Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]


And I'm delighted. I myself would have voted No to both proposed changes in the Referendums. People voted 'no' for an assortment of reasons. A lot of people, including myself, felt that the replacement clauses were far too vague in their wording and as Irish people have a lot of experience in voting in referendums we won't vote yes for something we're not sure about.

However, more importantly I would also have voted No because I agree with the present wording:

1. In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives
to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

I absolutely agree with this point. Women do invaluable work within the home. The constitution was written in 1932 and nowadays though most women are working outside the home too, they continue to be the central figure in the home. I like seeing that respected and acknowledged.

2. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged
by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the
home.

Point 2 may seem outdated by modern standards but it is still a model to which we should aspire. I would like to see the wording altered slightly to reflect the times we live in but the bottom line is that women should be given all the supports needed to make it possible for them to remain at home with their children if they wish to do so, especially in the crucial early years. It would be nice to see the government actually act on the promise made in the Constitution instead of simply paying lip-service to the idea.

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]

@Bobko, quoting Lenin and Marx on women, seriously? A pair of self-indulgent lay-abouts who never did an honest day's graft in their lives. It's always the intellectuals who couldn't find their own arse with both hands, who seem to be the experts on 'the worker'. As for men theorizing about what's best for women, here's a radical idea - ask the women.


It's called guising. In Ireland going door to door dressed up is not unique to Hallowe'en but most of the other occasions are specific to particular regions eg. in Kerry they still celebrate the festival of Imbolc. There are four ancient Irish festivals, Imbolc, Lughnasa, Bealtaine and Samhain (Hallowe'en) which carried on and were woven into Christian festivals. At Imbolc a straw doll, the Brideog is made. She represents St Brigid. A group of men carry her from house to house and they come in and have to perform a song or dance, they usually have musical instruments with them and then they get something in return, in the old days some money, but now a bit of cake or a sip of whiskey or something like that or maybe a donation for a charity or local community project.

"They came over the threshold,
the Biddy Boys, with a straw doll
almost as big as myself, looking for money.
One had a mask with the face of the devil.
A melodeon started up. I was pulled
from my chair at the table and twirled."

"Away with youse now, and your Brideog,
my father said, giving them a handful
of coins. God bless you and may St. Brigid protect
you and yours, they sang from the door.
When the devil blew me a kiss
a wind raised the rushes from the floor."

Incidentally my granny played the melodeon!

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


They're a cheap and quick source of protein. As Jon says they're for kids - or students. They're actually an American invention. I think a lot of adults continue to eat them as a kind of comfort food/nostalgia thing remembered from childhood. They're no worse than the tins of paprykasz or rather revolting pasztet you find by the thousand on Polish supermarket shelves.

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]

Of course it is! Surely you knew that?

nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/inside-irelands-gate-to-hell-that-birthed-halloween

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]


No reason why it should. It's not part of your culture. It's the ancient Irish Harvest festival with strong connections to our spiritual pre-Christian past and our mythology. Why on earth would you be celebrating it in Germany?

@ Bobko, sadly, I don't have time to address your nonsense now. I might find a moment over the weekend. Have a lovely evening everybody!

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]

This Women's Day lark is a Commie thing but as I'm not only a woman, but a lady, I smile and say 'thank you' when wished the happiness of the day by poor, deluded foreigners.

We don't take any notice of it in Ireland :))

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]

How kind :)

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Love / How do Polish men feel about gender equality? [780]


Well, I have - even here in Warsaw. My elderly neighbour cried when we brought him and his wife a small Christmas gift, and he kissed my hand. His wife was stony faced though.

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


No. I didn't.


Don't be silly. You're not twelve years old. An adult understands that without the collective achievements of past generations, none of what we have today would exist. But I must say, I'm not sure what we've achieved exactly in the last 50 years that is worth celebrating. Perhaps you'd care to share what, in your opinion, those achievements are.

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


I wasn't trying to disprove it. I just was sharing some interesting information. It's called having a conversation.


Well now, we have run the gamut there, haven't we? From ancient times to present day. Up till a few hundred years ago there was little difference. In fact many non-white cultures were more advanced in several of those areas long before we were. I find it very hard to believe that you could be that ignorant. If you really are, then you're disproving your own point about supposed white superiority. If you're not, then why are you pretending to be? Ah, yes, attention-seeking.

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]

I'm quite sure plenty of people got there first - but very wisely abandoned it ;)

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


Quite possibly by an Irish monk, St Brendan the Navigator back in sixth century. Maps of Christopher Columbus' time often included an island denominated Saint Brendan's Isle that was placed in the western Atlantic Ocean. You should check out the documentary The Brendan Voyage. A British explorer undertook the journey across the Atlantic using the type of boat Brendan is likely to have had.

"Tim Severin and his companions built a boat using only techniques and materials available in the sixth-century A.D., when St Brendan was supposed to have sailed to America. The vessel comprised forty-nine ox hides stitched together in a patchwork and stretched over a wooden frame. This leather skin was only a quarter of an inch thick. Yet Severin and his crew sailed Brendan from Brandon Creek in Dingle to Newfoundland, surviving storms and a puncture from pack ice."

Life / Polish people and TV Series - so good and hilariously spot on :) [99]


I think the pace of Polish speech has got much quicker over the last few years. Anybody agree?

Food / Polish Potato Varieties [28]


I'm really no expert - as Jon says there is a fair amount of overlap especially between the northern part of Ireland and Scotland. I would associate farls more with Northern Ireland. You do see them for sale in the Republic but they're not that popular, more of a thing for tourists. But I do remember my granny making something from leftover mashed potato and flour and frying it on the pan. The real 'Irish' potato cake type thing is boxty.

boxtyhouse.ie/

But again, very few Irish people make it at home these days.

Life / Polish people and TV Series - so good and hilariously spot on :) [99]


Yes, and although Poland doesn't have much in the way of dialects, there is slang and idioms which can be hard to pick up.

Travel / Visiting Lodz, I have few questions? [5]

The used car market is a minefield in Poland. Just be careful. There are lots of crashed cars brought in from Germany, given a quick fix and sold on as 'perfect'. You'll see that many cars have recently been registered in Poland and you can't check their German history. Try to get a car that has always been registered in Poland from its first registration. With the reg and VIN numbers you can check its history online, see how many owners it's had and find out if it's ever been in an accident.

historiapojazdu.gov.pl/

Food / Polish Potato Varieties [28]


In Ireland we would call it a 'floury' potato. You don't find them in Poland. There seems to be no tradition of roasting potatoes in Polish cuisine. Fries have been around a long time but in an old cookery book I saw, it recommended using 'watery varieties to make them! The fries here are a poor relation of the 'chips you get in the UK or Ireland. You need a nice dry spud for those :)

Poles like to mash their potatoes and purée them. Varieties of potato are often sold as 'kremowy', creamy and are very common in Poland. Drier spuds are Irga and Irys. I find that Irga are nearer to a floury spud but still not dry enough. The best one I've come across is Catania or Katania.

Food / Poland origin apples and rootstock [18]

Many varieties are grown in Poland but are not originally Polish. One of the few that originates from Poland is Ligol. Very popular, you'll see it in all the supermarkets. Unfortunately rustic Polish varieties are often just labelled 'Polish apples'.

UK, Ireland / Corned beef & Cabbage are typically Irish? [98]

I shouldn't have to read the Gettysburg Address to find out that they meant Guinness. Maybe to Americans Guinness is beer but in the real world where we invented it, it's stout, a type of ale. Anyway, just remember to use Guinness Draught, otherwise you may have a very weird combination of salty and bitter flavours.

I wonder what 'other dry Irish stout' they have in mind. I can only think of Murphy's (sweeter and creamier than Guinness but really difficult to get, (even in Ireland) or Beamish.

UK, Ireland / Corned beef & Cabbage are typically Irish? [98]

Johnny, the recipe you linked to says 'beer'. Guinness is not beer. It's stout and quite bitter for cooking- you'd have to use Guinness Draught. That's sweeter.

UK, Ireland / Corned beef & Cabbage are typically Irish? [98]


I sincerely hope you don't. Regular beef cooked in Guinness is tasty enough but it won't work with corned beef.

News / Poland and Russia in military alliance - Is that even possible? At least temporary? [71]


That's true, not so much slang as dialect. Real die-hard working class Dubs say 'the pole-ess' with stress on the first syllable.

Poetess is definitely archaic, like doctoress. I like actress and can't see anything wrong with waiter and waitress. Those are the terms I would use. We certainly continue to say actress in Ireland.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]

With politicians it can make them sound 'coached' or worse still, glib.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


Well, that's because you're a foreigner, not a native English speaker. When I listened to the clip, it was quite clear to me that he said 'forgotten'. He speaks very nicely in my opinion. Once again, he has a measured, thoughtful style. Obviously you have a preference for babblers.

Fluency is not about how quickly one talks but the content and range of what one says. I have a feeling that you coach your students to sound like entrants in the Miss America pageant. 'My name is something weirdly American like Briony and I'm a major in nuclear science at some university or other somewhere in California where having long, blonde hair is more important than SAT scores. I'm really passionate about saving the planet and when I'm not doing intellectual stuff -Go Einstein! - you'll find me hanging ten off a surfboard or visiting the gel nail salon.'

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


I have never in my life had recourse to notes when speaking.

The bottom line is that Jon is right in everything he says and you're wrong.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


He disagrees because you're wrong. That's also why Maf and I disagree with you. As for 'the exam', as Jon says, which exam? Are you talking about Matura? Parroting rehearsed answers to familiar topics is not an assessment of language fluency.

You disagree because like many Polish people, a) you are a nit-picker who likes to argue for the sake of it b) you can't admit you're wrong about something c) you're too arrogant to take advice, doing yourself a great disservice in the process. Instead of welcoming the opportunity to learn and thereby be a better teacher, you have to prove that you're 'right'. You're not - and you never will be.

You're also behaving like one of your own students by deliberately trying to wind people up with your nonsense about Sikorski being less fluent than Tarczyński. Spring is here - where are those seed catalogues?

Work / English teacher thinking about starting his own business in Poland - any ideas [10]

Only if you have the right teachers to staff it - and good luck with finding them.


Maybe she has indeed been 'loving' for the last two years ;) as for specking, well perhaps that's a new concept that we haven't heard about yet and she can introduce it to Poland!

The only thing that concerns me is that she seems to be unclear if she's Martha or Arthur. Profile says female, post indicates male 'his' own business. Maybe they're non-binary. See, I know which pronoun to use! :))

Life / Any good Polish films to watch? [112]

It certainly sounds like a great work of fiction - do you remember a discussion on this forum years ago where a woman was horrified because the hospital wanted to stitch her child's eyelids shut overnight because the nurse wouldn't have time to administer eye drops?? The mother offered to stay with the child and do it herself but it was against regulations, not giving the drops I believe but the staying outside of official visiting hours!

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


No he's very fluent. He sounds natural. Native English speakers punctuate their speech with ums and ahs all the time. It's a feature of our speech. He sounds measured and thoughtful. It's his communication style. I've also seen him being interviewed when he has to answer off the cuff and he's thoroughly proficient in the English language. I prefer his accent to Trzaskowski who is a bit Americanized for my taste.


He's not more fluent. He speaks faster, that's all.

They both have great English.

Law / I got a fine in the tram (Warsaw) (please help) [10]

It would be wiser to pay it. It's only about 45 quid sterling and better safe than sorry. It will be on the system as an outstanding fine for at least a year and up to six years (with interest, so the final amount to pay will be even higher). If you come back to Poland to live, work, volunteer you will still owe the money and the debt can even be given to a bailiff to recover.