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Posts by Spirit  

Joined: 31 Jul 2014 / Male ♂
Last Post: 13 May 2017
Threads: Total: 1 / In This Archive: 1
Posts: Total: 26 / In This Archive: 13
From: USA, Kaneohe, Hawaii
Speaks Polish?: Just a few words.... Born of a Golinski/Wisniewski marriage.
Interests: Cats, canoes, motorcycles, cultural anthropology

Displayed posts: 14
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Spirit   
31 Jul 2014
Language / " Miawes matka and Meow " correct spelling and pronunciation of these phrases please [12]

My paternal grandfather (from Poland in 1880's) told me that cats speak Polish.

He would say something that sounded like "Miawes matka?" Which he said meant - "Have you had a mother?"

Then he would squeeze the cat's paw until it cried 'Meow,' which he claimed meant - "I have had it."

Can anyone give me assistance with the proper spelling and English pronunciation of this phrases? I can't find past tense Polish verbs online, just mieć, for 'to have.'

Incidently, my maternal grandfather used to say "Polish is the language of the birds," in the woods behind his house in Stamford, Connecticut was a trail we walked together, and though I was young I can recall wild birds flying down and sitting on his shoulders. True. I don't remember if he whistled or called to them, but I do remember the birds pecking at his lips, as if kissing him.

Back to the original subject, does the cat's meow sound like a Polish phrase?
Spirit   
31 Jul 2014
Language / " Miawes matka and Meow " correct spelling and pronunciation of these phrases please [12]

I know that mieć (pronounced like mitch in English) is 'to have,' but I can't find the past tense, 'have had.'

Paternal Grandfather Micheslaw Golinski, wife Bertha (Chicowski, I think).

Maternal Grandfather Stanley Wisniewski, wife Mary (Wirawski I think). Though for some reason I thought her first name was Veronica, maybe a second marriage?
Spirit   
31 Jul 2014
Language / " Miawes matka and Meow " correct spelling and pronunciation of these phrases please [12]

Cool. Didn't know about Google translate function!
translate.google.com/#en/pl/you%20had%20a%20mother%3F

'have had' is 'miał' pretty close,

'Miałam matkę' is 'I had a mother.' And it sounds close enough to what I remember my dziadek telling me years ago.

'Miałeś matkę?' is 'you had a mother?'

The pronunciation button on Google makes them both sound close enough to what I heard.

Thanks for giving me the tools to find out myself.

Edwin Golinski
Spirit   
31 Jul 2014
Language / " Miawes matka and Meow " correct spelling and pronunciation of these phrases please [12]

will you ever be cool enough to learn a bit of your grandfather's language?

(Sniff) no, I have no facility for languages. I flunked Spanish 2 twice, and even now Spanish speakers can't understand what I say in 'Spanish.'

Actually, we learned some basic politeness words, out of respect for our ancestry.

Thank You - dziękuję

Good evening - Dobranoc

Grandma/Grandpa - dziadek/babcia

Father/Mother - ojciec/matka

Of course we learned to SAY them, not spell them. They sound very different than English speakers would guess.

We also had some Cieszkowski relatives. One of my uncles rode the Lippezan Stallions.

So, anyway, we have ascertained that cats speak Polish, even if they don't know it.
Spirit   
1 Aug 2014
Language / Problems Polish People Have with Learning English [63]

Actually, there is a minority of languages that use the 'th' sound, including English, German, Castilian Spanish, modern Arabic and Greek. Perhaps a few others, as well.

It's called a "dental fricative" and is used voiced and unvoiced.

Often new speakers of English from other cultures that don't use the 'th' sound will substitute 'd' or 't' - like 'dis' for 'this' - or 'bat' for 'bath.'

A guide for practicing the 'th' pronunciation can be found on a video at:

youtube.com/watch?v=h5LO0hHGfQg

Best of luck.
Spirit   
1 Aug 2014
Language / Problems Polish People Have with Learning English [63]

Cool, I just tried to help. Evidently you are beyond that.
Sometimes I wish we had a ONE WORLD language (allowing for dialect difference), but probably not till 2100!
Spirit   
2 Aug 2014
USA, Canada / Why do Americans (and Canadians) hate Polish people? [226]

I grew up in America, of Polish descent - Golinski/Wisniewski.

I went to school in Greenwich in the 1950's - 1960's, and "dumb Polack" was a common epithet. Yet, I was smarter than many of my classmates.

Intelligence is an individual/cultural thing, discrimination "don't mean nuthin".