History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

We must distinguish here between traditional home grown European anti-Semitism, such as the rich, fertile soil of the peasantry from which the Nazis drew their support as opposed to the SPD-CSU's local backing of the Palestinian Arabs who themselves are openly anti-Semitic.

Not everyone who is willing to receive an anti-Semite, for instance the German government inviting Achmudzhineshad to their county, is necessarily anti-Semitic themselves! Steinmeier & Co. are merely playing politics, but surely they're not dangerous.

Tacitus is absolutely correct that the AfD keeps awful dodgy company and surely helps fan the flames of anti-Jewish hostility, in itself not far from xenophobia.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

Milo, far too many Germans still unfortunately think of Poland as that backwater neighbor full of big-boned whorish females and oafish men who think a tree is something one eatsLOL German arrogance and superiority extends as far south as even Switzerland or Austria, much less Italy, Greece or Spain, that latter three being in German eyes great vacation spots with loose women, but serious culture, science or the like??!

Many would laugh. I agree with you here, Milo. It's sad.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

You like The Ol' "Desert Fox" (whose son Manfred was Stuttgart's most popular mayor ever, I'm told), anti-Hitler and not known to have been indoctrinated with Nazi

anti-Semitism.

And yet, you'd vote for AfD in a shot.

You are a curious conundrum, aren't you Weimarer!
:-)

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

One certainly cannot fault you or others who feel as you do for your unvarnished straightforwardness. However, the worst sort of difference is INdifference, the formaldehyde which preserves us humans from experiencing either the feelings or the emotions of others, permitting us to live extremely long, comfortable, in the end spiritually vastly unfulfilling lives.

Being of German stock, your forbearers were no doubt influenced by the writings of Immanuel Kant, who taught among other things that in the obedience to the highest authority here on earth, of course, any and all predilictions of human empathy or compassion towards others (particularly towards those who disobeyed the Law) were essentially "superfluous", therefore of no serious consequence in the ultimate execution of that which was deemed right, according to the strict adherence to Kantian

logic.

This construct, as in mathematics, works fine from an intellectual point of view, it falls miserably short from a human perspective, justifying the cruelest treatment of our fellow human beings.

It was the same philosopher who, though hardly the only one, proposed a postulate which questioned the existence of G-d! The Nazis too, many of whom were highly literate men, I will admit, used the logic of Herr Kant among many others, to rationalize their unspeakable cruelty towards other human beings whom they deemed weak or unfit for the heroic, tough lifestyle of their ideal Aryan Superman (misreading of Nietzsche, by the way).

Let's hope you won't fall into the same category, Weimarer.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

....then I guess you have no humanity left either, if you ever had any to begin with!
I wouldn't be so proud of my misguided opinions there, Weimarer. I'd be ashamed
to come across to others as such a jerk.

But that's only one man's mindset.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

The person who remarked that "all's fair in love, war, and business" clearly never fell in love successfully, nor lost a battle, nor failed in business.

They must have had one hell of a PR manager though.

Sounds like you're just playing the Devil's Advocate once again:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Weimarer, you cannot deny that the US-troops, many of them, DID in fact rape aka "deflower" (entjunfern) numerous young German women during the early years of the American Occupation.

I hope you too haven't fallen victim to Rightist propaganda in support of our current president.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]

Better a bagel than a Polish rockLOL

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

One can take the boy out of his history, but not the history out of the boy:-) Tough for a leopard to change its spots, although cross-breeding CAN actually

make them a bit lighterLOL

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

In fact he was merely a post card painter during his student days before getting tossed out of Vienna's premier art academy.

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

Exactly, Dirk. I simply find it interesting how language image differs often from language to language! In English, the reference is to a part of the body, in Polish, a piece of mechanical engineering.

One of the first expressions I ever learned in Polish was "Madry Polak po szkodzie" = "20/20 hindsight" aka "Bad luck teaches pluck" or in German "Aus Schaden wird man klug" and "Nach der Tat weiss jeder Rat".

:-)

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

"Prosto z mostu" = Straight from the shoulder (literally: "Straight from bridge")
:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Quite.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Almost forgot about the evident Celtic admixture in the Poles!
Know a lady from Cracow who looks practically Irish, although she's a Cracovian many generations:-)

Polonia / What do Poles think of how they are treated in Germany, in comparison to the Muslim migrants [181]

Poles have been living and working in Germany since the first coal miners migrated there to the Ruhr Pott region
in the 18th century.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

@Przelotnyptak1, you probably didn't quite understand my Random posts:-) Try putting them through Google Translator once again and see what you
come up with. If that doesn't work, I mail you privately in Polish and then we'll be on the same homepage, I'm sure.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Anti-Polish? Moi??
:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

For sure, many Northern Europeans on the whole seem to appear physically healthier than their US counterparts:-)
Diet is also a factor, perhaps not for issues such as eye color or hair texture, but it is a fact that countries in which

inhabitants drink milk, for example, have a meat and dairy intake, will in general be taller than those which don't.

Jews from the shtettls were indeed much smaller in bone mass, not to mention shorter in stature than non-Jewish Poles,
Germans or Ukrainians, including those from the cities.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Again, it's the cubic head, usually high cheekbones, and often light, almost slightly Asiatic-looking eyes particularly when they smile, which appear most "typically" Polish.

Czechs don't usually look like this, having often broader, more Western-European, i.e. "Germanic" faces:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Sure, just take a gander at ol' Radek Sikorski of the Polish Sejm and your point's confirmed! With "squarer", I'd actually add, "flatter"-looking as well.

If that's not "a poylische punim", what is?
LOL

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Germans on the whole do tend to have squarer faces than Poles, particularly the men:-) I recall again the example of Guenter Grass, black-eyed and darkish-brown hair, yet the cast of both the face, jawline as well the build is unmistakably German (although his mother was Kaschub and the elder Grass a German). Even without light hair and fair eyes, I would never guess him as Italian or Spanish, for instance.

I've also known personally a number of much older Germans from the former Danzig, and they all look clearly Germanic rather than Slavic.

Law / Cajun from Louisiana state seeking refuge/new life in Poland? Wishing to become Polish (is it possible?) [34]

Ever since Trump took office, many Americans have sought a life "outside the box", as it were, and are looking towards foreign climbs to seek their present and future happiness.

Once The Old World was unable to provide for her citizens and they sought a new life in The New World. Nowadays, the promise of a better life in Europe surely holds promise who haven't been granted a gold-plated insurance plan because they're not an entrepreneurial techy:-)

Once, the States was paradise on Earth, roughly from around 1945-1960, the period of the greatest prosperity the world has ever known. Nowadays, people with serious money as well, celebs such as Sher and Madonna of all people, have vowed to leave the US... at least until the foul Trumpian winds from the anus if indescetion have blown over aka have passed their gas for the time being.

People who confess that they need help, aren't "weak", they're honest. Ideology has stifled our great country and all by squeezed out for no apparent reason anybody who isn't deemed Daniel Boone, Paul Bunyan, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Bill Gates all rolled into oneLOL

History / Why could some Czechs dislike Poles/Poland? [46]

Hmmm, have to think about that.

History / Why could some Czechs dislike Poles/Poland? [46]

When I hear Czechs speaking, it reminds me a little of Polish (even their accent interference in English or German).
Slovak sounds closer to Southern, perhaps more Eastern, Slavic languages.

Linguist, yes. However, I'm not native to Polish and so to a Polish native speaker, you'd no doubt be correct in what you say.

History / Why could some Czechs dislike Poles/Poland? [46]

Odd as well, because Polish is so much closer on the surface to Czech than to Slovak:-)

History / Why could some Czechs dislike Poles/Poland? [46]

You first must look at the geopolitics of Czech history before making such casually outlandish statements, paw! History knows something rather different.

History / Why could some Czechs dislike Poles/Poland? [46]

What you seem to be saying, pawian, is that from your point of view, Poles resist imposed dictatorial authority in comparison with the Czechs.
Moreover, the Czech people accepted their fate, from '38 when you know whose armies merrily marched into the Sudetenland, then again when
Soviet tanks rolled on through the streets of Prague in '68, a mere thirty years hence, am I right about that?

In addition, you assert the Czechs have what has been termed a "sense of humor" an "ability to laugh at themselves", I believe you wrote.

I submit you ought to re-read your history, since your remarks concerning Czech national charactaristics need some serious amending, particularly as regards the reaction of the Czech masses at the onset of so-called Prague Spring. What we all saw on TV was only part of the story. The armed resistance of those not all too keen on a Russian occupation was sizable, I can assure you. Skillful PR is what it was:-)

Photographs made by Nazi photographers back jjust before the official outbreak of WWII, and of course the film footage of Czech citizens standing along the sides of the street, weeping into their handkerchiefs as Wehrmacht troops goose-stepped by was also a clever propaganda stunt, engineered no doubt by the Germans, in order to show the basically "passive" nature of the Czech people, who were portrayed as essentially distant Germanic cousins in arms, as compared to Polish "Untermenschen", whom Hitler knew would be troubleLOL

The Czech people fought back plenty, believe you me, and while there were to be sure more than enough lacrimosity to go around, the blood, sweat, and toil, amply fought back the waterworks from the Czech national tear duct, my friend!!

News / "To understand Poland you must understand Frederic Chopin" (Stratfor Friedman) [74]

Your tastes are as poor as your opinions are ignorant. Chopin/Szopen is the soul of Poland, bar none!

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

I don't know about derived, but the two words are for sure related. Sometimes I've even seen "kraina nad Wisla" instead of "Polska", and of course "kraj" along with

"kraina" are obviously the identical root word:-)

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

Mine too, Maf! Actually, as my own mother worked for an unusually miserly soul before striking out on her own, she preferred instead "a day late and fifty cents short"LOL