News / Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport to close in September [27]


If only we could get the Germans come to help us get organized.

This closure should coincide nicely with the sale of LOT. Lufthansa?

History / AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FORMER COMMUNIST born in Poland [7]

No doubt it this would be a good read and not often we get a professor of Nuclear Physics posting here. I think the tittle is to grab the poptential reader's attention - which it does.

I'm going to order it and I wish JP would too as he has written some very good essays in the past so he would do it justice as a reviewer. The book is only 12 bucks and the :


We are not a very serious bunch here so I am not surprised he hasn't come back.

Language / NAMES POLES GIVE THEIR DOGS [76]

I'm glad you didn't get offended. I can't be bothered to put smilley faces all the time. Kids often name dogs and parents have to play along, so Brown Dog was a good name as any.

I've had two dogs stolen, so I'm a little sad about it and I don't want one now.

I like the name REX.

Language / NAMES POLES GIVE THEIR DOGS [76]

Did the whole family brainstorm that one?

Language / NAMES POLES GIVE THEIR DOGS [76]

What? No Szarik?

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szarik

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]

Huh. Saudi chicks are fatter than the American ones. Maybe wearing abayas should be incorrporated in the US too?

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]


Man, I miss America.

Work / Teaching English in Zakopane, is it safe? [53]


Zakopane means Burried, as in with snow, so everyone should be careful, including you friend. The strong wind called Halny is something to be affraid of also. I'm sure you're make a good Góral and will have a positive experience.

Food / Traditionally-Polish salads, help needed [28]

A note on the tuna salad:

Some people use canned corn instead of cellery, but I don't like it that way.

If prepared ahead of time it is good to cover with plastic wrap right on the salad so there is no air to discolor it (mayo).

The tuna available in PL is not the best but most Poles wouldn't know the difference between Albacore and Albatros(this is not a cut down, just a fact that they don't import good white tuna as it is more expensive).

The water needs draining by pressing the can's top against the fish.

Even if you don't make it for your event, it is always a nice, quick, light lunch with bread.

Barszcz:

realepicurean.com/2009/01/barszcz-czerwony-polish-beetroot-soup/

Food / Traditionally-Polish salads, help needed [28]

Maybe canned tuna, chopped onion and cellery, and mayo? Easy enough.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

We have a village in Mazowsze called Trawy. It is possible this family hails from there indeed.

History / AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FORMER COMMUNIST born in Poland [7]

I am a little puzzled over the self-designation as a "Stalinist." We usually refer to Stalinists as the persons who were part of the terror machine impossed by Stalin. A scientist, who lived and worked under such system but did not participate in administrating such terror was not a Stalinist even if he believed in communism.

This is my personal view, or rather a request for an explaination.

I have read Błażyński's book "Mówi Józef Swiatło." Światło was a Stalinist, a dispicable one, and I would have a hard time in grouping these two men together.

If I read the book in the OP, will I be likely to change my mind?

Law / What is NIP number? [15]

That is not obvious to everyone. When I was a kid in one of the US states, the Social Security number was all there was. It served for ID, Driver's License, Tax number, etc.

NIP is a number the government gives you if you work or do business in Poland.

You fill out a form at Urząd Skarbowy(Taxes Office) and they give you this number. It is difficult to give you more information unless you tell us if you want to do business in Poland or work here.

Law / What is NIP number? [15]

NIP is a tax identification number. It is assigned for tax purposes(work or business).

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

I don't know if this has been posted before but it's a classic.

History / Poland: Her heroes and her traitors [225]

Yes, ideal situations are rare, but that was the protocol to be followed.

History / Poland: Her heroes and her traitors [225]


Percisely, he would have been told that he is being executed for treason on the basis of a underground court's ruling. These were serious matters, done by AK soldiers, not some haphazard operations.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [246]


Dzięcioł, meaning woodpecker, is very special to birdwatchers, and a woodpecker is not just a woodpecker. It would be equivalent to saying: a falcon is just a falcon. It depends which one you spot, some are rare. Imagine someone seeing an Ivory-billed woodpecker in Northern America and saying that they just saw a...woodpecker. Perhaps, in Poland the distinction is less clear, but in NA a sap-sucker or a flicker, although they look like woodpeckers and fly like them, they are not.

What would be something though, is a picture of an aquatic warbler, or even a glimpse - black belt stuff.

SeanBM

If you have access to that tree, and smear some suet on the bark, your chances of watching and photographing this bird will greatly increase.

History / What Was Happening in Poland around 1905? [73]

If it's not a migrane, you have no right to blame the Jews.

History / What Was Happening in Poland around 1905? [73]


Not only emphysema. I read in a scientific journal that the migrane headache was invented by a Jewish wife from Brooklyn.

Life / If I could introduce something from my country into Poland, I would.... [175]

I read about that somewhere. The chimps explained that when they raise both hands and show their teeth, they do so to taunt their enemy and it has nothing to do with smiling and doing the French salute, and highly resented the comparison.

Life / If I could introduce something from my country into Poland, I would.... [175]


Can't eat it. It squeeks against my teeth when I bite it. No other cheese does that. I get the same reaction as some people do when you scratch the blackboard.


I think it is insensitive to call the French cheese-eating surrender monkeys, so I never do.

Life / If I could introduce something from my country into Poland, I would.... [175]


The French would argue that it can be actually called cheese.

There is one cheese worth trying in Poland - BURSZTYN. Try it.

History / Polish military in 1939 in pictures. [107]

Harry

A serious fault in logic again, Harry.

History / Polish military in 1939 in pictures. [107]


Blitzkrieg is not a myth. In the 16th century this method of fighting was what made Polish Hussars the unbeatable ride in Europe.

"Inny rodzaj jazdy!"

History / Polish military in 1939 in pictures. [107]

To be fair, the article he linked to was an Agence France Press article which happened to be posted on a loony Nazi site. A gooble search on the topic would also lead you to the same source. No issue here. The article is good.

But the website can make one emotional:



Some people will still demonize Hitler despite his Ghandi-like characteristics. His teeth hurt too.

Life / Civil Wedding Programme in Poland [5]

Sylvia,

The registrar only asks if they are decided to go on with the vows. Then they say the vows. You can see it here:

and a longer version here:

youtube.com/watch?v=50heK_MqpNk&feature=related

Life / Civil Wedding Programme in Poland [5]

The vows are these:


Just to add to the above description. It does not have to be fancy if you don't want it to be. It can be a 10 min. affair with only your two witnesses and you're off to the Bahamas :)

Life / Things that annoy you in Poland. [133]

First time away from your village is tough. So strange.

History / Communism fell 20 years ago, Poland led the fight since WW2 [339]

The Last Partisan killed in 1963:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Franczak