Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

Foreigners, Poles included, constantly decry the vagueries and inconsistencies of English orthography, Rich, you just can't get around it by saying that Polish inflections are somehow "worse"!

You're comparing apples and oranges, matey:-)

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

Best of luck!

Must be a bit of a culture shock from Ireland to Poland.

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

Is English spelling any saner?
Careful there, Richie, your ol' ethnocentrism is showing again:-)

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

When on the phone, I can sometimes hear others address him the same way.
It may simply be a question of correctness vs. colloquial usage, that is to say
"incorrect", if slangy, conversation.

European workmen on the whole, have a better education/schooling than their
US counterparts in my experience. I don't know this guy except as a super, but
perhaps in Poland he was an engineer and was forced to work in the States
as building handyman.

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

I call my super "Panie Rysku!" and he appreciates the opportunity to speak Polish:-)

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

And the vocative "Ryszku".

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

Yes, exactly.

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

I've mostly heard it as a given name. Sometimes as a middle, but never a surname.

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

Where in Poland do you hail from?

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

If the "piwiarnie" right here in Greenpoint are any indicator, are you sure Poland doesn't really have a pub culture? Recently, we were at such a watering hole and I at least found the atmosphere most convivial:-) Then again, unlike in London, never noticed any children in the Polish version.

Language / Origin of / reason for spelling /tɕi/ as <ci> in the Polish language [11]

Swietna idea. Dobranoc:-)

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

Damn straight you can't.

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Milo.
A Pole once told me I spoke Polish so well, no
Pole would think I wasn't Russian!
:-)

Language / Origin of / reason for spelling /tɕi/ as <ci> in the Polish language [11]

Hungarian "cz-sound" as in "RakoCZy Utca" most closely resembles Polish "c" without acute diacritical accent mark. The "cs-sound" though is closest to "ci-sound" in Polish.

Language / Origin of / reason for spelling /tɕi/ as <ci> in the Polish language [11]

I can't either.

Study / 90% of Poles have university degree? [57]

Ha-ha, very funny, Jokster:-) I graduated the same year as you probablyLOL

History / Judge Tuleya mother was in SB [74]

Merged:

Judge Igor Tuleya: Patriot or PiS Traitor?

Having compared the NYT article on the above gentleman with articles from "Wprost" along with "Polityka", I wonder how my forum colleague feel about this lone soldier of right, desperately trying to fight for judicial independence.

As always, I'd be most interested in your thoughts on this.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]

Here I agree with you!
There are plenty of non-native given names which have become international, much better suited, for instance, Daniel, Sandra etc..

Genealogy / Eastern Germanic migration the Iron Age Goths - do modern Poles have Gothic ancestry? [8]

Indeed, the Poles have considerable German influence. After all, they are both neighbors:-)

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

Well, the valley of Neanderthal is located in Germany, if that means anything:-)

Study / New idea for foreign students - help with getting familiar with Poland [4]

Absolutely!

The thing is too that acculturating goes a lot farther than just knowing the language. Having a solid background in the local economy, job market, yes of course local customs (both spoken as well as unspoken) and even recent history, can surely make one's sojourn abroad that much more meaningful, for themselves, but also for their Polish contacts. This shows sincere interest, not merely lip service, in learning to live in a foreign country.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

Apt examples, what more need I say.

Himmler was a Bavarian, as was the late director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Both reveal that noticeable epicanthic fold.
My point is that the German Empire was rife for all sorts of cross-population currents over the early centuries of her evolution, Roman influence in the Rhineland, Gothic and general Nordic in the Schleswig-Holstein territory, Slavic in the East, possible Turkic/Tartar traces to the far southeast such as Bavaria.

On the other hand, the latter is completely absent on the whole from Great Britain, France, Denmark or the Netherlands, including as well the South of Europe, such as Spain, Italy, and Greece, interracial marriages notwithstanding:-)

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]

Our super's Ryszard and I typically call him "Panie Ryszku!" whenever we see each other.
Oh yes, forgot to mention we've got a Polish maintenance man now, fair English, yet speaks with yours truly solely in Polish.....except of course if my wife's present:-)

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Appearance, in the chromosomes of the respective gene pool.
:-)

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

High cheekbones and/or uneven facial fat distribution needn't automatically indicate Mongolian/Asian origins:-)
However on the subject of German, przelotnyptak, kaprys et al., I casually invite either of you or other interested parties, to kindly pull up an old photo of the late Christina Kaufmann.

She was a preternaturally beautiful half-French, German actress, similar in outward facial appearance to the above young lady....and of CIRCASSIAN heritage on one side of her family!

@kaprys, I'm well aware that "z pamiec(i)" is genitive, therefore the requisite final "i". Merely a slip of the ol' clicker.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

"Z pamieci"
Ever heard of a typo?? Thanks for keepin' me honest, kaprysLOL

Perhaps the not so disguised (erstwhile) epicanthic fold might reveal one time Asian background. No two people though look alike.
If anything, the "typical" Polish look is certainly as much a mixture of Slavic, Germanic, and Celtic as it is of Mongolian:-)

Study / 90% of Poles have university degree? [57]

Again though, it all depends on the university! A school is only as good as her faculty:-)

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

I already have, kaprys, and I will admit too that the influence (if negligible) has to be sure been quite watered down over the centuries.

Nonetheless, even experts, more learned than either of us, will doubtless agree that certain traces may be seen among any number of Poles.
While I can't name percentages off the top of my head, that is, z pamiec, we've all known/seen Polish faces which clearly bare the reminents of some Asiatic, at least "Eastern", background. If we say we haven't, we're flat out lying!

Language / Your favourite Polish proverb? [16]

Gdzie kucharek szesc, tam nie ma co jesc = Too many cooks spoil the broth

Madry Polak po szkodzie = You're always smarter after the fact

Taki pan, taki kram = As is the leader, so goes the leadership

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

Not only I share this observation, folks!
Just open your eyes.