News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


So far, from what I've read - what's terrifying is that neither pilot, nor the navigator were allowed to actually fly the plane.


Gotta love the patriotism - a report compiled by the military leadership is condemned as being "full of lies".

Life / Rich man, poor man - today`s Poland [80]

That was probably one of the smartest deals ever - they needed extra trams to replace some older Dutch trams, and they managed to buy them for peanuts from Dusseldorf - I think about 30,000 Euro each, including delivery?

But yes, these ones you've seen have been pushed into service quickly because they needed something to operate a shuttle service - so they're still complete with German adverts and so on!

Life / Rich man, poor man - today`s Poland [80]


The squabbling over the new trams in Poznan was hilarious - Ciegelski kicked, screamed and whined repeatedly about Solaris winning - yet the old Ciegelski trams in Poznan are utter rubbish, while the new Solaris design is - well - proving popular.

History / Poland: Her heroes and her traitors [239]

Fascinating, pawian - more, please :)

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Why is it that Gazeta Wyborcza gets blamed for the failings of political parties?

It's a lazy, pathetic excuse to blame the newspaper - the truth is that UPR and the like simply don't attract much attention in a country which is fundamentally socialist.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Again, it's pretty obvious that you know nothing about Europe by your repeated idiocy. There would be zero support for them to carry guns at this meeting. Absolutely zero. If you can't get that into your skull, then it's pretty obvious that you're just another dumb yankee who has never left the United States in his life.

Anyway, as far as I can tell - there was no "counselors" there anyway.


Would that be the same state that requires a licence to possess a firearm?

Looks to me that the Constitution is worthless.

Still, nice of you to turn a tragic event into yet another opportunity to bash imagined liberal enemies. Such a...nice guy, aren't you?

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


And you think modern European social democrats would take guns to a party meeting on a nice island?

Just shows how little you know about Europe.

Life / Will the price of petrol/diesel reach 7 Zlotys in 2011 [58]

In Poznan yesterday -

Unleaded : between 5.04zl (Auchan, always the cheapest) to 5.25zl (some backwater petrol station).

Diesel is about 0.2zl cheaper.

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

Polonius. Perhaps it's difficult for you to understand, but in Poland, we have the Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego. They don't recognise "Busha" or variants as a Polish word - therefore, it's wrong.

Incidentally, I checked my Polish dictionary and it doesn't contain "Busia" or any such nonsense, either.

If you want to use Polish words, use them properly!

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

You will never find "Busha" being uttered by a real Polish person - it's a made-up American word of uncertain origin.

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


Tell me, MediaWatch - you don't speak Polish, so what do you know about this alleged 'Enemy Within'?

For instance, why not tell us who you think this enemy is? I'm curious - names would be appreciated?

I mean - if you know about it, and you don't speak Polish - they must be pretty well known in the English speaking world. So - who are they?

UK, Ireland / Polish and Irish people are related? [137]


We are certainly not like you. For a start, we don't spend our time eating cheeseburgers and thinking up ridiculous racial theories to post online.

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

To be honest, it's a nightmare even trying to find somewhere that sells it - I tried two places, called "winoteka" and "winofera" - neither of them had any Polish wine. Even a place called "alkohol swiat" didn't have any - but they at least offered to source some.

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

Drinkable, I said ;) winnicapoznan.pl

That's the place that I'm going to buy some bottles from and test.

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


To be honest though, they should be looking at foreign markets - if they've got the experience and the skill, why aren't they taking advantage? The costs will be lower than from markets such as Italy - yet they've obviously got the know-how.


Boats are ridiculously cheap to hire in Poland if you have the papers - I saw you could hire a boat for the day for as little as 200zl on some lakes, and that was a proper sailboat. Between 6-8 people - what's that, 25zl a day? Peanuts.

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


The problem is getting them - I'm going to have a wine tasting party next week, and it seems impossible to buy anything that is actually consistently produced. I've found a local vineyard that sells their own - but still, the industry just seems too immature for mass produce. Either that, or the taxation is ridiculous - I bought a load of actually-drinkable Slovakian wine for 1 euro a bottle - yet you won't find anything in Poland for less than 3 euro.

If the local stuff turns out to be any good, I'll pass on their contact details.

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]

Thankfully, this one seems to be too illiterate to come up with multiple paragraph rants about racial superiority.

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


Blimey - I never knew that Poland had a flourishing shipbuilding industry outside of Remontowa!

Good on Poland - why isn't this being pushed much more?

Travel / Why so many Indian Restaurants in Poland? Which one is the best? [42]

Uh, the vast majority of UK curry houses are run by Bangladeshis.

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


It's a common problem - what's interesting is how different Slavic languages have done it. Serbian seems to be particularly appalling for this - some of the spellings are truly insane - they've got a street in Belgrade called "Džordža Vašingtona" for instance! Croatian seems to have avoided it by simply inventing words, like French - which seems to make more sense than simply taking an English word and localising it.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


PolskiMoc is circumcised. He's a TRUE POLE.

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


Germany had more or less won by the 14th September - while the Polish plan to retreat and fight on is well documented, it would seem unlikely that an army trained for conventional warfare would manage to win against the occupier - who by that point would have been well entrenched.

As for the "5 weeks" - Poland was finished on the 22nd September after Lwów fell.


Dream on. It was started because it was true - the amount of stupid Poles who emigrated to America (because there was nothing for them in independent Poland where brains ruled all) is rather large.

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]


Pretty much the same system here, although if the car is insured, you can use the old insurance (as the car is registered, not the person) for..I think 30 days?

There's a document that should be filled in by the buyer - I don't recall the name, but it should contain all the details of the buyer and seller. You also want to make sure that you check their ID before handing over the cash.

Language / Is Polish amongst the best-sounding languages in the world? [123]


Again, proof that you don't speak Polish at all. It's even proof that you haven't spent any time around the Polish language - otherwise - you'd be able to hear that it was Czech straight away. It's quite an easy accent to follow if you know Polish (not as easy as Ukrainian or Slovak, but much easier than Russian or Serbian) - but you wouldn't know that, would you?


It doesn't sound "silly and amusing" at all.

Typical racist stereotype propogated by backwater peasants.

Language / Is Polish amongst the best-sounding languages in the world? [123]


It's so obvious that you've never been to Poland.

One minute in the company of a Pole will tell you that the general opinion is that Russian is far more melodic than Polish - hence why Easterners 'sing' in Polish.

Language / Is Polish amongst the best-sounding languages in the world? [123]


You don't speak Polish, so what would you know about the writing script? Go on, tell us - why should Latin be used instead of Cyrillic? What justification do you have?

There are quite a few people online who have tried to create a Cyrillic script for Polish - like Croatian, it's actually easier to use, but isn't used. If you want to find out why, perhaps look at the writing systems used in the countries which are Catholic vs Orthodox.

But anyway, have a look here -

steen.free.fr/cyrpol/index.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BalkanFever/Polish_Cyrillic_Alphabet
unilang.org/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=24766
unilang.org/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=8385

Among people who are actually language enthusiasts, who like this sort of thing (and who study it in far more detail than you ever will) - there's a common view that Cyrillic actually looks far neater and nicer than Latin when it comes to Polish. Of course, it will never change - Cyrillic was always seen as "Eastern" and "orthodox" by Catholic Poland - which is exactly your reason why it doesn't use Cyrillic today. Likewise with Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin - even though it works equally well in Cyrillic.

Now - get lost, troll.

Language / Is Polish amongst the best-sounding languages in the world? [123]

Truth be it, it's written in the wrong script. It's too long and tedious to explain, but the 'ugly' nature of Polish comes from the clumsy way that the Latin alphabet has been used for Polish.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


Destruction of cultures?

When were you last in the EU, you dumb Polack swine?

The EU has actually massively increased the protection of cultures - and put a stop to many bad things happening.

History / So called "inconvenient parts" of Polish history - what do you think? [158]


Yep, there's been a clear rejection throughout the years. In fact, almost every party in power has had roots in socialism - as far as I can tell, the religious vote is only around 10% in Poland. Far more significant is the "moustache" faction - with - surprise - roots in socialism.

Never understood why so many people in Poland deny that the country is fundamentally socialist. Even the current government contains quite a few socialists who would never join the SLD for ideological reasons.

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]


Yep. 30 hours must be completed, although if it's in English, many driving schools are willing to do it intensively for more money in less time. For instance, 6 hours is about the "norm" for 1-1 classes in Poznan.


Depends on the city. Most major cities and towns have it in English and German - however, sitting the theory test in a foreign language automatically requires you to have a sworn translator for both parts - to translate the instructions in the theory part, and to assist during the practical.

You'll also require a first aid course and a medical check in order to sit the theory test.

Oh, and you're also required to have had at least 185 days of legal residency in Poland before the test - counted from the start date of your residence permit. The rule may be interpreted differently in different offices - but this is how the law reads. You're also required to have a PESEL.