Life / Best over the counter flu medicine in Poland? [24]

Try THERAFLU EXTRAGRIP

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

HOJNOWSKI: variant spelling of Chojnowski, from root-word chojna (pine, conifer); topo nick from Chojnów (Pineville).

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

KLĘBECKI: root kląb (something rolled nto a ball like strong, twine, yarn), in pl. often billows of smoke = kłęby dymu; possibly topo nick from Klębów (Ballville, Billowton).

WA£ĘSA: from verb wałęsać się (to loaf, idle about, loiter), hence loafer, gadabout, idler

LEWKOWICZ: patronymic nick for son of Lewek (little lion).

No, Matthiasville is my hypothetical translation of what the name of the village of Maciejewo might mean,
Potter is a translation of garncarz -- someone who makes clay pots, jugs, bowls etc. for a living.

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

PRZEWO-NIK: from verb przewozić (to transport, cart, remove); an occupational nick for a carter, someone transporting people or goods or removing household furnishings. Under 1,000 users in Poland, the biggest concentration in Upper Silesia’s Katowice area.

Rough pronunciation: pshe*-VUZH-neek
* e as in let.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Thaknk for reminding me. Solaris and Autosan had slipped my mind, so I checked them out. Also Optimus, a tragic success story of Mr Kluska.

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

PASZKIEWICZ: patronymic nick from eastern (Ruthenian) endearing form of Paweł - Pasza, Paszko

LISZCZ: not related to Leszczyński; from Old Polish liszka (vixen), modern Polish - lisica

GANCARZ: variant form of occupational nick garncarz (potter);
postscript: if interested in a -ski name you might be interested in knowing that well over 100 people in Poland are surnamed Gancarski (Potterson).

MACIEJEWSKI: topo nick from Maciejewo or similar (Matthiasville)

** For more info on the above please contact me

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

Jurgieltnik certainly cannot be ruled out as a possible source, but my personal hunch lies with the Giorgios-dervied Jura, Jürgen, Jurek option.

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

KURSZEWSKI: -ewski usually indocates a topo nick; for lack of a Kurszewo it's possible it was from Kruszewo (the ru>ur inversion is not uncommon in various dialects). Or from the Old Polish word kursz - a kind of leather sword-handle covering???

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Of course a fuller view of things is provided only by hindsight, ie an historical perspective of what has already transpired. (I purposely said 'fuller' not 'full', because no-one is privy to all of history, many of whose facets will always remain a mystery.) But even at present one can either go through life horse-blinkered not seeing beyond ther end of one's nose or at least try to get a broader overview, in other words stand back or rise above and take in as broad a spectrum as possible. That is what sets thinking people apart from mindless 'born to buy' consumers.

In the sense that Europe (without the exception of former Yugoslav lands) has been war-free since 1945, that can be said to be a good period for Poland. The economy has progressed in terms of personal wealth and GDP growth, however Polish ownership has regressed. A patriot is never satisfied to see his country rest on its laurels and always hopes for it to attain excellence and prominence.

We often hear about 'quality of life', but what about 'quality of people', in this case 'quality of Poles'? How does today's Pole shape up not only in terms of material wealth and adcademic degrees but also of ethical and spriitual values, civic virtues (is it only 'me, myself and mine' or the nation and society as a whole?), honesty, selflessness, decency, sense of fairplay and other such imponderables?

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

WILCZAK: patronymic from Wilk (Wolf) = Wolf’s son

WILCZEK: diminutive of wilk (wolf cub); also possible patronymic nick

WALCZAK: patronymic from Walerian or Walenty = Val’s boy

SZLASKI: from szlaz (regional pronunciation of ślaz) = hollyhock

SZYMAŃSKI: topo nick from Szymany (Simonville)

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

About 180 Spoczyńskis in Poland, half of them living in the Warsaw-Radom area of Mazowsze

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

What in your view then is an indciator of a country's greatness, excellence, promienence and international renown? The number of McDonald's in a country, the numebr of Polish hiphop impersonators or maybe the number of VW Caddies mercenary Polish workers can assemble a day in Poznań?

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

I for one as dismayed that such a relatively big country as Poland trails behind Latvia, Romania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Denmark in terms of inventions. I should think that would worry and distress any true Polish patriot whether he lives in Skierniewice or San Antonio, TX... Unless he hasn't got any time to give it muhc thouhgt because he's off the the sushi bar!?

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

blargh

TOMASZEWSKI: topo nick from Tomaszew or Tomaszewo (Thoamsville)

ANTONOWSKI: topo nick from Antonów, Antonówka or similar (Anthonyville)

GRZONKA: regional pronunciation of grzanka (toast)

MYDLARZ: root-word mydło (soap) = soap-maker.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Internationally acclaimed as haivng been created/invented in Poland and universally known as such. Put more simply, a unique Polish creation in whatever field gains worldwide-wide acceptance and appeal..

BTW, anyone interested might do well to check out the number of patents by country. It will be eye-opening.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

The Soldiarity experience was unique in that steelworekrs, students, priests, farmers, hairdressers, taxi drivers, intellectuals, etc. all joined forces against PZPR rule. But once communism got toppled, it was ervery man for hismelf. The hard-nose Balcertites wanted to sell off Polish industry to foreign interests for nice, fat kickbacks, and the populist 'S' trade unionists were only after wage rises -- an insoluble dilemma. Hardly anyone was able to find a viable compromise. Again self-inerest had reared its ugly head. To the detrimetnof all concerned.

One episode does come to mind. PolAm millionnairess Barbara Piasecka Johnson offered to buy a Polish shipyard if the workers agreed to work for 50¢ an hour. If I recall, they did but some how the scheme fell through. Years later she admitted it had been a political ploy in cahoots with Wałęsa to score points v the red regime.

It's a crying shame about the shipyards and Cegielski, FSO and Ursus. When I was there 12 or 15 years ago, it was heart-breaking to see the buildings of the once flourishing tractor-maker boarded up and the grounds strewn with rubble and rusting machinery and overgrown with weeds. Was there really no way of saving it? Why didn't someone think of making a low-cost, basic tractor for emerging Third World markets. But again workers and management would have had to agree to low pay to get things going -- something impossible when the only motivation is the pay packet, bonuses and assorted perks.

That is where the Orientals are superior -- they are able to submit to discipline for the higehr good, do without for a time, and look where it has got Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China. They all started out verrry modestly.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

FSO indeed could have developed differently. A Ukrainian state compny bought it out and is assmebling Chevy Aveos there until March or April. After that???????????

Why couldn't some Kulcyzk or Guzdowaty bought it? Or maybe a mixed private/public capital consortium that would have taken part in major privatisation tenders ratehr than selling everything off to foreign interests.

Various options might have been possible. GM took over Daewoo is with only minor changes began turning out many of the same models: Matiz (rebadged Spark), Lacetti, etc.

My take on this is that each level of privatisaiton and development, there were mainly people looking out only for themselves -- grab as much as possible for their own personal careers, without any sweeping vision of how to do the country proud or upgrade the Polish image. Narrow self-ionterest reigned supreme, whislt civic virtue was nojn-existent.

That's why the Kulczyks preferred foreign investments for their millions, and no-one ever even raised the possibility of a Polish capital consortium.
Please don't reduce this ad absurdam. I don't mean FSO could ever compete with VW or BMW, but it might have found a niche for itself. There is a huge world demand mark for a low-priced, basic, low-tech Third World vehicle for use in difficult terrain for those who couldn't possibly afford a Landrover or Cherokee. That could have been a design priority for the Polish motor sector. (Think Tata Nano.)

The SEAT is a decent motorcar but it started out as a humble Spanish-built Fiat which was developed and finally got added to the VW stable. But India's Hindustan Ambassador, which started out as a 1954 Morris, has been produced basically unchanged since then and still is the last I heard. The black London taxis don't exactly win the Monte Carlo Rally, but it fills a definite niche. The Polish motor industry lost its chance, and now all this is pure fantasy about what might have been.

If some Teh Urkainian

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

ONUSZ: It's the other way round. Onusz and its hypocoristic form Onuszek or Onuszko was the basic form from which the patronymuic Onuszkiewicz was derived. Onusz is a variant pronunciation of Janusz which came into Polish via Slovak from Hungarian where Janos is the equivalent of John. In Poland, Janusz is now considered a separate name from Jan.

Not a single Onusz in Poland at present, as far as I can tell. There is one Onuszek and a couple dozen people signing themselves Onuszko.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

I am quite aware of the Leopard sportscar, I believe that's the name. But that is something highly limited and obscure. The ideal Polish contribution should be:

-- something unique, not known eleshwere
-- Polish-designed
-- Polish-produced and (most importantly)
-- internationally acclaimed and hence imitated by othrs.
Do you know of one, only one such thing? Such thinking should occupy the hearts and minds of true Polsih patriots.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

I have a very realistic opinion of today's imitative and uncreative Poland. I But I am patient. I am still waiting for something Polish to be higlighted by CNN, Sky News, the Beeb, Newsweek, Spiegel, Paris Match, fashion boutiques, maybe at the Geneva Auto Show. Wherever! But for God's sake, do come up with something original at long last!!!

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

OK, pierogi are stogdy. So think up the best, finest, most delicous Polish dish you can imagine and answer why it has not made it worldwide. Same with other things. It is because today's Poles are stodges...rat-racing to the tune of foreign capitalist exploiters and leading an empty consumerist existence from month to month but devoid of any broader vision or deeper values. Never thinking or worrying about why my countr yis such a non-innovative, uncreative and uninspiring place.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Nitpicking. Regardless of Nokia's current problems, it has already made a name for itself worldwide. I have not heard of vastly popular pierogi bars in Rio de Janeiro or Taipei, have you? In fact the pierogarnia in Warsaw's Bednarska street has gone out of busienss. The topic is something indigenously and recognisably Polish making it in the global mainstream. Breakdancing may be passé by now, but it has made its imprint. No Polish dance, song, fad, product, symbol, logo or brand

has done in that league, has it?

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

[quote=puella]Let's plead to ban all bungee, skateboarding, breakdancing, kebabs and KFCs and let's all eat pierogis and play palant (Polish cricket) instead...

The masters of distortion have again tried to read into a statement something that wasn't there. These things were mentioned not to urge Poles not to do them but to ask why RPIII has not produced a single equally known thing. Even tiny Finland has its Nokia and Lapland Santaland.

What one thing has post-PRL Poladn produced in the industrial, cultrual , medical, scientific or culinary field comparable in global appeal to Nokia, the taco, Guinness Book of Records, iPad, breakdancing, KFC, kebabs, sushi, etc.?

Just one thing? Modżer and Wiśniewski are not exactly household names in Tawian and Argentina. Even relatively well-
known Wajda is no Spielberg or Woody Allen.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

enkidu
Greetings Kundel Enkidu! If what you say is true, I reckon there are no patriots in Poland. If you discount those who dislike the crook & conman Don & Bron Show, then what about those who spoke of Kaczory, kaczyzm, kurduple, karły, kartofle, etc.? Anyway, PiS is on the way back. The latest poll showed the lowest PO lead ever -- only 4 points ahead of PiS and continuing to slip. Welcome back IV RP. Wymieść komuchów, grandziarzy, sprzedawczyków i innych przekrętwców!!!

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Are you guys proud of Doda and Redhead Wiśniewski? Or the fact there are no longer hardly any Polish-owned breweries left in Poland? Or shifty-eyed grandziarz (that's what my Polish relatives call him) Tusk who has presided over the funeral of Poland's ship-building industry? Where are the motorways he had promsied to build for Euro 2012? Now he says the stadiums will be ready on time, but not the motorways.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Rather than attacking Polish Americans who are proud of their Polish heritage, why don't the citizens of Tusklandia, the subjects of Tricky Don & Count Bron, explain why they like living in a 'kultura odtwórcza' (copycat, imitative, re-creative culture) rather than a 'twórcza' (creative) one.

No matter what anyone thinks of rap-crap, at least the Afros have made a contribution that even some hip-hopping Japs fancy. The Mexicans have provided tacos, mariachi bands and salsa (both the sauce and the dance), and even postage-stamp-sized Ireland is known world-wide for its Irish pubs, Guinness (stout and Book o' Records), St Paddy's Day stuff and Riverdance. Although they are no longer Swedish owned, the Volvo and Saab marques are still associated with Swedish engineering. We could add burgers, pizza KFC and kebabs, skateboarding, bungee jumping, breakdancing, reality shows, etc., etc.-- all imports from more creative cultures.

Where is Tuskandia in that global picture? I also like Lem (esp. his satire on PRL cloaked in sci-fi metaphors to deceive the PRL censors), but he, together with Chopin, Gombrowicz, Piłsudski, Mickiewicz, Sobieski and JP II are now history. Now there is only Wałęsa, Wajda and Penderecki, but how widely are they known world-wide? And what are you Old Country Poles doing to change that?

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

What does physical presence have to do with anything? One can be a good inchtiologist without knowing how to swim. With today's net resources one can perform surgery half a world away from the parient and analyse every manner of phenomena occurring anywhere on the planet.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

It's amazing there are some on PF who elevate their physical presence in their truncated, miniscule post-PRL to the rank of some achievement or virtue. But so many of today's RPIII-dwellers are not only the chidlren and grandchildren of former PZPR members who were the mainstay of the treacherous Soviet-imposed system. How many of the PF's self-styled Jew-lovers are the descendants of those who joined and/or supported the communist anti-Semitic purge of 1968? And now the children and grandchidren of those PRL-ians are themselves betraying their own heritage by opting for everything foreign and imported rather than creating somethign original of their own. American-style bowling, fastfood and comptuer keyboards, foreign music and film hits, Japanese sushi bars, German cars, Korean TV set, etc. have all but displaced most everything indigenously Polish. It's all about emulation of alien patterns without any original Polish input or innovation. And how many of these ersatz stay-at-home 'patriots' are actually paid mercenaries who, despite their physical presence in RPIII, are in the employ of foreign corporations, banks and other companies which siphon off the profits to their home countries.

Admittedly, there are also traitors amongst Polonia, Pol-Ams who have turned their back on their heritage, changed their names from Bednarkiewicz to Cooper and sought to melt into American WASPdom. But luckily there are also those who not only say their are proud to be Polish but actively promote their heritage -- somewhat like missionaries spreading the good word.

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

CHARZUK: looks to be a patronymic nick incorporating he Ruthenian patronymic ending -uk. The root is rather uncertain but could have been taken from the village of Charz (Lublin region) or Charzewo, although the latter is at the opposite (far-from-Ruthenian) end of Poland in Wielkopolska.

The Charza surname, though very rare, does exist in Poland, so Charzuk may have been his son.

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Things Poles/Polonians can be proud of:
-- Poles welcomed Jews and religious dissenters fleeing being burnt at the stake and other forms of persecution in the 'enlightened' West;
-- Poland was a bulwark of Christianity against invading pagan hordes at Legnica in the 13th century, at Vienna in the 17th century and at the gates of Warsaw in 1920 and brought and end to the enslavement of half of Europe in 1980-1989; will it also manage to resist the onslaught of today's aggressive, toxic, mind-polluting pop culture remains to be seen;

-- Poles never conquered and exploited the hapless people of overseas colonies the way the Brits, French and Spanish did;
-- Poles fought for 'Your freedom and ours' in defence of many nations including the USA, Haiti, Italy, Hungary, Britain and Holland;
-- In the Battle of Britain Polish aviators had a better kill record than the Brits who were presumably defending their own homeland;
-- Poles have largely remained true to their motto 'Polonia semper fidelis' and 'Bóg - Honor - Ojczyzna';
– Poland has more religious vocations per capita than most or all other European countries;
-- Poland has lower crime, abortion, suicide and divorce rates than many other countries.
– More Polish Americans per capita fought for America’s freedom in the First and Second World Wars than most other ethnic groups;
– Polish Americans have long enjoyed a reputation of a hard-working, law-abiding community that faithfully pays their taxes, keeps up their homes and keeps their kids out of trouble.

-- Poles and Polonians rank amongst the bravest and most hospitable people found anywhere.

Many more things could be cited, but that will have to do for staters!