History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]

@Kaprys,

Many Poles though are well known to have high cheekbones, and many do have an ever so slight epicanthic fold, despite often powder-blue eyes
and light hair. I detect at least SOME Asiatic aka Uralic, influence in lots of Polish faces combined with the square jaw and almost Germanic features.

Northern Slavs, like Balts, are indeed a mix.

Life / Getting a Polish Heritage tattoo - how would Poles react? [26]

How would a fellow young Dane react if you showed up at a soiree sporting a "HOLGER DANSKER" burned into your arm?
Were the tattoo in question of neutral subject matter, a pretty girl (in your case, The Little Mermaid, for example!), a sunset or some such thing, I suppose nobody would bat an eyelash:-)

In Greempoint, Bklyn, not far from where my wife and I used to live, I'd often see young Poles wearing the US-flag beside the Polish, never bothered me one bit. Just figured they might be sailors!

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]

To an extent. Democracy though proved the far more sinister threat in the final analysis, since the latter requires independent thinking linked
to a healthy sense of competition!

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]

Yet that insanity resonated with masses of disenfranchised Germans, still reeling at the time from the chaos of the failed Eisner-Putsch in 1918, making the Germans even more suspicious of Communism! Hitler promised them stasis, freedom from want, plenty of work, and never again to be plagued by the uncertainty associated with Western democracy!

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]

... and solely assimilated Jews at that:-)

Life / Place of Living Choice: Poland vs Hungary vs Germany [44]

Many educated Hungarians also speak truly excellent German, in certain instances, basically at a native speaker level, from my experience.

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]

Hitler deemed all "non-Aryan" peoples inferior, using, rather MISusing the word "Jew" as a symbol of any group whom he personally and arbitrarily decided was beneath the dignity of a 'pure' German!

Life / Place of Living Choice: Poland vs Hungary vs Germany [44]

Probably Germany would provide your best opportunity for any sort of business advancement, although in either of the above countries, you should of course learn at least the basics of the language before anticipating a serious move:-)

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Speaking of pulling teachers' legs, seems Messrs. Bojo and The Donald are past masters at giving
their teachers a hard time, Donny Boy going so far as to punch out one of them out!
Guess the rest of us need that proverbial wooden stump at the ready, just like in the good ol' days, if
any of our charges got out of hand LOL

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

....maybe because (certain) pupils see fit to cop an attititude, forgetting who in the end remains the ultimate
authority in the classroom:-) The time a teacher, professor, instructor feels they must defer to every trouble
maker who comes down the pike, is clearly the time for that person to pack it in and look for another line
of work!

Just what, pray, do you consider "constructive" criticism vs. simply getting on somebody's case?

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]

Thank you

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]

Or how about "Slawomira"?

Genealogy / Wladyslaw and the English equivalent [22]

Might Wallace be an equivalent? Wladek = Wally?

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]

Suppose names go through phases, just like any other fashion:-)
Had an English student from Zakopane of late, first name S-E-W-E-R-Y-N!

He claimed the name is ultra uncommon, being only nineteen at present, and felt his parents were trying to punish him with such a name! Wonder if there's any truth to that.

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Yes you were. Good for you!
:-)

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

"Da liegt der Hund begraben." is the exact translation.

Life / Would getting a Polish eagle tattoo be frowned upon?? [39]

Poles apparently are more comfortable with patriotic expression than are the average German today between, say, 40-60!
The very young are experiencing a resurgence of nationalism, particularly in the once-depressed East Zone.

However, perhaps singing Polish folks songs would not be looked on askance, if I began singing "In einem kuehlen Grunde..."
on the streets of a German city, it would certainly set people off with a dirty look, maybe even some unflattering commentary
aka telling me to get stick it:-)

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Same as in German. Only in English, perhaps an appropriate (if neither colloquial nor idiomatic) translation might be "Ah, there's the rub!"

"Aye,....!" to be more precise:-)

Off-Topic / Social Media - who uses Facebook or similar? [45]

Indeed, paw! It's called watered down, dumbed-down English for the rank-and-file who've never read the NYT and who don't care too either:-) You're sure right about that one! Trump's a twit and his tweets are embarrassing:-)

Off-Topic / Social Media - who uses Facebook or similar? [45]

Trump uses Twitter the way most of us regurgitate, spewing forth verbal diarroeha in a non-stop bout of bowel slinging free-for-all!! The putrid
stench of his rants pollutes bodies and souls alike.

Just ask yourself what Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, John McCain would have said.
Once saw an old sci-fi film "The Shape of Things to Come" by William Cameron Menzies (1936), featuring a look at the post-modern
world, round about the dawn of our current century. It featured impressive precursors of cell phones, flat-screen TV sets, robots, all
sorts of neat stuff.

If people today spoke on their iPhones etc. the way those teens way back when did, even about innocuous stuff, I'd be a happy man:-)

Life / Are Poles suspicious of Facebook? [50]

Your nightmare, so it would appear, is our pipe dream:-)

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

The lure of cheap labor's a darned powerful aphrodisiac for unscrupulous bosses, Rich!
The US, round about the 1870's or so, having several successful military victories behind her, could
handily have attempted to transfer certain funds to the then poor continent of Europe and help
revitalize, indeed, build up, their sluggish economies. But we didn't for a number of reason, continental
skirmishes being in fact the least of them.

Instead, America found it more useful to employ either cheap 'coolie' labor aka 'railroad Chinese', eventually
a steady stream of illiterate or semi-literate Europeans to this country to eventually perform the labor which
native born US citizens would probably not do, thus saving money, allowing the big bosses, ranchers etc.
to become mega-wealthy off the "wet" backs (pun intendedLOL) of those new arrivals through Ellis Island,
willing to work until they dropped dead in order to supposedly have a random shot at living better than
they could have ever imagined back in the Old Country:-)

Them's the facts, kiddo, harsh as indeed they are so wake up and smell the coffee!

Life / Are Poles suspicious of Facebook? [50]

If you consider that successful.

Ill-gotten gains benefit only the one who has the goods, and not those upon whom such gains are lavished.
Long ago, the super young and successful considered their youth as mere coincidence, their success as more of a burden to be nourished, above all, taken ultra-seriously.

The name Orson Welles comes to mind here; so young in his professional prime, and still, in comportment and demeanor, more like twenty-four going on almost fifty-four!

Zuckerberg, if you listen to him, any upcoming upstart nowadays sounds more like twenty-four going on fourteen....or lower.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

We learned, sadly too late, yet nevertheless eventually, (everybody except Neville Chamberlain!) that you can't negotiate with Nazis!
Any offers from Hitler would most assuredly not have ended in anybody's favor, save the Fuehrer's.

Pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Life / Are Poles suspicious of Facebook? [50]

As with much ("anti-")social media nowadays, I consider Facebook, along with Twitter, to be a consummate waste of valuable time, both intellectual as well as social! Plain verbal flatulence, I call it.

Zuckerberg's a fraud and Assange can't be that far behind:-) When prodigy types start behaving like adults rather than children, I'll start to sit up and take notice.

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

My guess is that honesty is a quality considered of close physical proximity to the human body, at least in English, also in German, albeit from another part of the anatomy. As to the meaning aka origin of the Polish equivalent I have no clue, I'm afraid.

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

"Lies have short legs"

Yup, "Luegen haben kurze Beine" tracks the same in German.
Enjoy observing in language how idioms with like or same meaning are approached with
different images, e.g. "Straight from the SHOULDER" vs. "Prosto z MOSTU", literally, "Straight from the BRIDGE"
In German, "Frei von der LEBER weg", literally, "Straight from the LIVER".

Genealogy / KUKULA ancestry [32]

Quite similar then to the original German "Kuckuck", as in "Kuckucksuhr" or "cuckoo clock or the bird.
Interesting if in fact there is zero relation to "Kukkula":-) Most intriguing.

Language / Puns and language games in Polish adverts [33]

Naturally, I was referring in this case to the flavor of the language, not the beverage:-)

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

"If it smells at the bottom, it stinks at the top."