USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

Happened this year as well. The whole condescending "oh, you don't know what's good for you" is just so absolutely insulting towards Poland - as is the way that they claim to be Polish, they interfere in the Polish state, yet they have no sense of the consequences of their actions.

Kwasniewski was a great success as President, drunken incidents aside.

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]

expatua.com

For what it's worth, a trip to L'viv should yield the goodies.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


okay :)

But this does show something very interesting - here we have a "Polack" using the term "East Europe" towards Poland. Yet - anyone who lives in Poland will be acutely aware of how Poland has been pushing away from the Eastern European tag as early as the mid 1990's - and how Poles consider themselves to be Central, not Eastern European.

This is why, in my ever so humble opinion, these "Polacks" are not Polish, but rather some sort of sub-division-of-American ethnicity. They know very, very little about the cultural issues affecting Poland - apart from what they read in the heavily right-wing "Polack" press. Certainly, I haven't met a Pole yet who called themselves "Eastern European" - in their eyes, "East" is Russia/Belarus/Ukraine.

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]


Wouldn't help a bit - you still need to prove that you're resident for more than 185 days in Poland legally. Some driving centres are also interpreting this to mean "actually resident for 185 days before sitting the test".

You can sit the course anytime you like, though.

For what it's worth, you can apparently buy a Ukrainian driving licence very easily - and you can exchange it to an EU licence without a test.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Still wittering on about Russians, are we? Anyone would think that you've got quite the obsession with Russia.


So is Polack Johnnys "negative"?

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]


I know someone here who scammed quite a few of these types :)

(must admit, I don't feel sorry for them)

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]


Why do you want a Polish driving licence?

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

You don't have to be a genius to work out that a dumb Polack who can't speak Polish isn't actually Polish at all.

I quite admire the Polonia who got off their ass, learnt Polish and would love to move to Poland permanently if they could make it work - but dumb Polacks? They're about as Polish as I am - ie, not at all.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Because Plastic Polacks are not Polish. Is it that hard to understand?


Well, if "Polack" is so offensive, they should be getting rather upset, shouldn't they?

Or is it the case of choosing when to be offended?

History / Are Poles happy with the current Polish borders? [134]


As I recall - Lithuania strongly protested about being "given" Kaliningrad - possibly because it was devastated and poor. That's the reason for the existence of the Kaliningrad exclave.


Would that really be possible, given that for defensive reasons, the Allies wanted the Polish-German border to be along natural features? You'd also have had the same old problem in Galicia - a Ukrainian minority that hates the Polish majority's guts.

History / Are Poles happy with the current Polish borders? [134]


Hey, you weren't in Poznan last night ;)

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Pretty much. Add in Jews, Ruthenians, even some Scots (Napieralski? Hmm....) and more. Modern day Poland is really a melting pot - and this is fantastic. It does mean that Polish ethnicity is pretty much unclear, but who cares? The nationality is still Polish, and with it, the shared history and so on.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

But how do they know that they are actually 100% Polish? They don't. Just because you can trace back to some great-grandparents doesn't mean a damn thing. I know quite a few people here in Western Poland with Germanic last names - yet they can only trace Poles in their family. Yet the last name clearly indicates that there's German history in there.

Most of the Plastic Polacks cannot understand that Poland wasn't ever 100% ethnically pure.

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Er, wasn't 3xTAK about as rigged as it gets?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Doesn't seem to suggest one way or another that Lithuanian characters are allowed, only that the spelling can be Lithuanian. Still, instead of arguing about it, I'll call the relevant office and ask them directly.

Is it allowed to put up foreign names on Polish buses?

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Yup. It would be sheer lunacy on my part to claim that I was "100% ethnically Scots".

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


It's the most sensible solution on both sides. But - as far as I gather - Poles are demanding that they get to use the Polish characters in Lithuania. It's fine for things such as bus signs/street names, but it's unrealistic to expect the Lithuanians to be able to produce them in official documents.


Yep, it's no issue to use it - just bureaucracy prevents people from using them. For what it's worth, I see no reason why EU countries can't use the letters - it's not difficult to type alt+code!


Can they use Lithuanian letters, or are they simply allowed to spell their names the "Lithuanian" way (without Lithuanian characters)?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Poland will not use them when registering anyone officially - they'll just use the nearest comparable Latin letter. So - if Poles want to register their names using Polish letters, then they have to allow everyone else to use their letters, too. Can't see that happening, somehow.


What was in her documents? Probably not the umlaut. I've never seen any Polish documents which had the correct usage of foreign letters.


Well, in the UK, you won't catch people using ł, ś, ć, ó, ą, etc in official documents. Even things such as the EEA residency permit and driving licences will be in "plain" Latin letters. Likewise in most of Europe - the unique letters simply aren't recognised.

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Well, there's already the obligation to provide information in other EU languages. There's also the obligation to provide a translator in certain circumstances - and no, I do not understand how the hell they find Estonian-Maltese translators ;)


Would this be like how Poland refuses to allow the registration of RHD cars?

In fact, I think the best solution would be for Lithuanians to attempt to register RHD cars in Poland. When Poland refuses, then both sides are just as bad as each other. Lithuania obviously has gone too far - but equally so, Poland is demanding the registration of names using Polish diatricial marks - which is nonsense. I have my doubts as if Poland could handle Lithuanian letters, either ;)


Scots. Recognised as a minority language by the EU.

Food / Taste of food in Poland vs other countries [188]


Hmm -

Lack of restaurant culture.
Too much emphasis on "atmosphere".
No great tradition of cooking.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

I suppose that's why we use the term "dumb Polack".

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

But there's a big difference. Ethnically, Poles are a mess, but nationality wise, they're clearly Polish.

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Doesn't matter if it's too expensive to provide - it's a right afforded to all EU citizens to access information in their own language. Given the vast amounts of money poured into Poland by the EU, the least they could do is provide information in my own tounge.

Does Poland provide full access to information in Lithuanian and German?


Was this the Daily Mail? ;)

Anyway, I see no problem with it - if there was a specific problem with Polish drivers going the wrong way, then why the hell not?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Were they?


I wonder when EU citizens will get their right to access information in their native language?

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Oh jeez..if they go around acting superior because of being half Scottish, they'll be beaten until they learn ;) I'd hope that they would follow Miroslav Klose's lead and simply call themselves European :P


It's a form of snobbery, I think. It's ridiculous when you look at American history - it's got a rich, deep history - they really, really do not need to call themselves anything but American.

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


No doubt there'll be some source produced which only not blames Lithuanians, but also blames Tusk, Komorowski, Gazeta Wyborcza, Jews and TVN.

I wonder if we'll see any source provided?

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Yup, it's a shame that the II RP chose to be such nationalist and xenophobic in its nature - from everything I've read, the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth was truly ahead of its time.

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]

What's that, you can't find a source for your lies about Polish children being prevented from speaking Polish in Lithuania?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


So? Doesn't matter what it used to be like, all that matters is the here and now. And right now, Vilnius is Lithuanian.


Consider this a request. Surely it's not so hard to find? I mean, I suppose such an act would be reported all over the Polish press.

Food / Taste of food in Poland vs other countries [188]


Likewise, there's not much in British cuisine that takes skill either. I'm thinking now about specifically Scotland - there's really not much that's difficult to make.

Where Britain is miles ahead is in the talent of the chefs to steal other cuisines and blend it into something palatable. There's just not the same "foodie" culture here - I know one restaurant owner who was shocked to discover that most kitchens just source their food from Makro/Selgros.