Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]

penultimate stress? Primary penultimate stress doesn't seem to have hurt Italian when it comes to opera....

and for being weird and consonant heavy - Czech operas are very popular in the international repertoire (especially the Bartered Bride, Jenufa and above all Rusalka but also others like the Macropolous Case or (my favorite) Katya Kabanova)

Many classical singers love singing in Russian (despite all the crazy consonant clusters).

Moniuszko's operas are mostly less well-known because the style is from a time and musical period (middle 19th century) that audiences are at present less interested in exploring beyond the war-horses that dominate the repertoire.

In terms of pop Polish audiences are too attuned to US-UK music and not enough.... anywhere else. It's a big musical world out there but Polish musicians are weirdly obsessed with playing the game by other cultures' rules...

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


blech.... I think people would be better.....

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


So..... still?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

Is it..... people?

Are you eating people again?

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


There's also the thing where English swear words are incorporated into different European languages where they lose the force they have in English. I remember reading that Danes in international contacts need to be told ahead of time that casual use of the word 'fv(king' in English makes native speakers uncomfortable.

Similarly in German "Sh[tstorm" means something like 'kerfuffle' or 'contretemps'....

Life / Arts & Crafts Stores in Warsaw, Poland? [18]


My impression is that Arts and Crafts isn't really a thing in Poland (I can't remember seeing a store - may be mistaken though).

I remember that when scrapbooking was a thing a few years ago (is it still a thing) I don't remember seeing stores but Empik (a book and music chain) had a section though I don't recall seeing many people in it...

Some types of crafts might have followings but Crafting as such (as a concept)... I dunno.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


By myself I often swear in Polish..... taboo words in a foreign language never have quite the same force as in a person's first language....

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]

psia krew (dog blood)

cholera (cholera)

both are mild swear words... the second a little stronger than the first I think.

Life / "Weird" "Strange" "Unique" Polish Customs [36]


Usually dry smoked sausage.

More info here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awi%C4%99conka

The picture shows the baskets on the table but just as often people hold their baskets (uncovering them) and the priests walking through the crowed sprinkling the baskes (and the faithful) with holy water, usually with a straw brush.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]


But old fashioned.... my tendency is to mostly use "national adjective" and people in the plural "French people" "Spanish people"

In the singular I mostly just use adjectives "He's French" "She's Spanish"

I would mostly rephrase sentences to avoid Frenchman or Spaniard the same way I'd rephrase to avoid using 'one' (cause it's hard to use that without sounding like a pedantic twit - I don't mind sounding like a pedantic twit when occasion demands, but I don't like to make a habit of it...)

Life / "Weird" "Strange" "Unique" Polish Customs [36]


Traditionally a lot of Christian holidays can be divided into somber and festive parts, an interesting about the end of October beginning of November holiday is how Americans completely rid the holiday of its somber component (part of a general trend of secularizing holidays) while Poles kept _only_ the somber parts...

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

I think there used to be more distinctions made, I remember in the 1990s people would discuss different types (and different kinds were labeled in outdoor markets). A lot of that has declined with the rise of the chains where people simply grab a random pre-packaged bag....

My favorites used to be the little flat ones that were yellow inside... myszki were also nice, never cared much for bryza...

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


The published something today and crowds are already out protesting in many cities....

I think part of it might be to distract public attention from recent revelations on just how much money PiS has funneled to the corrupt demagogue Rydzyk....

or it might be to distract form the shambling vaccination schedule...

or something else?

Love / Divorced a Cheating Polish Wife [62]


That's an American model, not that true of Poland....

In Poland, the traditional social bargain was that if pregnancy happens then a wedding will take place... (in Poland the assumption has been that almost everyone gets married, not so much the case in the US).

Life / "Weird" "Strange" "Unique" Polish Customs [36]


No...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_wafer

Life / Do Polish people have a good ear for music? [90]


awful, worse than Manele..... by far.

Too often singing in English is a clue that they care more about money/popularity than music....

Personally I detest bland international pop.... I like music that sounds like it's from a place and not music that sounds like it could be from anywhere...

And the simplistic pidgin English of international pop actively makes most listeners stupid....

Love / Divorced a Cheating Polish Wife [62]

@dolnoslask

I've spent virtually no time among Polish people in the US, but in Poland there was a couple month long visit in the 1980s (which included seeing a line of couples waiting to get married in church) about half the brides had a bulge...

And from the very early 1990s where I was (among other things) doing research that brought me into direct contact with people in cities and small towns (and lots of long discussions with a spectrum of people).

If anything, the idea of a woman reaching her early 20s and remaining a virgin was regarded with suspicion...

It's not like it was Sodom and Gomorrah or anything but couples didn't wait to get married and getting pregnant was often the trigger for setting a date (no one ever said it, but I kind of got the idea that if a couple was together long enough and she didn't get pregnant they'd drift apart and try their luck with somone else.

And in the summer.... you didn't get too close to the bushes.... or you might see wildlife you didn't expect (privacy was hard to come by for the young an impassioned).

Love / Divorced a Cheating Polish Wife [62]

No, visibly pregnant brides were far from a rare sight in Poland in the cities and in the villages...

Love / Divorced a Cheating Polish Wife [62]


I understand the second point (meddling in-laws wreck many young marriages) but no sex before marriage has never been the Polish norm...

Life / Do Polish people have a good ear for music? [90]


I remember an article on Korean cinema when it was starting to break through to international acclaim a few years ago.... the author contrasted Korean and Polish attitudes (article was written in Polish so I'm paraphrasing from memory).

The Polish attitude was "We can't support Polish movies unless they're really good" whereas the Korean attitude was more "We have to support Korean movies so they can become better!"

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


I knew that about carp on Christmas Eve (it had been one of those dishes that some people had on wigilia but it was the communists who popularized it as an essential part). I could understand the motivation as they were looking for cheap protein (and carp is both). I think originally they wanted to make carp a regular food but it's just not the kind of thing that people want on a daily (or even weekly) basis....

Apparently pre-bolshevik food has largely been lost as the few written sources that still exist are full of terms that even modern highly educated Russian speakers don't know... so reproducing the dishes is really hard...

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Here's handmade couscous from Sicily via my favorite youtube channel... not a quick dish (the couscous part is quick, everything else is slow0.

youtube.com/watch?v=cb99rpeKcfE

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]


Ukrainians in Poland mostly blend in visually (there are a few that stand out through dress or physical features but over 90% they're indistinguishable from Poles... until they open their mouths).

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]

You might have some Jewish ancestry... some Poles were/are Jews and there was intermarriage. Also, some Jews converted to Christianity and more or less melted into the general population (despite what some weird freaks say just... ignore them).

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]


a lot of people aren't very smart, no one who's been to Poland has the stereotype of blond blue-eyed Poles... brunettes are more common

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

i remember in my early days in Poland being confused by different kinds of kasza (gryczana, jaglana, manna etc) in the US kasha refers to kasza gryczana only...

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]

@LostSoul

I've never heard of a "ski hump" nose, but the late American actor/comedian Bob Hope (born in England) had a "ski jump" nose.... with a long convex curve

i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/78/ea/cc78eaab872791562d3c17c613885108.jpg

i.pinimg.com/originals/e9/e3/33/e9e333e42894dbda1df9ef3d969ffa8e.jpg

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]


Then you'd fit in in Poland were many people look a bit (or very) Jewish...

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]

If you walked down the street of any Polish city no one would think 'Ooooo a foreigner!' so basically yes, you don't look stereotypically Polish but you're well within the range of variation

And you should take the pictures down sooner, there are some very disturbed and sick people on this forum (a word to the wise)

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

adj litewski (masculine singular nominative whole lot of other variants for gender, number and case )

person

Litwin (a man)

Litwinka (a woman)

country: Litwa