Language / Polish or any Slavic language key to any other Slavic languages? [126]


I really don't want to rain on your parade, but very unfortunately I must inform you that "pigeon" is simply HOLUB in Czech. And so it goes on with these supposedly Czech words that most Poles like to ridicule. The truth is that Poles *think* they understand Czech when in reality they haven't got a clue. Actually I'm quite mad, I wouldn't have thought that those idiotic pseudo-jokey ideas about Czech vocabulary that I heard so often in primary school would actually perpetuate themselves onto a forum such as this :-(

Life / Polish ghost stories [38]

When my Dad was real small, way back in the fifties, he would often hang around the bombed and ruined areas of his home town. One evening it was really getting late and darkish, and he was alone. Suddenly he spotted a large pigeon sitting very peacefully on some rubble, so he crept up to it, and covered it with his cap. He was very excited to have caught a bird so easily. However, when he slid his hand under the cap, he found nothing. Eerie.

Law / Bureaucracy in Poland [53]

I have been living in the UK for three years now. As a community interpreter, I have ongoing contact with all sorts of public institutions here, ranging from medical centres to prisons and from schools to council offices. I know it's probably also a question of what you're used to, but the British system seems to me, a foreigner, hugely inefficient, extremely slow, ponderous even, attached to thousands of petty formalities, with the added inconvenience of not being able to talk in person to an informed officer in many cases (such as claiming all kinds of benefits); instead, what awaits you is many hours of calls to customer helplines where you get to listen to assorted muzak and talk to "advisors" who have no idea what is going on in your case and tell you to send in documents you had already sent them twice.

I used to run two small businesses in Poland and never had any problems. I did my own ZUS calculations, my own taxes, VAT, you name it - and never had the slightest problem with the Revenue Office. I mostly found the municipality officers helpful and competent as well. Parallel universe or what?

I have actually come to love and respect Poland and its institutions a lot more since visiting the UK. Which is probably a good thing, because in the long run all of us belong where we were born. Travelling is great, but we all need a real home.

This probably sounds controversial, but hey - it's what I think, and I've had the experiences to back my opinion.
On the whole, I think each country is "insane" in the sense that it has its stupid quirks and illogical rules. It takes all sorts, after all. But I think comparing these "insanities" is like comparing apples and pears. And I don't like the way Poles tend to always put their country down, even when it is no worse than any other country in the world.

Language / Dwa vs. dwie in Polish [85]

Are you serious or just trolling for the heck of it?
By the way, the "ku Warszawie" form in the sense of "to Warsaw" is totally incorrect, and never was correct for that matter. "Do Warszawy" is the right choice.

The only meaning it would ever have had would be "towards, in the general direction of".
But even that is archaic. Nowadays we would say "w kierunku Warszawy".

Life / Winter in Poland? [160]

Winter on the Baltic coast can also be quite tough, with strong, icy winds. The north-east (roughly the Warmia and Mazury region) is not to be sneezed at either! ;-)

Language / Dwa vs. dwie in Polish [85]


Nie, nie wszystko jedno! ;-)

"Ja jestem w Albionie i jutro ja jadę ku Polsce" is simply not Polish. It's something someone trying to learn Polish might say, but it's definitely not correct, standard Polish.

Your "Polish" sentence has the following errors:
1) personal pronoun 'ja' appears twice even though it's redundant (the form of the verbs carries enough info)
2) Albion - poetic and archaic version, just about as popular in Polish as in English, e.g. in old-time poetry
3) "ku Polsce" has already been discussed. If you go "ku Polsce" this merely means you are moving in its general direction, towards Poland.

If you think such issues are not worth discussing on a forum devoted to Polish grammar and usage, well... what can I say?

Travel / Vacation in Great Polish Masurian Lakes area (Mazury) [37]

It will probably be quite busy all summer, esp. the so-called Great Lakes, where most of the sailors go. The nearest airports would be Gdańsk and Warszawa. It would take you about half a day if by car and a bit longer by train to reach the Baltic coast (as calculated from Ełk, a town in the eastern reaches of Mazury).

Travel / Vacation in Great Polish Masurian Lakes area (Mazury) [37]

Unfortunately, most of the students (uni level) would be out and about already = crowded sailing ;-)

Travel / Vacation in Great Polish Masurian Lakes area (Mazury) [37]

Ełk is actually on the easternmost frontier of Mazury. There are quite a few towns around the Great Lakes (Śniardwy and Mamry) - Giżycko, Mikołajki, Kętrzyn, Mrągowo to name just a few. There's lots to do (hiking, sailing, canoeing/kayaking, swimming etc), and quite a lot to see (castles, Hitler's lair, and stuff).

Food / Kopytka, pyzy, kluski [60]

knedlíèky = kluseczki = small dumplings

knedlíky = something a bit like kluski = something akin to dumplings, but not quite ;-)

yeah, it's Czech all right. If you need help with the Czech, if it's not too long, PM me and I'll be glad to oblige :-)

Law / Tax in Poland? [57]

Please also bear in mind that because the salary is taxed as "brutto" (i.e. with all national insurance still added), at the end of the year you deduct the ZUS you had paid that year from the tax payable for that year. Sometimes this means you actually get a refund, sometimes it just means that you don't have to pay extra. Unless this has changed very recently (since last year).

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


...how can you tell the difference? ;-)
Seriously, I tried visualising that and failed miserably...

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]

I think you have the wrong idea about Poland and clothes. I daresay most people couldn't care less what you're wearing, unless it's totally unsuited to the weather ;-) Most non-Poles on PF tend to see Poland as a frumpy, old-fashioned and conservative country, which I can assure you is far from the truth. Catholics tend to have the wildest ideas ;-)))

BTW, I have yet to see really interesting street fashion in London. Most of the time it's totally boring and slavishly copies any current trend, like the boho style that was all the rage two years ago (thankfully now in decline). I am unable to find interesting clothes here, either they are extremely expensive, or affordable but run of the mill. Instead of returning to Poland in trendy London clothes, I find myself bringing back from Poland any clothes I might have left there and/or buying new stuff... ;-)

British fashion I think is quite unique but not necessarily flattering...

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]

I'm an East London girl, even if only in passing... E10 to E17 is my homeland now ;-)

Camden? Been there once and had enough. It's a sort of leftover hippie-and-punk stew with factory-made "ethnicity" thrown in for good measure. Not my vibe, that ;-)

I guess I'm spoilt because in Poland I had my clothes made for me by my friend and dressmaker, so I chose the best fabrics and the best linings and the most interesting and attractive designs I could lay my hands on, and still paid less than for store-bought stuff. Those were the days (sniff) ;-(

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]

streetfashion.info/galerie.html

just a few pictures of Polish street fashion.

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


why dress flamboyantly if not for the more or less outraged stares? I loved turning heads in my fifties flowery dress and cartwheel-sized straw hat ;-)

I daresay there'd be a lot more people staring at that in London than there were in Ełk, Poland. I get people staring at me in London just for wearing a red coat and red beret!

why do so many people in London wear black, gray, and brown, mostly Primark or Peacock fashion? (and I'm speaking of the natives here!) why is there no colour in the streets? why do most girls wear Ugg boots in summer and ballet flats in winter? why the ballet flats anyway? why can't I buy a decent pair of leather lace-up shoes anywhere? I have loads more of similar questions.

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


This phenomenon is called "fashion" to be exact ;-)

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]

actually, you're right, El Gato wrote that, I used "Quote" and hey presto! change of identity! sorry about that, but it looks like a bug in the system...

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


exactimente! or whatever way that's spelled ;-)

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


just like in the UK, then, actually... (at least till very recently).

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


Actually, no - I work as a community interpreter and so get to travel on public transport (and walk) over large areas of London, from Lewisham to Redbridge to Waltham Forest to Enfield and beyond... And I'm very rarely bowled over by what I see... People wear gray, black, brown, and more black. And it's not stylish, not a dress code, and not tourists either. I think I'll start taking pictures ;-)

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]

I posted a link to some Polish street fashion earlier in this thread. By street fashion I mean regular people out walking the streets, not dressed to impress out on a weekend night ;-)

This is precisely what I miss - ordinary folks brave enough to wear interesting stuff. Colourful, vintage, remade, turned inside out... or store-bought clothes, maybe even Primark, but put together in an inventive way.

Life / Fashion and Style in Poland [174]


they don't follow fashion - they create it :-D

Life / Hepatitis C in Poland...please help. [59]

Us Europeans should be dying all over the place! Funny thing is, in Poland if you are to be admitted to hospital, it is quite the practice to get Hep injections beforehand (or you might not get admitted), when you are pregnant, you get tested at least once for Hep (also for STDs and HIV), etc. If 90% of the population carried Hep C around, we should all be dying of terrible liver-related ailments, should we not? It's statistics, plain and simple. Why do I know nobody with Hep A, B, C, or D (if there is one?) And I can tell you, Polish people get a LOT more blood tests done during their lifetime than the British, for example. And the results are usually back the next day, if not later on the same day (very complicated tests excluding).

This might be unfortunately changing now, due to the new "Americanized" health care strategies being introduced, but for example my generation got tested for contagious diseases from nursery to university - repeatedly. TB screenings and shots were one of sources of misery in my youth ;-)

Plus of course we get immunized for exactly the same diseases you do.
I might sound offended, maybe it's because I am. :->

Life / Hepatitis C in Poland...please help. [59]

Sorry, I misread the original post, it's 90% of those sick who are undiagnosed. I'm OK with that, still not OK with the "spreading like crazy" statement, as less than 2% (around 1.4% actually) of the Polish population are carriers (checked on the net). I stand by the rest of my post as well.

Thank you.

Life / Hepatitis C in Poland...please help. [59]

what's the difference between Asians and Orientals? The Orient = Asia AFAIK.

Life / Hepatitis C in Poland...please help. [59]

As Far As I Know ;-)

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]

As an aside - why do some of you think that being "multicultural" must mean "more than one skin colour"? Asia is a huge continent and surely extremely multicultural, yet no more than two skin colours prevail - or rather, two skin tones. Also, why is it that Poland is often slammed for being racist because sometimes, some people stare or point - which in my opinion is more curiosity with a bit of bad manners thrown in than outright rudeness or racism - while e.g. in India, where I spent three years as a child, people would routinely stare at us fixedly, walk up to us to touch us, follow us round, and laugh at our language and clothes, but such behaviour is not to be considered rude or racist by the tourist or visitor? Can you explain exactly why? Also, an American friend of mine repeatedly claimed Poland needed more "colour", it was "too white", would she make the same comments about India being too "brown" or Africa being too "black"? We all know she never would. Why is the existence of Europe and white European nations such a problem for so many of you? BTW, I have lived in Poland for most of my life, and it's been quite a long one, and I have truly never seen anyone being rude to a foreigner because of their skin colour. I have seen people who were fascinated by the difference in skin colour and/or clothes, but hopefully this should be taken as a sort of compliment. :-) I agree that somewhere out in the boondocks people might be genuinely shocked by someone who looked "different", but then they would be equally shaken by a white Polish girl immodestly dressed (in their opinion). It's not racism. It's just a lack of perspective, just like the Indians running after me and my parents, pointing and laughing their heads off reacted that way because to them, we were genuinely funny. If I can accept that when abroad, I want visitors to my country to be able to exercise similar understanding.

I exclude the real "white power" or "black power" or "whatever power" blockheads from my musings, as they are everywhere in the world and their problem is political, not sociological. At least that's what I think. Howgh ;-)

Life / Hepatitis C in Poland...please help. [59]


And how have you found that out? I am sorry to say I do find your tone patronizing. I was shocked to learn that a number of clinics in Vegas (?) were recently caught re-using syringes (!!!) and may have infected untold numbers of patients over quite a period of time.

Every time I get a shot in Poland or have blood taken for tests, the nurse puts fresh gloves on, opens the syringe and needle pack in front of me, and after use throws them away immediately. Nurses and doctors also wash their hands a lot oftener in Poland than I have ever seen in the UK, where I am now a community interpreter and visit hospitals on a daily basis. I have even been admitted into the ICU in a London hospital wearing my germ-infested clothes and shoes, straight from the street! :-( I have also accessed wards including the delivery ward without being told to as much as wash my hands!!! Say what you will, but this would be unthinkable in a Polish hospital. You can't really compare because you'd never even enter one, would you? Why do Polish hospitals smell of Lysol and other disinfectants, while British hospitals don't? Why is there a major MRSA crisis in the UK? This is all to say that comparison isn't always so rosy for so-called highly developed countries.

History / "Poland's Concentration Camp" ?? [570]


Funny how bad Jews living in Poland are always called Poles, whereas good Poles of the Hebrew extraction are always called Jews. Never mind.

What some of you in this thread do not seem to understand is that the 2WW did not end in 1945 for quite a few countries - Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia to name just a few. Once the Germans were ousted, a power struggle began between the pre-war leadership and the new, communist, Soviet-supported one. This effectually meant civil war. Of course Poles killed Poles and Czechs killed Czechs. And it is remembered! That's the greatest tragedy of it all. While the world was rejoicing that the greatest atrocity in history had ended, the newly created Iron Curtain countries were still at it, while keeping up all pretences of normality and peaceful existence. The Armia Krajowa suffered terribly, having survived the war they were now being hunted down like rats, tortured and killed. If you spoke your mind, you disappeared. Pure and simple. People got killed for telling political jokes, for crying out loud. Why do you think 1956 means so much to the Polish? This was the first year after the war in which things returned to anything resembling "normal". And if you think Stalin's death had anything to do with this change, you are right. Please read a bit about Stalinism and its terrible legacy. A good start is "The Black Book of Communism" - not written by Poles, by the way.