Love / Advice Please! Meeting my Polish boyfriend's parents!! Gifts, customs... [105]

Ah the prospective parents in law and Polish at that. Tricky in each case, fubared when combined.
Well, don't fret my young padawan! Use the fork! (save the knife for the wedding)
When there is a will, there is a way - a Polish way in this case! (not to be confused with a Polish road, leave your bicycle home unless you fancy low-altitude sky-diving).

The first step on this way is a first impression - the connection is apparent through the repetition of word 'first'. The second step is the second impression - ah yes my flawless logic and the sure sign I'm a Pole.

Yeps exactly, the second impression, don't underestimate it. These days everybody is raving about the importance of the first impression, completely forgetting the second one. Recent studies show that the frequent repetition of word 'first' impairs the short-term memory which in turn could explain why the second impression tends to be forgotten. Sorry, I'm digressing. Let's delve into the nitty-gritty practicalities instead.

1. Attire
To truly impress your future family you should wear a white and red T-shirt with a huge POLSKA front motif (you can settle for POLAND if you feel your Polish is not there yet). Lots of Poles abroad wear these T-shirts, my guess is they don't want to be confused with Laotians. Furthermore that should be your only piece of garment, yes you read it right, nothing else. Not only will it endear you to the lady of the house and emphasize your patriotic feelings towards your girlfriend's homeland but it will also ascertain her sexual orientation in the eyes of her family.

You know, homosexuality is a tricky subject in Poland, bit like roads. Therefore you won't see any gays or lesbians on bicycles here.

2. Etiquette
Poles tend to be polite and courteous, using all kinds of archaic honorifics when addressing each other. I won't bore you with that so just call everyone CURVA. The beauty of the word is that unlike most of the polish nouns this one is not gender-sensitive. So yes you can call both her parents CURVA. Same applies to your girlfriend, should you forget her name. In fact this is exactly what should be featured on the back of your T-shirt in same size letters as POLSKA. To spell it correctly, replace C with K and V with W respectively.

So with the introduction covered, it's time for some good ol' Polish fun - that's either church or vodka. If you feel adventurous you may try combining both, again if you are not sure how to address the priest, go with the aforementioned word.

As for the vodka don't just drink it, eye-ball it straight from the bottle.
With that kind of second impression no one will think of the first one. Remember the fork!(leave the spoon for the birth of your love child)

Flagless & Shameless;)

P.S Just be yourself, nice and open and everything will be fine. Good luck and all the best to you and girlfriend.

Love / Ideas For A Good Gift for my Polish girlfriend [16]

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...

History / Pole who burned himself to protest the 1968 Soviet invasion [81]


Jante Loven, which is mostly Danish phenomena or should I say mentality trait is not so strictly adhered to as implied by the 10 above-mentioned points. It's a form of modesty, a total opposite of American 'You got it, you flaunt it'. It doesn't mean you won't be appreciated when you achieve something, you will be, albeit in a more subdued manner though equally rewarding (if not more). Some find it a limiting factor in their self-expression, personally I don't see a problem and quite like it. It is one of the chief reasons why the Danish society despite its affluence is rather unmaterialistic.

History / Pole who burned himself to protest the 1968 Soviet invasion [81]


Ahh, much more elegant, I like it, makes you wonder though why the Prussians turned out such a.......? ;) ;)

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

An observation about the cross war (kind of)

guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/25/poles-apart-two-faces-polish-society

A very interesting read as well as the comments underneath, much more positive than the stuff you see on PF

Food / WHY IN POLAND PEOPLE DON'T USE ICE? [142]


What, crystal meth unkown in Poland? How's that for a business oportunity? ;)

Life / Any treatment centres for homos in Poland? [455]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothalamus#Human_sexual_orientation_and_the_hypothalamus

So barring the hypothalamus transplant I don't know how those clinics could 'cure' anyone. Homosexuality exist pretty much in any species down to the insect level, fulfilling some very practical and crucial roles depending on a specie.

Humans are rather complex beings and so is the role of their homosexuality - a matter and a question not often looked into due to social and religious taboos.

Assuming that all our actions, thoughts, ideas are motivated by our self-preservation instinct i.e. procreation to be more precise ( at least that's my take on Freudianism, someone please enlighten me if I got it wrong) one could go a step further and conclude that the very same actions, ideas are equally limited by the procreation. And here comes the homosexuality, devoid of the aforementioned limitations, it allows humanity to take certain trends and developments a notch further, out of the box so to speak, greatly contributing to our ongoing evolution.

Without the 'homos' we would truly be a sorry bunch. To name few: Socrates (no I don't mean our esteemed forum college here), Aristotle, Alexander The Great, Michael Angelo, Peter The Great (ha, who would have thought!), Oscar Wilde, Tchaikovsky... well the list goes on.

lambda.org/famous.htm
famousandgay.com/s.html

So they are here to stay and thank Whoever for that, btw. Seanus my deepest condolences for your red hair condition:)
In case you guys wonder I am pretty straight. I tend to bend a little in the wind, especially when there is a flag attached.

Cheers

Life / Any treatment centres for homos in Poland? [455]

I guess that depends how often they get 'persuaded'? ;)

Life / Any treatment centres for homos in Poland? [455]


Funny enough that does happen quite often, given places or situations where gays are majority.

Life / Any treatment centres for homos in Poland? [455]


I don't belive that, they must be Jewish ;)

Life / Any treatment centres for homos in Poland? [455]


I'm guessing a close encounter of 'polski humor'.

News / Global politics and consequences for Poland; Would you like to know more? [24]


Oh, c'mon Crow don't throw in the towel just yet. Bankers he says, that's a breeze. Think... I'll give you a small hint: A jostling tournament between Slavic and Arabic-Germanic bankers, sort of a warm-up before the total Slavic take-over led by Poland.

And you Seanus have mercy and don't go all high-brow on us poor Slavs, instead make yourself useful and get me those Rizlas, I'm still waiting...

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


OMG what an idiotic statement. So because Poland didn't exist during the partition, Polish people ceased to exist somehow magically turning into Russians or Germans.

Read the first two lines of Polish national anthem:

Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła,
Kiedy my żyjemy

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]

Patrycja19
one word: sarcasm


Let's assume for the argument's sake that I can figure that out, better yet I'll let you on a little secret: I definitely CAN figure out that if someone having emigrated from the territories of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth partitioned by Russia/Prussia/Austro-Hungary technically didn't come from Poland, as it no longer existed on the map. The point of my post (my whole post including that little linguistic riddle in the end) was to show You how far off the mark you are in your assumptions. Clearly its brevity and the sarcasm involved as well as some foreign words had you confused. Allow me then to be more didactic.

Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła,
Kiedy my żyjemy
Translation (a loose one): Poland is not lost, As long as we live.

Which is the essence of Polish spirit. This is why Poland emerged again despite the active russification and germanization efforts on part of the occupying powers (Austro-Hungary being the exception) spanning over 120 years. Poland survived thanks to its people. At the time Polish people were very much aware of their nationality, fiercely resisting the occupiers (as the many uprisings show). Therefore not surprisingly they were saying ' I come from Poland' wherever in the world they ended up .

Following your logic an average limey should go and say : "Hi my name is John Smith and I come from Germany", had the Hitler won the war and conquered UK. Perhaps that is what you would do...

Why am I explaining the obvious? Well because you seem to use the lack of Polish statehood during the partitions as an argument denying Polish ancestry to some of the posters here.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


Indeed, attempting to debate with delphi does slow me down:)

Love / How do I make a Polish girl cry? [107]

Just be yourself - i.e. sit on her face and fart then calmly ask her if she could lend you 100 quid.

Love / How do I make a Polish girl cry? [107]


Oh well, added bonus. Tell her you've always thought she needed a nose-job.

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


... and the victors needed to make sure that future German state wasn't too robust hence the resurgent Poland, fair enough, though had the Poles succumbed to germanization/russification over 5 generations (perfectly feasible scenario) as intended by the occupiers that option would have been close to impossible. Resilience=spirit, yep it helped them in the end.


A Dane!!! (Saxons came from Jutland) ;);)


*FlaglessPole blows his horn triumphantly over the scores of fleeing Teutons*
*he stopped now, scratching his head and muttering: where the fvck is my flag??* ;) ;)


So was the Sudetenland in 1938 and then the rest of Bohemia and Moravia later on. Every Czech must have breathed a sigh of relief : "Phew, that was close, no worries we got only annexed not occupied..."

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


I know, but by pointing out this mere technicality, you seemingly gave it the connotation of 'lesser evil'. As if...

Travel / Hospitality, Scenery, Food, Clean Streets: My POSITIVE experiences in Poland (!) [39]

Exactly so many more tasty fish like pike, sander, perch or trout. So why go for this slimy mud-dwelling blob with a charisma and taste of railway toilet? ;)

Travel / Hospitality, Scenery, Food, Clean Streets: My POSITIVE experiences in Poland (!) [39]

I've heard Bobby McFerrin is ready with a new hit called: "Don't fuss, just eat it". Apparently the video for the song features him eating carp sashimi, tapping to the rhythm with a pair of chopsticks (one white, one red).

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


Oh boy, where do I start..? Well I'm going to continue from where we left off (sort of) in
PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? ,where your little crusade has started.
Once again I will attempt to explain the obvious, as you keep missing the point to the point that one points his pointy finger to his flat (opposite of pointy) temple in poignant suspicion that the point of your posts is to point out the pointlessness of pointing anything out to you. But heck, it's Sunday and I feel benevolent and pointy (no I don't have an erection, quite opposite I experience massive shrinkage reading your stuff). So to the point then, yup, the one you are missing:

United States of America (yep the very same one you have never been to yet oddly enough you have a lot to say about) is a country of emigrants,

....................(artistic recess for me and a chance for you to mull over it for a bit)...............................
where cherishing its emigrant roots is a national past time almost like baseball. Well some do it more, some less yet still you have your China, Korea, Thai towns, Little Italy's, St. Patrick parades, villages and towns named after the places of origin from the old country, you name it.( All that genealogy craze is an industry there)

In that respect U.S.A is almost unique and you could call this phenomena part of their culture. So get used to it, because no matter how blue in the face and sore in your finger tips you get, you will still have scores of people over there calling themselves Irish, Polish, Dutch, Jewish and mixes of this and that despite the fact they don't fulfill YOUR PERSONAL CRITERIA for what belonging to a particular nation means.

Personally I have no problem with that although it does crack me up a bit when I mention my mixed Polish-Danish background and a person goes "Oh my grandparents came from Denmark" and then says something about pastry or Na Zdrowie if referred to Polish background. I don't mind that at all, if anything it's just another good reason to connect to people and share something good apart from my pointy erection. So lighten up 'tovaristch', I understand that Zbigniew Brzezinski must have been a thorn in your side (how's that for pointy?) but c'mon, water under the bridge:)

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


Come to think of it I am going to copy/paste my most recent post from Polish Natianalty thread as this is where it should have been to begin with:

Oh boy, where do I start..? Well I'm going to continue from where we left off (sort of) in
PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'?,where your little crusade has started.
Once again I will attempt to explain the obvious, as you keep missing the point to the point that one points his pointy finger to his flat (opposite of pointy) temple in poignant suspicion that the point of your posts is to point out the pointlessness of pointing anything out to you. But heck, it's Sunday and I feel benevolent and pointy (no I don't have an erection, quite opposite I experience massive shrinkage reading your stuff). So to the point then, yup, the one you are missing:

United States of America (yep the very same one you have never been to yet oddly enough you have a lot to say about) is a country of emigrants...........................(artistic recess for me and a chance for you to mull over it for a bit).................................................................. .................................................................., where cherishing its emigrant roots is a national past time almost like baseball. Well some do it more, some less yet still you have your China, Korea, Thai towns, Little Italy's, St. Patrick parades, villages and towns named after the places of origin from the old country, you name it.( All that genealogy craze is an industry there)

In that respect U.S.A is almost unique and you could call this phenomena part of their culture. So get used to it, because no matter how blue in the face and sore in your finger tips you get, you will still have scores of people over there calling themselves Irish, Polish, Dutch, Jewish and mixes of this and that despite the fact they don't fulfill YOUR PERSONAL CRITERIA for what belonging to a particular nation means.

Personally I have no problem with that although it does crack me up a bit when I mention my mixed Polish-Danish background and a person goes "Oh my grandparents came from Denmark" and then says something about pastry or Na Zdrowie if referred to Polish background. I don't mind that at all, if anything it's just another good reason to connect to people and share something good apart from my pointy erection. So lighten up 'tovaristch', I understand that Zbigniew Brzezinski must have been a thorn in your side (how's that for pointy?) but c'mon, water under the bridge:)

USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]


indeed:)

Life / Polish "Forfiter" :) [26]

LOL pure awesomeness!!

History / Where Are Milicjanci (Polish Police during Communism) Now? [7]


Tomorrow's another day,
Someone's gonna live,
Some will die,
I hope to be around,
Either blue or gay,
Something's gotta give,
Never-mind the state,
Down or high,
Yet far far away,
From the toxic hate.

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]


Of course, no doubt about it, but don't you agree that the measures you so wisely suggest are bit on the modest side? Why stop there, setting the bar so low for The Last Bastion of Christianity aka Poland seems outright sacrilegious. Poland should therefore proceed with establishing of a permanent base on planet Mars - The settlement should be substantial in size aprox. 1200km in diameter and most importantly in shape of David Star. The hexagram should be lined with network of fission power plants, powering a gigantic laser device ready to discharge each time Mars passes over the southern hemisphere so that faithful of Down Under are reassured in Poland's commitment to the Jewish cause.

(by having a huge david star seared down all across Australia time and time again)
That ingenuity of the proposal lies in its two-fold brilliance - to all the Muslim scum (at least down-under) it will be a cosmic reminder: Hands off Israel!!

Life / INVISIBLE MAN in shops and offices in Poland? [70]


... that and a toy train car if you hit the pronunciation particularly well.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

by the looks of it could be either dill or outer stalks of fennel