bill to rebuild Polish shipping and ship-building [29]


When will the bombing against the traitors begin?

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


If you believe in democracy it would be hard to see any result that is respected as not being a victory. Democracy is on the retreat all over the world, every free and fair election is a precious victory.


So when the big parties agree on something the voters cannot have their voices heard?

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


No more freedom, terrible, terrible freedom.


So they're not even pretending to negotiate? Just straight up in your face "Do what we tell you!" from the get go?

You are making a stronger case for Brexit than maybe you intend.


The most damaging (ulimately) for the EU would be for a "leave" victory that is then followed by another referendum or trickery like you describe. I can't imagine anything that would turn people away from the EU faster ore more strongly. It's already clear that the Brussels institutions are deeply, pathologically non-democratic, what better way to show it?

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


This is where you lose me. You refer to a country having what seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship that it's happy with as a "mistake" to be regretted.

If the EU cannot deal with anything but full membership then it's not working.