Polish culture do's and dont's?

no way....really?? :)


it's called 'zapiekanka'...yummm...

Yes, but in NA a lot of the cars now have their lights automatically turn on. On the car I drove last in PL, they didn't come on and I had other drivers and the local constabulary flicking their lights at me as a reminder.... No tickets though...

It's a new law so they may be lenient at this time . Poland joined DLR (daylight running lights) last year.

Other European countries where DLR is required: Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Hungary.

Officially no US state has a DLR law, but more and more vehicles have DLR as an option.

From my experience DLR does help, since without it some vehicles blend in with the background and are sometimes spotted a bit to late to avoid collision etc.

Thankfully, and I was there last summer...


Agreed.

Surely this is a central thread to a Polish forum.

Discussing religion is a hot potato, sometimes best left avoided.

- Don't wear sandals with socks. People consider it as stupid.

Really? I saw it all the time when I was there.

Exactly, that's the point! ;) ;)

He didn't say what people consider it as stupid :)

thats like in the midwest if you add sugar to your ice tea your weird, they only add sugar to tea in the south

don't fart ever!!!!
don't ever refuse an alcoholic drink when offered one
remember to pour a shot of vodka if you drank last

But fart means luck. How could you say such a thing, girl? ;) ;)

Don't forget to buy a ticket for the bus two weeks in advance because the driver probably won't have any to sell you and will ask why you didn't know you would be travelling that time and that day.

Buy a ticket for your luggage, even if it is on your knee.

Don't expect any mercy if queueing for the post office.

Don't stand behind someone at the cashpoint but do expect people to stand right up your @rse at the post office counter, usually sighing heavily.

My boss told me not to talk to people with my hands in my pockets. He also suggested not whistling whilst walking along the street.

Don't pour your own vodka in a house, let the host/hostess serve you.

If you are a Brit, don't laugh when someone tells you Sopot has an amazing pier.

If driving, it is customary (if you are obeying the speed limit) to use the hard shoulder to allow others to pass you (whichever direction they are coming from).

AM I CORRECT IN THINKING YOU SHOULD UNWRAP FLOWERS BEFORE GIVING THEM?

AM I ALSO CORRECT THAT YOU SHOULDN'T SHAKE HANDS OVER A THRESHOLD?

Don't say 'dziękuję' when paying for anything until you get the change (they'll take it as a 'keep the change').

Poles love to talk about their culture so let's see some views here. It has the potential to be a revealing and enlightening thread.

Yes, only young Poles are allowed to say "sorry" (or diminutive: "sorki" - pronounced: /sorkee/) instead of przepraszam ;-) Not foreigners.


Don't treat it too seriously. Most Poles who speak English don't even know the word "acquaintance", and if you're foreigner, calling others "friends" is OK.


Exception: in the mountains.

This is funny to me especially since Poles call random people "uncle" or "cousin" etc. I never could keep track of who was actually related and who wasn't.

Or just products of their upbringing. A shame, indeed.

The same thing happens on Polish buses, trams and subways. I saw it regularly. This is not a national thing but rather a maturity thing. But good try attempting to say Poles are more polite. (yes I know the quoted post is old and the author probably in jail now)

usually only pregnant women drink bawarka in Poland.

Interesting changes took place in Poland.

It would have been unheard off some 20 years ago not to give up for an elderly. I guess with the benefits of the free society Poland imported the accompanied habits. Collateral damage?

HAHAHAHAH....you would say that. I can't be a Pole's fault it must be the dirty outsiders. Do you really wonder why people look at you like they do when this is how your culture acts most of the time? You are the most self important people ever. All the more funny because of the obvious fact it is all baseless.

Whats the matter? Trying to decide if you want to make it personal? I wouldn't.

Not baseless at all. That' simply how we were brought up. With an elderly person, or a pregnant woman around it would have not even occur to me to compete for a seat with any of them. If I was already seated I would get up and offer the seat to those I thought need it it more. I can't think of any of my friends who would have done differently.

As someone above wrote, I too was shocked when I first took a bus in NYC and I saw all those you kids sitting right under some elderly men and women who were tossed around while the bus was negotiating street corners.

And I am saying you are lying if you say you never saw that in Poland. Yes it is wrong but it was being said as if Poles were so polite and we are so rude because we dont get up and you do. That is disingenuous. Poles exhibit the exact same behavior and I won't let you get away with pretending you don't know it.

I never said I never saw it in Poland, did I?
In fact I saw it perhaps 3 or 4 times in the 25 years that I lived there. I did not have a car so I always took public transportation.


I'm sure a lot has changed in Poland and I hear of a lot of rudness in the recent years. Whatever the reasons, people in Poland (I speak with many on a regular basis) tell me about those as "what changed".

So I have reasons to believe you that Poles these days are as rude as Americans, although at times for different reasons.

I think certain Poles want instant solutions and results and this makes them abrupt and offhand. The same can be said about many cultures but it does seem to be quite prevalent in places here.

I think some of this comes from years where Poles had no real chance to demand and little to choose. In some ways, images of a 'free west' where everyone had colour TVs and huge cadillacs created a false impression that such things were available on request.

I think that years of having nothing has led to a kind of impatience, or lack of desire to wait for anything now. Ironically, often change doesn't happen that fast because of a "Oh, it's always been like this" attitude which has also been drilled into the populace over the years.

Spot on, Trevek. There has to be an inner calm and that comes through spirituality and not necessarily through the RCC. A norm in their culture seems to be to get to the end of sth without thoroughly going through it. I'm thinking specifically about teaching tasks which I set. I time my activities and get frustrated when they kill them so quickly without feeling the nature of the task.

Ah, yes! When you set a 30 minute task and before you turn around they've all shown each other the answers and say "We have finished!"

That's the one! You ask them not to say the answer until a certain level of info comes from their partner but still they jump in like know-alls. It's such a childish way!

I've seen them in ones where you ask questions, just showing each other the questions and ticking off the answers.

I never understood the frantic rush to get it done. That's the kind of thing you did in primary school.