News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]


That's not what it means. It means that 75% of people with HIV in Sweden weren't born there.

News / Poland's political crisis deepens [228]


Speaking purely for myself as an interested, but unaffected, foreigner, there is usually a tradition in long established parliamentary systems that couples power with responsibility.

A succinct summary from more than a hundred years ago:


So, the fact that the person making all the big decisions in Poland today doesn't actually hold one of the positions listed in the Constitution as constitutionally accountable strikes me as, well, rather less than ideal.

News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]


Considering the tragic events that Poland has suffered over the last 80 years that have resulted in this homogeneity the words "true blessing" are, to put it mildly, poorly chosen.

News / Poland's political crisis deepens [228]


Except that it's far from clear that it was legally adopted. It seems a hell of a thing to leave open to possible future legal challenges.

News / Poland's political crisis deepens [228]


I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with the 'why'...

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]

Thanks, I did notice that all of the other examples of her name in the story at the top weren't declined. I didn't get down as far as the story about her daughter so didn't notice the -ówna suffix - very interesting, thanks for pointing it out.

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]

Ok, so curiosity got the better of me and, as one does these days, I turned to Google. Honesty compels me to admit that I've almost certainly never seen this article before, so your assertion still stands, but:


fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/sklad-rzadu-ewy-kopacz-w-rzadzie-trzaskowski-i-halicki/4dsw9dj

Is this usage just incorrect or is there something else going on?

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]


Thanks again, you're probably right!

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]


Yes, sorry, framing clear questions about things that confuse me isn't something I'm very good at!

Thanks for your help. I think something I'd failed to notice is that, for women, even Polish surnames that don't end in an 'a' don't seem to be declined either. Although, I do seem to remember references to the government of Ewy Kopacza - perhaps the authors were being a bit mischievous? Or maybe I'm just still confused!

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]

EuroBrit, I hope your mysterious lady likes the book. I wouldn't take anything written here too much to heart.

Going back to the subject of foreign name declension, one thing I don't really understand is when to decline a foreign surname, particularly for women. Why, for example, is it:

Życie Baracka Obamy
Życie Michelle Obamy
Życie Johna Kennedy'ego
Życie Jackie Kennedy

If the feminine, ending in a 'a', surname is declined for males then why isn't it the same the other way around?

Language / Polish inscription in a book for a loved one [35]


But if he just writes her nickname (which as he's told us about it, I assume is what he intends to do) he would be ok? I would think that in that case it would be treated like any other foreign female name not ending in an 'a' and wouldn't be declined.

So if, for example, if the lady in question is called Teresa but goes by the nickname 'Terri" then writing either:

Dla mojej ukochanej Terri

Or

Dla mojej ukochanej Teresy

Would be correct? This is the sort of thing that I'm far from certain about...

News / Poland leads in benzopyrene pollution -- 40 time the WHO admissible level - GW [14]

I'm not sure at all, but I want it to be true!

News / Poland leads in benzopyrene pollution -- 40 time the WHO admissible level - GW [14]

That chart showing the most heavily Polish cities isn't showing the levels of benzo(a)pyrene but instead the overall level of 2.5μm particulate matter - another thing that the article is less than clear about.

Ironically, there is actually a WHO guideline for an annual average PM2.5 level. It's 10μg/m3, so the worst places on the list are just over four times higher than this. Which is also not great.

Still, I have at least learned that there's a Montana in Bulgaria!

News / Poland leads in benzopyrene pollution -- 40 time the WHO admissible level - GW [14]

Thanks! For some reason that article doesn't appear to be in the actual paper (or at least not the iPad version).

The new article seems more muddled than the one from last year. The map is identical (and now out of date to the latest EEA air quality report data). Also, I think it's a bit misleading for it to talk about exceeding WHO guidelines by 40 times when the EEA's new 2016 report still clearly says:


The report does go on to say:


And it's this estimated reference level that has been exceeded by 40 times.

However, it's worth pointing out that the average concentration found at the Polish stations in the latest report was 4.8 times higher than the target value - an increase from the previous year's 4.6 times, which is definitely not a step in the right direction.

Link to the 2016 EEA report:
eea.europa.eu/publications/air-quality-in-europe-2016/download

News / Poland leads in benzopyrene pollution -- 40 time the WHO admissible level - GW [14]


Could you please clarify where this information comes from? I've had a look at the GW archives and whilst I did find an article from this around time last year about this subject, with a map very much as you describe, it doesn't contain this information.

The article does, however, reference a European Environment Agency air quality report. This report says that the WHO doesn't have a guideline for Benzo(a)pyrene, but it does say that the EU target level is 1ng/m3 and that the average concentration found at the Polish stations was 4.6 times higher than this target level. Which is still pretty bad, but nothing like 40 times higher.