History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]

to your knowlegde delphi the famous picture does not depict Polish looters in Treblinka as Gazeta Wyborcza and similar media would like us to believe - to your knowledge Germans in Auschwitz extracted golden teeth from the gassed people they even went further to look for valuables poeple could have hidden in their... (well it was actually the job of Sonderkomando who were prisoners themselves) - I would be pretty much surprised if it had been different story in Treblinka - so you end up with what to loot - this is just a simple reasoning which is wide appart from the real story behind the picture - btw you surely know Mr Gross - he made a spectacular point of this picture - and you perhaps believe that inhabitants of Jedwabne spontanously burned their Jewish neighbours - you should read more Gross then - one should always be sure whom he should believe

History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]

delphi - learn Polish eventually if you wan't to discuss Polish politics or even media

History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]


stop using Gazeta Wyborcza as an arguement - it leads you nowhere - you sure you shouldn't read anything appart from GW???

History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]


he didn't mean what you are accusing him of

History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]


ok let's state it this way - you are objective and I am prejudiced

but look -- why don't we look at it this way - I am objective and you are prejudiced

we can't be both objective don't you think

I tremble to think that we can both be prejudiced

ok stop it gives me headache

well if I can be a Kaczyński nutter why can't you be an anti-Kaczyński nutter - please explain

and ad nauseam

I prefer to have a headache to be nauseous if you ask

and by the way I am not a Kaczyński nutter - so who are you then delphi

History / "I was more afraid of fellow Poles than Nazi German Officers", says Bartoszewski [130]


in Poland those who rule give highest decorations to those who they like - and true merits don't matter that much sir Harry - it is called partisan politics in its extreme - well actually i should mention that one side in this whole partisanship excels more than others and hmm it is not PiS - I am no specialist on Mr Bartoszewski but I actually haven't heard of any of his spectacular achievements in service to our country - I don't think surviving the war counts as such - so I end up pretty much wondering why he received 'Order Orła Białego'

ok - I have read more about him now - and well perhaps he deserves his decorations (but I am not that sure) - but I still remember him calling one third of Polish society (me including) cattle - and his hateful and disparaging comments on Kaczynskis -

Language / a simple phrase? "Life Awakens" [5]

Life awakens - i would translate it as - życie się przebudza

History / Why is there NOTHING (besides Gdansk and Szczecin) in former Prussia? [80]


it may have been called Royal Prussia (Prusy Królewskie) but it doesn't change the fact that most of its inhabitants were Slavic Polish or Kashubian - only the cities had German majority and even not all of them (I doubt Toruń/Thorn had German majority in 1701) - all of the lands of Royal Prussia (West Preussen is a German term and was not used before 1772) west of Vistula had a Slavic population in historic times (ie times of written records) - Prussians (a Baltic tribe(s) used to live east of the lower Vistula but in historic times they were constantly pressed east and north by Poles - one of the Piast rulers of Masovia made a grave mistake to invite the Teutonic Knights to press the Prussians even further )

UK, Ireland / POLISH PARTY NORTH LONDON UK [28]


this is exactly my point of view - why bother to go to a pub where you can hardly understand people when you can have a beer or two at home - English language loses much of intelligibility when listening to individuals after several pints - and I always fear some short-tempered Englishmen throwing a fight - it seems much safer when somebody's encroaching on you in your native tongue - you can judge the situation much better - there is many cultural codes you can misjudge not being native - and believe me even at my level of English (which is say upper intermediate) it is often difficult to have a witty or inteligent conversation

howgh - I have spoken ;)


yeah, done that too :)

having said all that I had an aquaintance who worked as a waiter at a venue that held Polish saturday evenings in south London and it was even before 2004 - perhaps the people who worked in London prior to may 2004 were a bit different - can't say if the club or whatever it was fared well enough to maintain these Polish saturdays

and I can say many Polish guys after a couple of beers or a bottle of vodka are quite prone to cause and seek trouble - the lower educated the worse - in pre-2004 times there were fewer less educated Poles in London

Travel / Where would Poles (from Poland and abroad) migrate in case of rapid coming of new Ice age? [27]

we'll all be coming to Serbia dear friend Crow - well some fascist gonna end up in Croatia ;)

History / Poles and Russians -- love-hate relationship? [209]

hmm AFAIK Gagarin never made it to the Moon - better ideas??
btw have Russians actually ever landed on the Moon

ha

so the joke should actually state 'Father, the Russians flew to the space' 'All of them?' No. Just one' 'So why should I bother?' - and then Gagarin fits in perfectly - but the harvesting machine doesn't that well ;)

czyli nie Książyc tylko kosmos - sorry my mistake

History / Poles and Russians -- love-hate relationship? [209]

there is this old Polish joke -

a farmer (peasant) is harvesting in his field when his son runs to him - the son exclaims: 'Father, the Russians flew to the moon!!!'

the farmer asks: 'All of them'? 'No' 'So why are you wasting my time?'

in Polish
Chłop kosi zboże kombajnem. Przez pole biegnie do niego syn. Staje przy kombajnie i krzyczy: 'Ojciec, Ruskie na księżyc poleciały!!!'
Chłop się pyta:' Wszystkie?' ' Nie' 'To co mi dupę zawracasz' :)

Genealogy / Aleksiewicz Surname - Looking for my ancestors [10]

there is no national database of birth certificates before the second world war (I doubt there is one for the most time after the II WW either) - so you need to know the places were your ancestors were born and then there is a chance you can find their birth certificates or similar data in the parishes of their births - the church seems to keep it's archives (some such parochial books may however have since been destroyed during the first and the second WW) - still you're gonna need some help here in Poland to reach this archives - I'm pretty sure you can find such (professional or semi-professional) help through this forum

Language / Diminutives (zdrobnienie) for Sylwia [12]

well Sylwka can work - but it is not exactly a form of endearment - it can work like Kaśka, Jadźka, Ulka, Jolka - these forms are not quite warm or endearing - they are just short forms of a name - (one can say Kaśka, Jadźka, Ulka, Jolka are actually augmentatives (an opposite to diminutive) of Kasia, Jadzia, Ula, Jola (the latter being rather affectionate))

Language / Diminutives (zdrobnienie) for Sylwia [12]

vocative is Sylwio

diminutives: Sylwunia, Sylweczka, Sylwusia or Sylwuś

vocatives of those diminutives: Sylwuniu, Sylweczko, Sylwusiu

Language / Polish regional accents? [141]


this one's pretty good - well i don't actually understand how come Silesian could be much easier than Standard Polish

I don't mind people speaking Silesian but in my view it's not a language in itself - it depends so much on Polish for vocabulary in so many fields (law, science etc etc)

Language / spojrzenie, podejmowac - correct word usage [15]

podjąć is perfective - its imperfective counterpart is podejmować

podjać is pretty formal or traditional language mostly used in specific phrases

the most ubiquitos of the phrases is I guess podjąć/podejmować decyzję = to take a decision

you also collect money at a bank or a parcel at a post office and call it podjąć pieniądze z banku/ paczkę z urzędu pocztowego (quite formal languge - informal is wziąć/wybrać pieniądze z banku)

you also have: podejmować wysiłki = make effort(s), podjąć/podejmować pracę = take (up) a job, podejmować studia = take up studies, podejmować walkę = take up arms, choose to fight (also figuratively),

there is also podejmować kogoś kolacją/obiadem/przyjęciem = (a difficult idiom - in my dictionary translated as to treat somebody to a supper/dinner/party but I am not sure it is the best translation or even any good)

Language / Polish regional accents? [141]


it is just a Polish dialect heavily loaded with German lexical borrowings often twisted beyond anybody German being able to recognize (like say 'tyj','zemła') - it really shares little with the Czech language (in terms of linguistic innovations IYKWIM) - it has little in terms of German influence on the grammar as far as I can tell

well I don't actually know how to precisely define a hybrid language but to my understanding if a language retains its grammar and just borrows a lot foreign vocabulary it is not a hybrid language

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]

well my point is more of a practical one - what would actually recognizing British minority in Poland mean in practical developments - except for Warsaw and Cracow I doubt there is a point of setting up state-run or even state-funded schools which would teach pupils in English as well as in Polish - the obstacle is primarily of practical kind - in Polish realities it would mean that a special programme would have to be developed as public schools follow a government created programme (most privately owned schools also formally have to abide by the programme AFAIK) - this can change if the education is funded by state refunds to parents rather than direct funding of schools - but it is a major shift in policy and one should not expect it any time soon

other things like native-speaking teachers' trade unions can be allowed for by completely different legal arrangements than ethnic minority laws - the same goes to voting rights

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]

I don't personally count on PiS winning the next election or even joining a coalition govt - this just isn't realistic - not after the years of media brainwashing - and not after the years of PiS being a lousy histeric opposition - I don't know yet if I vote for PiS or this new PJN thing (PiS breakaway faction) - I hoped for a reasonable developement of PJN but they make me cringe quite often

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]

sorry but you are talking rubbish - read the source then judge - not the other way round - first of all the source is government independant - secondly the source is from the spring of 2008 and deals mainly with PO-proposed so-called abolition for those who worked in the UK during 2002-2006 - it also mentions concessions to people who worked in the UK in 2007 introduced by PiS+allies govt

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


I am not sure you understand the case completely - just read about it and it is very different from what you claim

I can give you the source in Polish (though the source seems to be self-contradictory on at least one point - still it is completely indepent from goverment)

nettax.pl/serwis/nowosci/2008/080407_11.htm

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


never heard of that - which does not mean it did not happen


and what damage did they actualy do - restrict yourself to the taxation 'cause we are currently talking of taxation as you must have notices

I sometimes think that yes, much damage has been done, but mostly to the ability of the general population to think for themselves and it cannot be attributed to the PiS being in power

Language / Polish regional accents? [141]


not among the elderly mafketis - even my cousins from Mazury who are in their 20's and 30's and who have Podlasie background (£omża vicinity which dialects are nearly identical to Kurpie dialect) speak with longer accented vowels

edit: oh well it does not actually mean it is a dialect or is it?

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


so you mean a 5-per-cent drop in collected taxes under PO government is comedy? if it amounts to some 12 mld PLN does it all matter? sure it doesn't

btw collected tax in 2009 was ca 277mld (billion) PLN - in 2010 the budget draft prognosed 249 mld PLN from collected taxes - wikipedia states that economic growth in Poland was 3.8 per cent in 2010 - some adding some subtracting and either is our Treasury hardly competent or they gave up on some taxes - have you heard of explicit taxes being lowered around 2009 2010?

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


it was lower than today's (it was as low as 10 per cent IIRC) - I don't attribute that too much to how PiS government was competent because it was mostly the effect of European and global growth


if Kaczyński Jr (for Jarosław) had not messed with trying to get rid of Lepper and overtake his party (the Samoobrona) the government would have served the whole term and who knows what would happen next - Kaczyński made further mistakes for example agreeing to meet with Tusk for a TV debate (to name just one) - he had clearly underestimated Tusk - and it had quite a serious impact of the election results

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


do you know what is child benefit in Poland worth, jonni? or what is the availability of social housing perhaps? or do you perhaps belive that the British in Poland should receive the same amount of benefit they do in the UK and the same standard of social housing as in Britain?

some issues, like Trade Unions, should be addressed 'cause they are real concerns for the British population in Poland - one can imagine the need for a trade union for native-speaker teachers (or at least be able to join Polish trade unions) - the same goes to voting - if you are a legal resident of Poland (perhaps refugees should be excluded) you should be able to vote here - but then you shouldn't be able to vote back in Britain, don't you think?

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


the most possible outcome of the coming election is a coaltion of PO + SLD - do your really believe it is the most desired outcome?

and since you are living in Poland jonni you shouldn't be surprised when in two years cost of electric energy will soar to double the present prices because the current government cares more to extract EU concessions on how the budget deficit should be calculated than protecting Poland from the effects of planned climatic European agreements - you don't after all mind, jonni, if the unemployment in Poland rises to 20 per cent in the aftermath 'cause it won't affect you anyway, or will it?

btw jonni can you somehow solve a mystery why the taxes collected in Poland dropped about 5 per cent compared to the times of PiS(+coalition) government while Poland being this spectacular 'green island' in Europe

btw jonni - how on Earth is it possible that PO couldn't pass a law that removes immunity from MP's? in all these long 3 years? and as for PiS mafia have you actually any examples of such - I know PiS can be attributed hystery - the thing is you can hardly find histeriacs' mafias, don't you agree?

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


what are the figures of the British in Poland? are they somehow locally concentrated? is there any point of state-funding schools teaching in English (at least at the moment)? what is actually the point of recognizing British minority in Poland?

still I think that at some point in not very remote future Poland needs to accept English as the second official language of the country so everyone capable of speaking English can have his things sorted with national and local governments - hopefully as a part of a general EU policy


there are hardly any German nationals in Poland (I bet the figure is lower than 50 000) - having said that I don't mind German-language signs around Opole (but I only speak for myself)

if you quote the official figures on German-minority in Poland (census results for example) I can well challenge you on that

Work / My experience leaving Canada and going to Poland to find a job [19]

good luck Fumon :)