Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [181]

Both image and description come from "More Precious Than Gold" - Treasures of the Polish National Library. You can find its PDF version on internet. I used my local copy for this info.

Completorium Republica, completorium.republika.pl/c_mikola.htm , has a page devoted to works of Mikołaj of Radom. You can listen to his haunting compositions there. Unfortunately they are just in midi format, so the glory of the organ music is really lost there. Some time ago I converted his Credo and Magnificat into the multi-instrumental versions - just for the fun of it - and they sound exceptionally well.

Musical manuscript 'Kras. 52'.
Miscellanea teologica. Manuscript in Latin.
Second quarter of the 15th century.
Black mensural notation. Paper, 30.4x22 cm,
206 lvs. 19/20th century binding.
Call No.: rps III 8054

• 
  kraspolyphonic.jpg
  

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [181]


I am sorry, I missed your question. I do not know anything about the case you describe, but I guess there is not much difference between them nowadays.

There are three basic types of jumps from an aircraft: LALO (Low Altitude Low Opening), HAHO (High Altitude High Opening), and HALO (High Altitude Low opening).

LALO is a standard technique, using round canopy chutes.

HAHO and HALO require masks and special clothing to survive.

HAHO use square parachutes. They glide up to 80 km.

HALO (also known as Military Free Fall [MFF]) - about 95% of their fall is free fall. The parachutes are being opened at 300-600 m.

Both GROM and 1st Komando Regiment train HAHO and HALO. I do not know what techniques is being used in 18 airborne brigade, but the pictures I pointed above show two types of chutes in action: with round canopy and the square ones.

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [181]

I only write this message here because I like the attached picture: look how much trust this Canadian Paratrooper puts into her Polish instructor, who is adjusting her parachute. This picture is 50% scaled - the full scale pictures are here: including soldiers from USA (a company of airborne), Canada (a platoon of airborne), Germany and Great Britain. The Canadians will be attached to the 2 Company, 18 bpd, from Bielsko-Biała.

The challenge is that the guests from overseas will perform the task using Polish parachutes, weapons and communication equipment. From 9 to 23 September 2011 they went through intensive theoretical and practical training, including familiarization with Polish chutes and jumping procedures. The Canadians are skilled jumpers so they had no difficulty with the acquisition of new skills, despite considerable differences in equipment and landing procedures.

They initially trained at Błędowska Desert, jumping from CASA C-295M and C-130 Hercules. The combined Polish-Canadian company made about 550 jumps, before moving into Drawsko Training Ground.

• 
  Canadian paratroopers in Poland
  

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


:-)
With all that archives publicly available it is harder to spin a bogus story nowadays. Just after the WWII the counterfeit spies stories flourished mostly for this reason that they were hard to verify or prove that they were bogus indeed. Even the most ridiculous story would quickly proliferate - as long as it was quoted often enough - usually by authors of equally improbable stories: "I quote you you quote me".

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


I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of "USS Long Island", as shown in NavSource Online. There are few dozens photos of her taken during the period 1941-1944 as a military vessel and few taken later during her commercial service after the war. They are all well documented and dated. I have also no doubt that the pictures from the Wesołowski's web page and one of the pictures of "USS Long Island" are exactly the same - not just similar, maybe taken from different angle, or with different cargo; no, they are exactly the same. So what would be your conclusion?

It would be inconceivable that Wesołowski the Senior would ever mistake the picture of "USS Long Island" by his beloved "USAT Ganandoc". So if he passed this picture to his son as "USAT Ganandoc" than he lied. But if this was a handiwork of Wesołowski the Junior - for whatever reason, such as embellishment - than the Junior lied. In either case this does not look good.


I really do not know. The story may be a mixture of truth and falsity. I have many doubts, but I am by no means a self appointed champion of the Wesołowski case.

I have done some more research on Wesołowski and Ganandoc.

Wesołowski's original story, and the direct and indirect variations on the theme, describe the vessel Ganandoc variously as USAT Ganandoc or USS Ganadoc - an auxiliary aircraft carrier, carrying aircraft and supplies "through Halifax in Nova Scotia, across the Atlantic to Liverpool, England and serving as part of protective convoy against enemy aircraft and submarines." ... "After extremely lucky years on the Atlantic and Murmansk patrols the Ganandoc was assigned to duty with the invading flotilla assembled for the invasion of Normandy."

The Ganandoc is mentioned in the Larson's monograph (see below) not as an "auxiliary aircraft carrier" but as a "flat top shuttle ship" - a coastal ferry transporting small number of aircraft from crude oil terminals - where tankers or freighters had been bringing them across the Atlantic - to their final debarkation harbours. Larson states that Ganandoc and two other such small vessels were bareboat chartered, so it is very likely that the Ganandoc had been chartered by US from the Government of Canada and the two of them (a Canadian and an American ships) are actually the same vessel.

So, even though it is quite probably for Stefan P. Wesołowski to command a flat top shuttle ship in civilian capacity, it appears that he was never in command of an American aircraft carrier (auxiliary or not), and calling him a Hero of two nations (memoriesofwar.com/veterans/wesolowski/default.asp) is certainly a big exaggeration. As I said before - embellishments and adornments are there for no good reasons.

As for Ganandoc combating aircraft and submarines during convoy duties across Atlantic and to Murmansk - this seems to me as a sheer imagination of Mr. Wesołowski.

The Army's Cargo Fleet in World War II

The following are the excerpts from:
The Army's Cargo Fleet in World War II, 283/2, Monograph #18, prepared by Mr. Harold Larson, Office of the Chief of Transportation, Army Service Forces, May 1945,

dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA438107&Location=U2&doc=GetT RDoc.pdf

While in the past most airplanes shipped overseas have been carried on tanker decks, ZEC-2 and ZEC-5 [3] vessels carry increasingly large numbers of aircraft both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific.

However, mention should also be made of three small ships in coastal service for the Transportation Corps in the United Kingdom. These are the so-called flat top shuttle ships. They have a flat wooden deck, built above the main deck, upon which airplanes are stowed.

These craft transport newly arrived airplanes to various processing points that may be as far distant as 100 miles from the port of debarkation, thus facilitating prompt unloading of vessels on the spot, and making unnecessary the movement of the airplanes by truck. These aircraft shuttle ships, all operated on bareboat charter[2], are the JULIUS H. BARNES, the GANANDOC, and the SORELDOG [1][1a]. See the page 106-107.

[1] The SORELDOG was recently lost through enemy action. On these aircraft shuttle ships compare the remarks of Col. R. M. Hicks, ChiefS Water Division, OCT, in the processed proceedings of the Port and Zone Conference at Chicago, Illinois, 6-9 July 1944, p. 7.

[1a] SORELDOG or SORELDOC? If chartered from Dominion of Canada then the latter name is more probable.

[2] Bareboat charter: A bareboat charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible for taking care of such things.

In a bareboat charter no administration or technical maintenance is included as part of the agreement. The charterer obtains possession and full control of the vessel along with the legal and financial responsibility for it. The charterer pays for all operating expenses, including fuel, crew, port expenses and P&I and hull insurance. [Wikipedia]

[3] ZEC-2 and ZEC-5 vessels :
ZEC-2 type freighters, which have specially altered as aircraft cargo carriers
ZEC-5 - specially designed aircraft cargo ships for use in Pacific, first delivered in early 1945

Patterson's vessels with names ending in "doc" - Dominion of Canada

Between the years of 1927 and 1929 Swan Hunter was building 6 single-screw steamers for "Paterson Steamships Limited" of Fort William, Ontario, Canada. Those ships were named:

Lachinedoc - built 1927
Novadoc - built 1928
Sarniadoc - built 1929
Ganandoc - built 1929
Farrandoc - built 1929
Mandoc - built 1928
...
All their ships were named for Ontario cities, shortened of course, followed by doc for Dominion of Canada. The only city that comes to mind is Gananoque, Ontario which is on the St Lawreence River near Kingston.

forums.nebusiness.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2860&start=0
Ganandoc:
Engine Builder Swan Hunter
L 252.8'
B 43.4'
D 17.9 '
Gross tons 1924

JOURNALS OF THE SENATE OF CANADA

JOURNALS OF THE SENATE OF CANADA, FIFTH SESSION OF THE NINETEENTH PARLIAMENT, 8-9 GEORGE VI, A.D. 1944-45, VOLUME LXXXIV, OTTAWA,
archive.org/stream/JSCe84_1944-45_uoft
210. Return showing:
1. Under whose name the following vessels were registered in August, 1939, and on August 31, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, respectively, named Bricoldoc, Canadoc, Cartierdoc, Collinadoc, Coteaudoc, Farrandoc, Fort Wildoc, Ganandoc, Hamildoc, Kenordoc,

Kingdoc, Lachinedoc, Lavaldoc, Law-renoedoc, Mantadoc, Mondoc, Neivbrundoc, Novadoc, Ontadoc, Portadoc, Prescodoc,Prindoc, Qwdoc, Sarniadoc, Saskadoc, Soodoc, Soreldoc, Thordoc, Torondoc, Troisdoc, Vandoc, Welkmdoc [Id numbers elided for simplicity - Boletus].

2. Which of the said vessels, if any, were requisitioned (a) for use by the
Government of Canada, or any Board or Crown company under authority of
the Government of Canada; what compensation was paid and to whom, for
same, per diem, per month or otherwise; (b) by the Canadian Shipping Board
acting as agents for other than Canadian authorities?

3. Which of the said vessels were purchased by the Government of Canada,
and what amounts were paid or contracted to be paid for each vessel, showing
date of purchase or acquisition, and date or terms of payment, and under what
act or statute the said vessels were requisitioned or purchased?

210a. Return showing:

1. Having reference to the acquisition of the following six ships from the
Patterson Steamship Company, viz., Coteaudoc, Farrandoc, Ganandoc,
Lachinedoc, Soreldoc, and the Wellandoc, how was the valuation arrived at?

2. Was it by arbitration? If so, who was the arbitrator?

3. If by direct negotiations, who acted, (a) for the Patterson Steamship
Company; (b) for the government of Canada?

4. Having reference to Return No. 210, were the following seven Canadian
ships, viz., the Mondoc, Novadoc, Portadoc, Prescodoc, Sarniadoc, Torondoc,
and the Troisdoc, reported as lost by enemy action, under charter to the govern
ment of Canada or to the government of any of the united nations? If so, to
whom were they chartered, and by whom was such chartering negotiated?

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


Be careful, Pawian, about procreating yet another myth. This story does not hold any water in many places but I will just concentrate on his supposed command of the auxiliary aircraft carrier USAT Ganandoc.

As far as I know, there is no record of USAT Ganandoc anywhere on the internet, with the exception of Mr. Wesołowski's WWW page - as well as in the numerous copies of his article published on the web. There is, however, a record of a Canadian merchant marine vessel of that name, originally sailing the Great Lakes, and then taken over in 1942-1946 by Aluminum Company of America and converted to bauxite carrier.

A single statement "Refitted at Mobile, Alabama then to Europe as an aircraft transport vessel" could not be corroborated by anyone so far.

answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=579120

An incomplete, yet very long list of US Army Transport ships can be found here, on wikipedia page, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Transport.

Sadly, there is no USAT Ganandoc on that list. A vessel that supposedly carried aircraft from Halifax to Liverpool, participated in Murmansk convoys, and in invasion of Normandy? Give me a break.

But the most damning evidence about authenticity of USAT Ganandoc comes from "NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive", navsource.org/archives/03/001.htm The photo of the supposedly USAT Ganandoc, placed on the Wesołowski's web page, for example here - memoriesofwar.com/veterans/wesolowski/default.asp

actually represents the USS Long Island (AVG-1, later ACV-1 and CVE-1), with cargo and planes stowed on her flight deck. That photo was taken on April 27, 1944. See the picture NS0300105 on the NavSource web page.

Either the papa or the son Wesołowski stretched the truth quite a bit here - this could be called a vessel identity theft.

Embellishment of someone's otherwise interesting or even heroic life by some extra nonexistent "facts" is nothing new. But it always amazes me why one would do that and it makes me ask: Why? Weren't you hero enough? Why do you need extra adornments?

A very similar example with photo theft can be found in the book "A man called Intrepid", by William Stevenson. The book is about Canadian war hero Sir William Stephenson, hailed as the greatest spymaster of the Second World War. But the author of the book - with the blessing of the hero - credits Stephenson with a key role in acquisition of a German Enigma machine in 1939; the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942; the attack on the Pourville radar station during theDieppe raid in 1942, etc. They are all bogus.

I am looking at the picture of the supposed Czech assassins being trained in the Stephenson's Camp X, near Oshawa, east of Toronto. They stand around a model of part of Prague where the Heydrich's assassination would take place. This is one of the seven photographs, supposedly discovered in wartime secret archives, and placed in the book.

Well, actually, this particular picture is a copy taken from MGM's film "School for Danger", released after the war. I am looking at a copy of several frames from that movie and cannot stop laughing out loud. You may find this and many other interesting stories in the 1998 book by Nigel West "Counterfeit Spies. Genuine or Bogus? An Astonishing Investigation into Secret Agents of the Second World War".

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

And there is also a diminutive "buzia" (a face, a mouth, a kiss), "buziak" (a kiss) and "burza" (a storm).

Language / Etymology of pan /pani [18]

I like your explanation. The entry "żupan" to Zygmunt Gloger's "Encyklopedia staropolska (tom IV)", pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyklopedia_staropolska/Żupan , contains the following relevant fragments:


In today's Croatian the word "Żupan" corresponds to Polish Voivod.

Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [237]

[Moved from]: The parable of the methyl alcohol - Bohdan Smolen's story

The weekly "Polityka" runs a nice story about Bohdan Smoleń, in Polish,

Those who do not read Polish at all may find few bio paragraphs here in English, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdan_Smoleń
And those who read Polish at least a bit will find more about him in Polish, here: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdan_Smoleń

The following is a jocular story that punctuates the Polityka's article.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


For God's sake people - at least read what others wrote before you (see the post by "porzeczka") and do not come here with your weirdo theories about a Ukrainian/Russian origin of the word, etc.

The word "Busia" is perfectly acceptable - as a shortening of a commonly used, diminutive old Polish form "Babusia" (56,000 uses on Google - not that many but still a significant count.) It is as good as another tender form - "Babunia" (522,000 uses), although less popular. But there is no need to invent strange theories about a Ukrainian origin of that form.

"Babusia" is as correct as "Mamusia". Any problem with "Polishness" of the latter form?

But "Busha" is atrocious - but only spelling wise. I do not care that generations of Pennsylvanians wrote it this way. It is just a barbarous spelling, that's it. You can use it at home as much as you want but do not come here pushing such form on native Poles. Just learn to spell it correctly and we will all be fine. At the same token most Poles would never accept "Jaja" for Grandfather. The correct spelling is "dziadzio" or "dziadek", not "jaja" or "dziadzia" - which actually shows its Russian root "diadia" (but meaning an "uncle").

And yes, not until seeing it first time on this forum, the only "Busia" I have ever heard and used was a diminutive form from Bogusia, Bogumiła or Bogusława. But this is just a matter of different family traditions.

Food / Are there any Polish wines worth purchasing? [65]


Miód pitny = a mead. Meads are made by fermenting of water and honey solution, often slowly boiled first, and often flavored with various spices, fruits or hops. Because the fermentation is involved it could be considered a wine, or at least some cousin of such. During middle ages weak meads, flavored with hops, were almost as popular as beers among lower military ranks.

In Polish tradition there are several classes of "miód pitny", describing honey/water ratio,
1. Półtorak, 1 :1/2. Extremely sweet and strong.
2. Dwójniak, 1 : 1 . Acceptably sweet still strong. Both often called "Royal". Require up to 8-10 years of slow fermentation and maturing

3. Trójniak, 2 : 1, most popular. 1-4 years of maturing
4. Czwórniak, 3 : 1, a.k.a. "obozowy"= camp mead. Good to drink after several months.

Do not confuse meads with honey based liquors, such as Lithuanian krupnikas or its Polish cousin "Krupnik".

News / Poland - the leading yacht producer in the region [18]


I know that; I did not mean the local promotion. European Presidency might be a good time to present good things internationally.

Somehow "Polish krówka" (carmel fudge) gets more attention than Polish yachts:
"Polskie krówki są przebojem w Afganistanie","Przebojowa polska krówka w moro na targu w Afganistanie", "Polskie wojsko rozdaje Krówki miejscowym w Afganistanie"


polishmilitary.wordpress.com/2011/07/

By the way, I had sailed quite a chunk of my vacations in Poland - at the time when 95% of population could not afford a yacht, including myself. There were clubs and there were boats for rent.

News / Poland - the leading yacht producer in the region [18]


Good question. I hear that Poland is full of billboards advertising all sort of crap, TV ads are everywhere but they have not learned how to promote good - or even excellent - products. Oh I am sure that their marketing departments do their job perfectly well, but promotion of a brand name is another issue.

I took a little "side trip" to Delphia Yachts:

delphiayachts.pl/eng/

So OK, after some obligatory flash, there is nothing exciting in their menus - until one gets to the details of the designs. A paradise for a sailor and a dreamer, but quite an average website for a promoter.

I also went to a website of their main yacht designer. Very interesting, but again - it deserves much better exposure to the world.

Andrzej Skrzat is a 65-years-old successful yacht desiner from Poland. The following is a summary of his conversation with Marek Slodownik made for "H2O" magazine:

skrzat-design.pl/01omnie-en.html

The beginning

There were some designers around and everyone wanted to be the best. But it was a fair competition and now they are all friends: Henryk Jaszczewski, Jurek Piesniewski, Jacek Centkowski, Adam Orych and a few others.

In those days, they were selling just ideas and papers but it all started a culture of creative thinking, with the feedback from sailing enthusiasts - who tinkered with their boats and learned.

Young designers
There are many talented young people who follow the new trends and who design very interesting yachts. But it's harder for a young designer to be noticed because now the market is everything. Designing a boat is not enough - the thing must be put into production, and it is usually very expensive process. Times of amateurish constructions - where yachts were uneven, inaccurate, simply imperfect - are over. Now everything must be buttoned up.

Andrzej Skrzat considers himself lucky for being able to closely cooperate with Delphia Yachts production facility. Young designers do not have such a comfort.

Number of projects
He scored about 98 designs. A story goes that there are probably 300,000 yachts built to his specifications. The real number is hard to get because many yachts were never registered - many were built illegally, with no respect for copyrights. He sold around 4000 licenses.

Boat Review by John Kerr, Canadian Yachting

(About Delphia-33)


skrzat-design.pl/06prasa/2009-canadian-yachting-delphia33-art.pdf

Andrzej Skrzat keeps a long list of the reviews like the one above, here:

skrzat-design.pl/04media-en.html

Since 1996 he won 16 prizes and nominations. The lastest, yacht Delphia 47, which he designed, was an European Yacht of the Year Nominee in 2009/2010

News / Poland - the leading yacht producer in the region [18]

Merged: Smooth sailing for 'Made in Poland' yachts

I have known for years about Gdańsk's Sunreef Yachts, the world "leader in the class of custom-built, luxury catamarans - but mostly through their brochures and announcements. This overview from Agence France-Presse puts it all in more neutral, but still positive, light.

business.inquirer.net/6893/smooth-sailing-for-made-in-poland-yachts

But it is not only the giants that make Polish Yacht Yards known to the world.


Worth reading...

News / Tragedy in Russia - shouldn`t Poland declare national mourning? [41]


Sorry, my mistake, my finger must have slipped somehow. So the credit goes to you. Nothing cold about it. I thought it was a really nice touch to send an email to the Russian Embassy in NY.

News / Tragedy in Russia - shouldn`t Poland declare national mourning? [41]


Right. Agree. Nice.

But not much more can be done at the official level, since there are too many such terrible tragedies happening around the clock all over the world. For example, acording to Polish Prime Minister Office, yesterday alone they sent three condolences, premier.gov.pl/centrum_prasowe/wydarzenia/ :

2011-07-11: To the President of Republic of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias and the families of victims of the explosion and fire at a military base

2011-07-11: To the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov and families of fire victims in the Rowne Region

2011-07-11: To the Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin and families and relatives of victims who sank with the cruise ship "Bulgaria."

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]


For the record: This was discussed to death in some other thread, where the original poster could not hear a difference between Polish "cz", English "ch", and Polish "ć". So you must have actually meant "ć". All you need to do is to train your ear to start hearing the difference.

So you complain that all Polish infinitives predictably end with "ć". Again, here are the Spanish examples of infinitives: salir, estudiar, comprar, pensar, aceptar, acordar, afirmar, amenazar. Horror, oh horror - they all end with the same letter - "r".

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]


Let me explain. The train of thoughts started with:


To which you responded:


which I interpreted that you were agreeing with the previous poster. But if you actually meant the opposite than I apologize for quoting you, rather than UKGUY.

The random list of games and sports I posted was to demonstrate how many good ideas came from many other nations, not just Brits, and how way back in history.

Court games originated with bloody games, of the Inca or Afghan type, then slowly evolved to something more civil in early medieval tournaments - like knocking rivals unconscious using some blunt instruments in order to collect the spoils - only later becoming chivalric tournaments and finally - pure sport games, such as tennis.

Mentioning ancient Olympic games, sailing, climbing, chess, etc. was again to show examples of activities that has nothing to do with British inventions.

And no, it was not my "chippy inferiority complex" showing out. I actually do not care who invented what and like give a credit where it is appropriate, as in the last paragraph of my post you quoted, where I praised British engineers of 19 century building canals and related structures in Ontario.

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]

Inca ball games? Buskashi perhaps? Oh, yes - a cosy feeling you invented it all, including the Olympics games, possibly made in London. :-)

Yes, Brits codified some games, but not all. Not basketball, for God's sake. Just watch a government sponsored historical add on Canadian public TV and you will see a middle aged man, who was so tired of recovering balls from fruit baskets, that he decided to cut their bottoms off.

What else? Yachting perhaps? No, that's the Dutch past time...

Bridge card game? Oh, no that's "biritch", or a Russian Whist, from Constantinopole...

Chess perhaps? No, feck, it has been already claimed by Indians, Persians and Greeks...

Mountain climbing? With all due respect to Irving and Mallory, the man named Everest was not English, he was Australian.

So forgive me for playing this little joke with your national ego. But seriously I am quite impressed when sightseeing various hydro designs in Ontario, dating back to 1830s. Mostly designed by Scots, implemented with backbreaking diligence of Irish...

In meantime Poles were fighting their insurrections against Russians. With few exceptions - Ogiński's Canal (1765-1783) and Kanał Augustowski was built actually much earlier (1825-1830). So nothing to be ashamed of.


That was wrong, Everest was an English surveyor, I was thinking of Hillary, but that was the New Zealander. Two bugs in one sentence. Shame on me, too much wine tonight...

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]


Conjugations in Polish are no more complicated than they are in Spanish. And no one complains about the latter. See for example the two forms of "TO BE" (ser, estar) and phonetic similarities with their Polish equivalents.

SER = to be, but describing faculties, as in "I am tall", "You are clever"
Yo soy= I am = Ja jestem
Tú eres=You are = Ty jesteś
Él es= He is = On jest
Ella es= She is = Ona jest
Nosotros somos= We are = my jesteśmy
Vosotros sois= You-all are = wy jesteście
Ellos son= They are = Oni są
Ellas son = They are ( female gender) = One są

ESTAR = to be, but describing a state or location, as in "I am tired, happy", "I am at home".

Yo estoy= I am = Ja jestem
Tú estas= You are = Ty jesteś
Él está= He is = On jest
Ella está= She is = Ona jest
Nosotros estamos= we are = My jesteśmy
Vosotros estáis= you-all are = Wy jesteście
Ellos estan= They are = Oni są
Ellas estan=They are ( female gender) = One są

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]


You completely missed my point. The phrase you quote was in quotation marks, in relation to what average Canadian thinks about Americans. Nothing to do with Poles in this case. And do not forget that I clearly stated that I had been always defending Americans. :-)

Stereotyping brings to mind and old poem, by A. Mickiewicz, inspired by even older fable by La Fontaine:


- Adam Mickiewicz, ZAJĄC I ŻABA, (From La Fontaine)


The more poetic English translation of the original La Fontaine's poem is here:

readbookonline.net/readOnLine/19844/

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]


Thanks. Then I must be stupid not to notice it. So now I am back on topic, am I not? :-)

I have not met any Canadian yet who would tell me to my face that Poles are stupid. Drunks? Yes. Stupid? No. It has nothing to do with a stereotypical Canadian politeness.

But I cannot count a number of Polish-Canadians using the term "stupid Kanadol". And I am tired listening to "other" Canadians calling Americans stupid. I always stand up for "other" Canadians and for Americans. The stereotypes here are twofold.

(1) If one is at the bottom of a social ladder one can easily find that many of one's co-workers are not that bright. But this particular person has no chance to meet really bright, intelligent "others".

(2) "Stupid Americans, they do not even know where Canada (Toronto, etc.) is. They teach them so little about geography, and only about the US one."

To this I usually reply, that many of my friends and co-workers are highly educated and intelligent Americans, that know more about the world than I do. Then I remind them about Internet, NASA and all those thingies invented by supposedly "stupid" Americans. It helps - for a while.

The stereotypes are being reinforced by TV programs, such as CBC comedy "This hour has 22 minutes", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Hour_Has_22_Minutes, which had a section "Talking to Americans":


In conclusion, stereotypes are being created by people least qualified for judging other people. For example, I have met many Ontario residents, so proud of their supposed superiority over Americans in such matters as geography, etc. but who have never set their foot outside Greater Toronto Area. Never - in their 45 years of life, or so. But yet, they yap.

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]


Monia, when was it?

Are you sure you are not mixing two issues here? To register your engineering company, or even to sign engineering/architectural projects - especially those contracted-out by the government - you and/or your company must become certified by APEO, Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario. Other provinces have similar regulations. You are then entitled to add the little "P.Eng." (Professional Engineer), after your other "scholarly" titles: B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., or whatever.

In 1980s, when I came here, anyone who graduated from a recognized University of Technology in Poland would be almost automatically accepted. Hey, they were even willing to accept my papers, even though I did not study engineering. But my university was on their list and my physics/mathematics background was good enough for them. Few years later, after I decided to actually do something about it, the rules have changed and they wanted me to go through two engineering exams ("Heat engines" and something else) and the "Engineering Ethics". But since I was already wearing another professional hat, I skipped their offer. I have never regretted it since I have never really needed it. But several of my friends are P.Eng. and they need the tittle to run their business effectively, to bid for governmental, or international offers, etc.

In a Canadian society a level of trust is still very high. I was never asked for any papers proving my education level I received in Poland. Well, with one exception - a secretary at my first job asked me to lend her my original diploma in order to hang it on a wall of our boardroom, to impress the customers. I obliged: so there was my diploma hanging in company of others - all in Polish but in decorative calligraphy and handmade paper. :-)

Language / Your perception of the Polish accent [145]


Deciding what part of a waveform can be considered redundant and therefore safely removed, without perceptible degradation of voice quality, was once part of our very frustrating research in voice compression techniques. Various models had ben tried - some mathematically sophisticated, some simplistic.

Of the latter category was this brute force approach: record few dozens of seconds of a person's speech, break it into thousands of vectors of the same size, then choose some number of them, 1000 say, that would best represent the entire speech sequence. This was a so-called training session where some pattern matching techniques were used to make the pattern table, or the dictionary - if you wish.

The dictionary was then to be used in the next step - in the real time voice compression session, where the same person would speak, vectors of his/her voice extracted, matched to pre-stored dictionary vectors, and the resulting keys (actually numbers) sent over to a receiver.

On the receiver side, the same dictionary was used to decode the original speech by converting keys to values (vectors) and piecing all those vectors together. Again, this was done in real time.

Quality of the resulting synthesized voice depended on many factors - dictionary size and vector size being the major ones. Obviously, the bigger the dictionary and the smaller the vectors the better the approximation of the original - but, on the other hand, the lower voice compression ratio.

We tried using a dictionary of a person A during speech compression session of a person B. To our surprise this often worked reasonably well, even if A was a soprano woman and B a baritone man.

Since I quit that research long time ago, I am still clueless to this day what voice features are essential and which part of voice can be considered redundant. Some people obviously do know that, since voice compression techniques are everywhere nowadays: telephony, satellite communication, voice over internet, etc.

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

Did anyone mention Leszczyński i Opaliński yet, the two Great Poland traitors?

Bogusław Leszczyński, count of Leszno (1614–1659)


and I have to remember this, it might be of some use to me, he-he:


Krzysztof Opaliński (21 January 1611 – 6 December 1655) politician and writer (satirist). Voivode of Poznań, starost of Kowel, Śrem, Osieck, Międzyłęsie.


BTW, this is all wikipedia. If you disagree, go ahead. :-)

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

I saw some websites that tried to soften Bogusław Radziwiłł's image somehow. I suspect that his own "Autobiografia" has a lot to offer, even though he tries to show himself there in the best possible light. For your convenience I translated few paragraphs below.

From the introduction to: Bogusław Radziwiłł, Autobiografia, in Polish, available in many sites, pdf format, 169 pages


In this randomly selected fragment of his own memoirs I somehow fail to see any heart breaking decisions for him to take. He just followed his own instinct and own business.


Polish source: Bogusław Radziwiłł, Autobiografia

Love / What strange/unnerving/funny things do your Polish wives do? [153]

My former wife always wanted to sample my beer.
- But you hate beer.
- Never mind, let me try.
- No.
- Please, pretty please!
- OK.
- Yuck!

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


Oh yes, he was a traitor all right - at least twice. He first betrayed The Res Publica, and then Carolus Gustavus. He was even more of the villain than presented by Sienkiewicz. Planning the first Poland's partition with Transylvania + Moldova + Brandenburg + Chmielnicki.

"Chciałem ja być w czerni, bo taki w tych i cudzych krajach zwyczaj; ale że się to W. X. M. nie zda, postaram się o pstrą suknie, żebym był jako dzięcioł."

"I wanted to be dressed in black, because such is a practise here and in foreign countries, but since WXM insists, I will try to find a motley dress, just to look like a woodpecker." - to his future wife about their planned wedding

- Życie Janusza Radziwiłła, ebook


wilanow-palac.pl/boguslaw_radziwill_zebym_byl_jako_dzieciol.html

Bogusław Radziwiłł Wilanów Palace Museum

• 
  Bogusław Radziwiłł Wilanów Palace Museum
  

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


As much as we would love to take credit for the original idea, French must have done it before.


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Language / Polish verbs are confusing/I get many results when I look them up in an online dictionary [54]

One of the meanings, yes. :-)

But "sedentary" also means
- Remaining in one area; not migratory - in reference to animals, especially birds
- A term applied to human groups leading a settled, non-migratory lifestyle.
- Refers to animals or organisms that remain or live in one area. Attached to a surface and not moving freely, such as a barnacle.

I already cited an entry example from Encyclopedia Britannica (post #48).

Google shows 13,000 entries for the phrase "sedentary tribes", and 3000 more for "sedentary tribe", such as
- The second group of Plains Indians (sometimes referred to as Prairie Indians) were the semi-sedentary tribes …
- Nomadic vs. Sedentary Tribes

There are about 700 scholarly references to "sedentary tribes" found on google
- Mental fatigue of Indians of nomadic and sedentary tribes.
- Handbook of the nomads, semi-nomads, semi-sedentary tribes of Syria
- Acculturative stress in nomadic and sedentary tribes of Bihar, India

I saw somewhere a picture of a man on bicycle, and he described himself as nomadic. :-)

In Poland, in Silesia I think, people are likely referred to as either "ptoki" or "krzoki" (birds or bush). That would loosely translate to nomadic vs. sedentary. I am a nomad. :-)